Letters and numbers in the 2015 elections

They can shoo you off in one breath and break the pot of their most precious perfume to stop any beans eater who attempts to foul the air of your coronation. They could be singing Hosanna to you in the morning and be helping align the nail for your crucifixion by evening. Ignore them at your peril; underestimate them at your own failure and maltreatment at your own catastrophe. That explains the list of victors and casualties at the last elections. Some won, some lost, some retained their status and others would be licking their wounds for a long time to come.
In less than 800 days after its birth, the All Progressives Congress, aka Asiwaju People’s Congress rose from being a mirage into a ravaging tsunami. A Muhammadu Buhari, who broke down and cried for taking a shellacking four years ago, received a congratulatory phone call from the man who nearly prematurely retired him from active politics. The man who was told would never smell the presidency is now redefining the true meaning of transformation and fresh air.
Buhari is the comeback elder of Naija politics that survived all the intrigues, onslaughts and assaults thrown his way with stoic calmness in the most acrimonious campaign in the annals of Naija political history. His story has a happy ending, an enduring lesson in staying focused. Come May 29 he would be enduring the scorching sun at the Evil Square as he takes his oath of office, ride rushing motorcade through the sea of ululating human heads to either transform or mess up the Rock of offense. Buhari typifies the saying – hope never dies, so, let’s call him a victor with the number four being his lucky number – he becomes the fourth president of the fourth republic after his fourth attempt. He signals an era in which letters, numbers and coincidences define a new era of Naija politics.
You cannot say that of Nuhu Ribadu. The ex-cop, lawyer-politician was nothing to most people except those who watched him and Tochukwu Onwugbufor at the infamous trial of MKO Abiola. Then the Wizard of Ota fished him out of the police force and sent him to Babatunde Idiagbon House as chairman of EFCC; there Ribadu became the most dreaded anti-corruption czar in contemporary Naija history. After a dramatic turn of events, Ribadu was kicked out of the force. He went on exile in political Siberia before returning home to re-align with the Emperor of Bourdillon where he was crowned presidential candidate. At the polls, he came third. Now, a third position is not failure when there are only three of you in the exam. If ever Ribadu were called to pick a number, he would do well to avoid the number three.
As results of the gubernatorial elections came in, other things became clear. The letter ‘A’ is a lucky letter. Not only is it the first letter of APC, it is the winning letter for Amosun Ibikunle who broke the jinx as the first Ogun governor to win two consecutive terms; ‘A’ is the recurrent lucky number for Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi who broke the two-term jinx in Oyo State. The same streak returned Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to Nasarawa State and Ahmed Abdulfatah in Kwara State. It is a winning letter for Aregbesola Abdulrauf in Osun State. It features in the name of Ahmad Nasir el-Rufai in Kaduna State and works for Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who refused to drop the aura of security details and the siren immunity moving from Speaker to become Governor in Sokoto State. His predecessor in office, Aminu Bello Masari scored another ‘A’ becoming the governor of President Buhari’s home state – Katsina. Buhari is a lucky man who’ll be feeling at home each time he visits home.
APC is not done with the letter ‘A’. In Lagos State, which has historically been in opposition to the party in the centre in the annals of Naija history, history was made in the double when Akinwunmi Ambode picked the winning ticket, just as his counterpart in the second most populous town in Naija, Kano gave Abdullahi Umar Ganduje a governor-in-waiting ticket. The streak continued to Kebbi State where Atiku Bagudu is governor-in-waiting at home with his A-list friends – Abubakar MD in Bauchi and Abubakar Bello waiting in the wings in Niger State. Even the only state in Naija with a ‘Z’ knows the importance of the letter A when it chose AbdulAzeez Abubakar as next governor of Zamfara State.
 From all indications, it seems as if A is in the lucky letters of APC who are now expected to give us an ‘A’ performance wherever we turn. If they fail Naija, they would be on record as the first people with ‘A’ who failed to perform excellently. Let us hope that won’t be their portion.