
…OME the godfather (all major Obas are political in one way or the other. ALL. It’s a fact of life). And so they will prefer to pick the less than outstanding candidate. (No it is not the ‘oracle’ that picks anything. ‘Ifa’ just recommends, the Governor approves. If the Governor does not approve, Ifa will go back home and have a rethink. The Governor and the political machinery behind him — they are the real oracle)
And this brings me to the biggest and most painful lesson I’ve learnt in all of this — the person on the ticket is as good as it gets. You are voting for the candidate on the ballot and not whatever ‘team’ is behind him, even if he manages to assemble 100 Obamas lining up behind him. It sounds obvious now but it is something that has been incredibly painful to learn for me. The president can decide to nuke the economy and the people you supported him partly because of will at best keep quiet or at worst egg him on. Nigerian democracy is still so weak such that you are really at the mercy of the president and what is in his head (if there’s anything there). Experts and technocrats and ministers can work hard for months to lead negotiations on a free trade …