Monday brief: Will Obasanjo's endorsement translate to votes for Obi?
+ Why Nigeria is not restricting travellers from China
Happy New Year!
Thank you for reading and sharing Solomon’s Brief in 2022. Your emails and messages motivate me to keep writing this brief. Please keep them coming in the new year.
Today we are analyzing Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi and why the federal government is not planning to impose restrictions on passengers from China despite an apparent rise in Covid cases across the Asian country.
As always, don’t forget to subscribe and share this newsletter with anyone you think will benefit. It’s a new year; let’s be generous with good things.
Will Obasanjo’s endorsement lead to votes for Obi?
On Sunday, former president Olusegun Obasanjo formally endorsed Peter Obi of the Labour party for president. This was hardly a surprise. In recent weeks, Mr Obasanjo has been seen with Mr Obi in a couple of public events. At one of those events, the former president elaborately vacated his seat for Mr Obi. But Sunday’s announcement solidified Mr Obasanjo’s stance.
Focusing his message particularly on young people, Obasanjo criticised the APC administration, which has moved the country “from frying pan to fire and from mountaintop to the valley.”
While admitting that none of the candidates is a saint, Mr Obasanjo said the Labour Party candidate “has an edge” in terms of character, antecedents, understanding, knowledge, discipline, and vitality.
Quote: “My dear young men and women, you must come together and bring about a truly meaningful change in your lives,” Mr Obasanjo said. “If you fail, you have no one else to blame.”
Response: Expectedly, the APC and PDP lambasted Mr Obasanjo’s decision to endorse Obi. The APC described Mr Obasanjo as a “political paperweight” who cannot influence even “a councilorship election.” The PDP campaign said Obasanjo’s position does not reflect the “overwhelming majority of Nigerians across the country.”
My take: There are a number of ways to view the worth of Mr Obasanjo’s endorsement. But the most relevant might be his attempt to galvanise young voters, who already form the basis of the Labour party’s path to victory.
Over eight million new, young voters have been added to the voting pool. In a country where 15 million votes was enough to win the last election, eight million is a significant number.
As president, Mr Obasanjo was a horrendous democrat, but he has sought to reimagine himself over the years as a statesman committed to Nigerian (and African) unity and prosperity. His influence has not always been palpable but he remains one of the most popular figures in Nigerian history. No doubt, his endorsement message will be picked up by every media across the country, including radio stations; it will be debated in beer parlours and living rooms. This is Obasanjo’s superpower - his enduring ability to capture the imagination of the Nigerian people.
What else is happening?
Lucky escape: President Muhammadu Buhari said the gift of an armoured Land Rover from then Kano state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, saved him from the 2014 Kaduna bomb attack. The president, in a documentary aired on Sunday, also said teachers flogged him many times for avoiding the school farm in his youth.
Rage: A motorist rammed into dancers at a New Year party and killed five people in Oyo after he was tongue-lashed for driving recklessly.
Black Sunday: A Toyota Hiace bus collided with a Mack tanker along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. At least seven people died in the incident. Road safety officials cited over-speeding as the cause of the crash. And a couple was killed in a mysterious fire shortly after returning from a crossover church service in Abeokuta.
Godwin Emefiele: A lawyer asked the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to arrest and prosecute those - including officials of Nigeria’s secret police - who he said tried to frame the central bank governor for terrorism financing,
2023 elections: A nonprofit urged Nigerians not to vote for climate change deniers but a “president that will demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to climate action and invest in renewable energy sources.”
China desk: Why Nigeria is not restricting travellers from China
The federal government said it is not considering travel restrictions for travellers from China after the Asian giant dropped its strict zero-Covid policies, leading to a rise in cases.
“So far, we have not seen any red flags to necessitate us to take action against any country,” Mukhtar Mohammed, the national coordinator of Nigeria’s response committee to Covid-19, said.
Countries such as the United States, Italy and Japan are now requiring mandatory Covid tests for travellers from China.
Femi Falana: The human rights lawyer said the federal government must not wait until the nation’s healthcare system is overwhelmed before it imposes restrictions on travellers from China.
Ifedayo Adetifa: Nigeria’s disease control tzar suggested travel restrictions do not have any public health benefits but are disruptive for persons and businesses. “COVID-19 has and continues to follow a different course (epidemiology in Nigeria and most of Africa),” he said.
Inside China: It has been difficult to assess the number of Covid cases and fatalities in China after the government stopped publishing daily statistics on the disease.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has asked Chinese officials to share more real-time information.
In his New Year speech, Chinese president Xi Jinping called for unity as the country entered “a new phase of Covid response where tough challenges remain.”
And that’s it for today. Let’s do it again tomorrow.
Thank you for reading and sharing Solomon’s Brief in 2022.