November Update on Kaduna North Senatorial Bid
The process of seeking endorsement from electorates at all levels, recruiting public support and mobilising and deploying resources in politics is exciting as well as educative. Many tend to approach it narrowly based on a strategy of simply getting attention and, hopefully, eventually get elected. In contemporary Nigerian politics, it often takes the dimension of public intimidation. While some succeed, many simply just register their presence and shortly disappear. Few are able to develop the capacity to contract a bond and therefore have the staying power to negotiate impactful relationship with electorates.
2. This perspective and the need to project alternative strategy define our approach in the last five months. We have gone round all the eight (8) Local Governments and have met key leaders, prominent citizens and representatives of organisations. In all cases, we emphasised the need to develop strong relationship with our people and use it as the lever for engendering strong correlation between governance and the needs of the people.
3. In every discussion, we have strongly emphasised our commitment to:
· Engaging government institutions towards training our youths and women skills that would guarantee self-employment and enhanced access to income earning opportunities.
· Facilitating the development of strengthened relationships between governmental institutions and non-governmental organisations towards better service delivery.
4. The response has been very good and to say the least encouraging. Like I reported in October, many of the responses lamented that we are the first to make such an approach. While we don’t want to over celebrate that, it may be worth noting that we are till this moment the only group aspiring for any political office with a printed profile and programme. We are yet to encounter anybody with any printed material beyond poster, billboard and perhaps stickers. The only addition might be notebooks for schools with the photos of the aspiring candidates and T-shirts. Beyond differences in the physical appearances of the aspirants, there is hardly any distinguishing element.
5. Specific to our campaign, one issue that has come up in the last one month is the concerns expressed by party people (ACN) and politicians in Soba and Ikara Local Governments. This is to the effect that they will not labour and mobilise support only for us to at the last minute withdraw from the race on account of settlement. This is a concern coming from people who were abandoned by Action Congress (AC) candidate for the 2007 Senatorial election barely 24 hours before election. The candidate, Musa Bello, decamped to the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) just before the election. In the case of members in Saulawa Ward, Ikara, they complained that although they have remained loyal to the party after Musa Bello abandoned them, nobody from the party visited them. These are very valid concerns. We have given assurances and restate our commitment to the people as the basis of our aspiration.
6. As we move around, we try to understand our environment better. It is sad to report that the knowledge gap in our society is so wide. Living conditions even in schools don’t appear to be guided by know-how and the discipline to do what is right. Convenience and impunity appear to be the order of the day everywhere. The consequence is that our society is more or less a jungle. This situation is largely not a result of the absence of the law or the required framework for its enforcement. It is simply that both the drivers of the framework and citizens in authority are facilitating the negation of the law and its framework.
7. How do we develop appropriate strategic legislative action plan aimed at reversing this? How do we engender the political foundation for the implementation of such a legislative plan? Beyond the excitement of politics, this is a big challenge. Unfortunately, so far, what we see around us is narrow opportunism. Many people relate with us based on a strategy to demonstrate relevance, take control of all our political initiatives and, interestingly, emphasise the limitation of our knowledge. To be successful in Nigerian politics is to be able to negotiate all these without alienating many people. The truth is that this requires that most time we behave foolishly but wisely refuse to act to be able to earn the confidence of many political actors.
8. Arising from all these dynamics, there is a growing challenge of managing recruitment of campaign personnel and guaranteeing that it is driven by needs. If it is not driven by needs, can we ensure that all new entrants bring additional political value? This is hard to predict especially given that the notion of political campaign is not about promoting any agenda but simply making noise. How do we ensure that our campaign is not about noise making and recruiting political thugs therefore? This is a big challenge. Answering this will determine to a large extent our capacity to utilise the huge reserve of energy of our young population. Our inability to meet up this challenge will make our campaign unattractive to our youths. We have to come up with initiatives very fast in this respect.
9. Women are moving very fast and have developed very good initiative. They have formed a women committee that is directing the campaign with initial membership comprising all women born or married into the Lukman extended family. Their first meeting, which held November 19 had more than 60 participants. They are mobilising very well in the constituency and are popularising the campaign in the constituency.
10. Managing posters is a big challenge and is an aspect that reflects absence of regulation but perhaps more importantly lack of innovation by local authorities. Many aspirants recruit people to protect their posters from being removed. Interestingly billboards and other advertisement boards provide spaces for poster placements. Public buildings, walls of private buildings, electric poles and trees are targets. There can be as much as 100 same-posters of an aspirant in one spot. No order, no decorum.
11. Our strategy so far has been to aspire to win a place in the hearts of the people. To that extent, we have so far produced 30,000 copies of our programme and 30,000 copies of our posters, circulated in all the 8 Local Governments. We are projecting that between now and election, we will need 50,000 copies each for posters and programme. We are also producing 50 billboards.
12. So far, we have expended close to N10 million in the campaign. On behalf of the campaign team, I want to express our sincere appreciation for the wonderful support we have received. Our target is to successfully prosecute the campaign within N30 million budget limit. I want to therefore restate our appeal for support and request that you please also help mobilise financial contributions. Kindly channel all contributions to the following: account name – Salihu M. Lukman: Bank PHB 1011484448.
13. Finally, I wish to once more inform you that the campaign now has a website http//www.smlukman.org.
Salihu Mohammed Lukman
Senatorial Aspirant, Kaduna North
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