by Demola Rewaju

I’ve chosen to resume my writing despite many engagements this electoral period all related to my political leaning which is with the PDP at most levels and especially with President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election.

The reason for that will be obvious to any reader of my pieces as I have never hidden my political preference or my life values which include loyalty. My concern in this piece though is the title of this piece which has to do with the online elation that greets pictures of crowds at political rallies. Such is the excitement that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo tweeted a picture taken from a Reinhard Bonnke revival as one from an APC rally in Kano State until Senator Musiliu Obanikoro called him out.

To be clear: in modern day politics in this part of the world, most crowds are rented. Put it down to poverty or another avenue to make money from politicians but it is what it is. The same way most people will vote any party that pays money for their votes is the same way crowds flock to political rallies after they have been duly mobilised. All parties are involved in this and the funds are retired under ‘Mobilisation or Demobilisation funds’. Mobilisation means they are paid before they come to the venue and demobilisation means they are paid afterwards.

The truth is that only few politicians excite crowds to such a point where many would brave the odds and flock to rallies to listen to them. Gone are the days of speakers like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Bola Ige and maybe Tafawa Balewa. Gone are the myths that surrounded men like Awolowo and J.S. Tarka that made many troop out to come and see if it was true that they grew so tall while speaking that their heads reached into the sky.

Gone are the entertainers like Adegoke Adelabu who once drove his Volkswagen car to a political rally and allow crowds to enter in through one door and out the other to spite Awolowo whom he claimed was too elitist to permit such a thing. Candidates these days are too predictable, rhetoric too common and the only person I can think of who still draws huge crowds without mobilisation is Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti.

Now, crowds do not necessarily translate into votes. Uncle Bola Ige in his book People, Politics And Politicians Of Nigeria: 1940-1979 said in relation to crowds that spectators will always be drawn to spectacles – people come to political rallies for different reasons and crowds are not always an indication of acceptance so I think the APC might be counting its chicks before they are hatched with the celebration of the carefully taken pictures of crowds they see at their political rallies. The desperation to make APC appear to many as an acceptable party in all parts of Nigeria may not be an exact reflection of what is actually on ground.

Now, crowds work in curious ways but usually in tandem with crowd mentality – a coinage from herd mentality where one goat jumps over a cliff and the rest follow – crowds tend to think in a particular dimension and here, I have a small concern for General Muhammadu Buhari’s image in the mind of the crowds. They see the fanfare, they see the carefully sewn clothing and adornment but they also notice the fact that as at last week, GMB had only spoken for a total of 58 minutes at all political rallies, an average of one minute and few seconds at each political rally.

In the north particularly, they would notice that this Buhari seems tame compared to the man who would fiercely tell them to stand up vote-riggers and deal with them while waving the sword-like pen symbol of CPC in the air.

The crowds in the north would notice that this Buhari seems a little too ‘handled’ by some southerners who whisper in his ear every other minute and who spend more time talking to them than he does. They see Buhari posters coming in from other parts of the country and in them, their Buhari is wearing strange garbs – either the red Ozo caps of the ‘yanmili’ (derogatory Hausa word for Igbo) or the Aso-Oke of the Yorubas.

A long shot to the way crowds think of course but then again: it’s called crowd mentality and it can work for or against a candidate.

I will keep writing as constantly as I can until the elections of February 14 and few days to that time, I will make an objective state by state prediction of how the states will swing towards either President Jonathan or General Muhammadu Buhari.

It feels good to be back.

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