Ugoji Egbujo
2022 was of a certain kind. It started with the Super Eagles mesmerizing opponents in the early rounds of the African Nations Cup tournament in January. Nothing had been expected from a set of eagles that had ditched their boring foreign coach too late in the day to build harmony with a local coach. B
But in a manner that defined 2022, the dazzling Eagles fizzled out before an incomplete Tunisian team and left the nation disconsolate. Because the Eagles showed a flicker promise, many deemed the capitulation before the Tunisians a fluke. So when the world cup final qualifying draws brought Ghana, they looked forward to the Eagles feasting on Ghana in March and flying to Qatar for the fiesta.
After dominating Ghana in Accra and earning a draw in March, Qatar looked like a mission accomplished because Ghana wasn’t Ghana. But 2022 being 2022, Nigeria got to Abuja, carried baffling nervousness onto the pitch and left the entire country inconsolable. But who knew more was to come?
At the Fifa world cup in Qatar, 2022 showed its truest colours. Saudi Arabia dismembered Argentina. Japan dismantled Germany and bundled them home at the dawn of the tournament. Croatia crushed almighty Brazil when Brazil started prancing around like champions. However, the real shock was Morocco.
Morocco beat Belgium, Spain, and Portugal en route to the semi-finals, showing it had the genuine capacity to win the cup. To many soccer enthusiasts, Argentina was a favourite. But objectively, the Argentine team, with ten starting players who couldn’t start for France or England, was the loved underdog.
The gods didn’t stop with football. When Russian tanks rolled across the border into Ukraine in February, many believed Ukraine would succumb in days. Russia, it had seemed, was flaunting a sedge hammer against a soft squirell. Ukraine was already seeking economic blood transfusions from the United States. Russia had built an image of cold ruthlessness and brutal efficiency.
The myth around the KGB and size of the Russian army, and the personality of Putin didn’t help. Ukraine had neither the military nor the economic muscle to stand up to an angry Russia. Ukraine’s president, who had done more acting in his life than anything else, was the caricature of a Field Marshall. So many surmised that the prudent route for Ukraine was to submit to Russian caprices and denounce all association with NATO.
Ukraine’s sabre-rattling, loquacious and comedic president seemed to even neutrals a consummate war buffoon. But as the skirmishes turned to naked war, Zelensky summoned courage and ignited an infectious patriotism across his country. Sooner than later, the columns of Russian tanks strutting around Ukraine started to discover their antiquity. Russian haphazard withdrawals confused the fans of the Russian military. Ten months into a war that Putin said would last a few days, Putin still sounds omnipotent. But many now believe that Ukraine and Russia might fight themselves to a mutual stupor.
Russia chose February, but in Nigeria, the politicians started in earnest in March. In March, Buhari contained Buni’s funny ideas. While it seemed the plot that began with Oshiomhole’s dislodgement was headed for a predictable denouement, Buhari dithered and hesitated. While Buhari dithered, Tinubu surged.
Yet sections of the party waited for Buhari to whom all the aces belonged, to anoint a successor. Buhari stayed mute until May. When he spoke, he begged the governors to permit him to anoint a candidate. That rattled Tinubu’s camp. Everybody waited, Buhari dithered. Perhaps he chickened out to Tinubu’s towering presence and effusive Emilokanism.
Otherwise, how could a president who begged his party governors to allow him to anoint a successor dither and dither till he sent the party chairman to announce Ahmed Lawan against the party’s agreed principle of power rotation? Trends in the APC, starting from Oshiomohle’s ouster, made Tinubu an underdog in a contest against any preferred candidate of the presidency. But Buhari didn’t stand his ground, and Tinubu picked the ticket 48 hours after the national chairman came on television to say he would be sanctioned for ridiculing the president.
In the PDP, once zoning was opportunistically discarded, Atiku seemed the clear frontrunner. Despite his pre-primary deployment of heavy logistics and post-primary recourse to petulance and tantrums, Wike didn’t have a better chance than a conceited father Christmas. Yet some have insisted that had the Sokoto governor not withdrawn, the ticket could have been won by logistics.
But if Tinubu’s emergence shocked presidential insiders, the wave Obi has created left big and small politicians envious. Obi had scampered out of the PDP when Wike and Uba made him an outsider in the Anambra PDP equation. Once he joined the labour party on the eve of the convention, he energised the party and electrified the electoral space. Obi is still the underdog. But no matter how 2023 turns out, he has left an indelible mark on the process.
Hopefully, 2022 has set the stage for Nigeria to rise against all odds and overcome insecurity and economic obstacles in the near future.
Have a prosperous and peaceful 2023.
