“Dominating the midfield is the most important thing in modern football. To succeed, you have to be good at everything.” – Toni Kroos
Since the flag independence, the old Northern Region has proved to be the midfield of the political terrain. Its control of the midfield is never in doubt, but to what extent has the elite been able to convert the midfield control to goal-scoring? This issue is the basis of our conversation this week as we look at the North and its fast-fading dominion myth.
If the Northern geopolitical elite does not want Peter Obi because he is a new breed dreaded by the old order, is Bola Ahmed Tinubu really who the elite desires? Can the northern elite beat the chest and concur that Tinubu is the one in whom the North is well pleased? Does the North not regret the present turn of events?
Tinubu is not-so-well, going by what we see, but figuratively, he does not take sickly steps. So, the North should watch out. What northern political players have not embraced as gospel truth is that the region suffers more from the bad governance of whatever era. It is so because northerners have more space for needed development. Development hardly happens, leaving much untapped human capital.
Even in the eight years of Muhammadu Buhari, with all the lopsided governance, the North was still more victims than other regions with the poverty acceleration in the region. Few individuals and their families may have hugely benefited, but that is just a tiny fraction compared to the number daily sent into multi-dimensional poverty. The question begging for an answer now is, to what extent has the North gained from the recent political permutations?
As of June last year, the North were so undecided about who to back up in the South that, at the last minute, brought out Senate President Ahmad Lawan, but he could not fly in the face of the marauding Tinubu political machine in the APC. Tinubu outsmarted the North and forced it to settle for him. Tinubu was never their choice, but over-dribbling made them score their own goal in Tinubu.
In the PDP, the North thought Atiku Abubakar would have no challenger. The North only had to contain and survive the Nysom Wike onslaught after Aminu Tambuwal saved the day for Atiku at the party primary election. That thinking was an ERROR! The North had settled for Atiku and was almost arrogant about it. To its chagrin, when February 25 came, the North could not ram Atiku Abubakar down the throat of the South. The North had erroneously relied on the old template of “whatever we give the South East/South South will do.” That became the first red flag that the North was losing political preeminence.
The northern mainstream politicians loathed Peter Obi of the LP, fearing that a “Biafran” would split Nigeria. The man LP flag bearer still got enough votes enough to emerge as the robbed winner of the election. The LP performance in the North signalled the widening gap between the leaders and followers in the old Nothern Region.
Today, people wonder if the political dominion myth of the North is vanishing. Bang goes the so-called monolithic North! Or what just happened? From all indications, where the geopolitical North is today is akin to a situation in soccer. With undisputed midfield possession and good strikers, a team always has an edge against opponents unless the midfielder indulges in too much dribbling, merely entertaining the player and their fans but hardly scoring the needed goals. Political power not translated into human capital development, lifting the populace out of poverty, is useless.
In football, dribbling is a demonstration of skill. Often good dribblers marshal the midfield and engine house of the team. From there, the goals are planned and delivered to the striker and goal scorer. No matter how brilliant and skilful a striker is, the midfield must be good. Even the defence experiences more pressure if the midfield is weak. The midfield is, therefore, the heart and mind of the game.
All the arguments about who is greater, Cristiano Rolando or Lionel Messi, two football icons of the last decade, tilt more towards Messi because of his yeoman midfield roles that show more skill than that of Rolando, whose records are more on his physical efforts, hard work, and determination rather than skill.
Sometimes good midfield can fail to record desired results because of exhaustion while dribbling and window-dressing their abundant skills. Whenever this happens, fans shout, “Good skill, but no result to cap it.”
One of the greatest midfielders in modern football Xabi Alonso underscored the importance of the midfield when he said, “If you have control of the midfield, you have control of the game, and you have more chances to win.”
As it is in soccer, so it is in all other fields of human endeavours, including politics. In the 63 years of independence, the geopolitical North is like the midfielder of Nigerian politics. To what extent has it been able to deliver in goals, politically speaking? Without a doubt, the North has been very much ahead in ball possession, but to what extent has it been able to convert the midfielder advantage to goal-scoring?
If out of the 63 years, the North has held power for more than 40 and has the cake as the poverty belt of the nation, can we say that it has been scoring goals? If for eight years in power, when Nigeria witnessed the most myopically nepotic regime and remains with most people living in multi-dimensional poverty, can we say that the skilful political midfielder has been delivering the goods?
If from 2015, the military and para-military high commands were in the control of the North and insecurity, various crimes, and criminalities have risen in the region and the rest of the country, can it be rightly said that the northern midfielder has delivered?
Same-faith ticket in the highest political offices in a volatile society like ours was generally discouraged; the North still pushed up Bola Ahmed Tinubu into going that way for selfish reasons. To what extent does this show the region as the great midfielder who ensures cohesion and understanding for the required teamwork?
In a few days, the 10th National Assembly will be inaugurated and, going by the feelers, added to the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the presidency, the legislature is also working towards a Muslim-Muslim ticket to lead in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
When that happens, the five topmost positions in the land, President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker, and Chief Justice, will all be Muslims. What will that portray to the political leadership of the North? Can a Christian-Christian ticket ever be contemplated in the Executive without fire and brimstone coming on the nation? If what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, and if Islam and Christianity preach equity and fairness for peaceful societal co-existence, can the North defend all this? Even though I see the so-called Islamization agenda as impracticable, some unreasonable and inconsiderate permutations and political judgements like this only provide the impetus for tongues to wag.
All said and done, the political scheme and skill of the North are now in serious doubt. The North is becoming a skilful midfielder who cannot convert to goals and who starves its strikers. Has the 2023 political and electoral behavior burst the dominion myth of the North? God help us.