The Muslim-Muslim Ticket Hullabaloo: A Testament to Lack of Understanding of Democracy
On Sunday July 10, 2022, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed TInubu, publicly named his substantive running mate for the 2023 presidential elections in the person of a former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima. Of course, being of the same faith, not unexpected, reactions have trailed the announcements. For me, I am uninterested in whether it is right or wrong to do so, simply because it is not wrong, IT IS DEMOCRACY. I am not exactly bothered by people protesting against it or rejecting it, but to remind everyone having an opinion about the matter that IT IS DEMOCRACY. Whatever you want to accept, you communicate it through your votes and in the same vein, whatever you want to reject, you communicate it through your votes too, it is that simple and uncomplicated.
I have been seeing comments like WHY should the APC have a Musilim-Muslim candidate? Sincerely, anyone questioning the selection does not understand that it is called democracy for a reason. The APC is only one of the 18 political parties that will be presenting candidates for the 2023 general elections. The party (APC) IS NOT under ANY obligation to present candidates based on criteria set by people outside of the party. The party, just like other parties, owes this obligation to its members only. That is, only the members of the party can say if candidates have been rightly chosen or otherwise, the rest of us may only speak with our votes.
Without reservations, non-party members HAVE the right to complain and protest against any decisions of a political party, this right is not alienated at all, however, in expressing this right, it is important to be reminded that NOBODY is under ANY obligations to vote a party, not even members of the party. Once you do not like the decision of a party, the ONLY effective way to communicate this is by voting against the party or abstaining. This is the essence of democracy, the right to make choices.
Political parties are in the business of winning votes, this is all that matter because you cannot gain power to govern if you do not first, win an election. Therefore, it is quite normal for parties to appeal to sentiments of would be voters. A party might choose a 40 year old candidate and use it as a selling point that their candidate is young, it is because they want to win votes and nothing more. A party having candidates of two faiths, let’s call it Christian-Muslim ticket, is doing so to appeal to sentiments of would be voters, it does not mean that they so much love the faiths, it is their way of showing inclusiveness. Electorates make their choices based on series of factors, sometimes very ridiculous ones. Electorates can take decisions based on the gender of candidates, if a party consider it a strength, you mind find them presenting a particular gender as a candidate, just to appeal to sentiments of voters. Some electorates would vote a candidate simply because of eloquence, a candidate with this strength would sell his/her eloquition to win votes.
Summarily, let it be noted that it is the RIGHT of parties to present candidates that would win them elections, it is NOT an obligation, while it is the RIGHT of electorates to vote any party that they consider good for them and they DON’T owe any political party the obligation of votes. Elections are a game of numbers, majority votes is what matter the most, whatever the majority is, is what the people want.
