Hope is like a dream which may be realized or not. IBB, like the contending forces which are fixated in thwarting the presidential dream of the self-acclaimed devil can be said to be gestating a dream and nursing a hope. A dream that is supported and driven by a good plan, may, given other factors of success, especially the Divine hand of destiny, be said to stand a brighter chance of becoming a reality. Therefore, a dream is on the path of becoming a reality when it is backed up with a good plan. The imperative of a good plan as one of the unarguable determinants needed to transform a dream into a reality obligates the motivation for this piece.

Based on the above backdrop and given the ignominious and gory antecedent of IBB and the indelible fracture which the cancellation of June 12 elections has imprinted in the hearts of many Nigerians, then, it will be a reckless assumption not to have expected IBB and his boys, to have hatched a well structured stratagem that will neutralize the challenges which may stand between the General and his dream of returning to Aso Villa as the pilot of our affairs.

Together with his henchman, the former military despot who earned himself a reputation for nationalizing and officializing fraud, had before his ambition to contest the presidency was publicized, designed and developed a satanically inspired operational road map that can overcome efforts aimed at upsetting the realization of his dream.

The Roadmap, as reliably obtained, factored into its design, the strengths and weaknesses of the General, the psyche of the Nigerian masses, and the parasitic and chop-I-chop nature of the Nigerian political heavy weights. Also, as sourced from some colleagues, some of whom are Minna-based associates of the paramount autocrat, the services of some experienced media and Public relation experts and marketing and political electioneering campaign specialists have been engaged to work out how his liabilities can be managed and chances boosted.

 As further gathered, the Roadmap contains a special package that will render asunder, the ranks of the progressive layers as some past and serving student and trade union leaders and human right activists, especially the olobe comrades have been recruited as part of IBB’s campaign foot soldiers. For clarification, the olobes are those who commercialize their image either as human right activists, trade union leaders or student’s spokespersons by pursuing, within the progressive layers, a sponsored agenda that would incapacitate a movement or union from achieving its stated objectives. The list of those within this section of IBB campaign group, which is being temporarily coordinated by a former comrade of olobe leaning, Honourable Dino Melaye, will soon be published in one of my forthcoming series on 2011 elections.

The impending doom which IBB presidency portends and the necessity of planning in order to transform a dream into reality obligates the needs for the anti-IBB forces, to on a similar note, make a concerted, well directed and structured effort by coming up with a pragmatic road map. of action. This must concisely outlines and pragmatically concertize the means that would be used in frustrating the General’s ambition. It is this objective that the remaining part of this article focuses on.

The Stop the IBB Presidency Roadmap of Action that is being proposed does not only takes into cognizance, the stark differences between the rural and urban dwellers in Nigeria, it also factored this rural-urban structural demographic differential orientation into the design of its agenda setting. This proposal is also an admixture of the trenches, professional and political means of stampeding.  In its layout, it is both globalized and glocalized, and fine-tuned such that it accommodates partisan and non-partisan organizations.

With the increasing currency of information technology and modern communication infrastructures in image manipulation and electioneering activities amongst the urban folks, its disaporic effects, cost optimization advantage, wideness of its reach within a fraction of a second, the anti-IBB forces would have to make a good use of this infrastructure. To this extent, it is suggested that mobile phones should be optimized in stopping the IBB presidency. In this regards, it should be launched, a regional and national based mobile-phone anti-IBB campaign which would mainly, be text message oriented.

The regionally coordinated ones should make use of the three major Nigerian languages-Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba to send text messages which would educate and sensationalize people’s reason and emotion, on why IBB must be stopped. Other local dialects can also be used for this purpose and Arabic language may be of great help in the northern path of the country. The nationally coordinated one should make use of English language. Based on the little research which I conducted in 2007 on the financial implication of this and its feasibility, I was stunned that it has a comparative edge other means of information dissemination. The theme of the messages to be sent out should be built round IBB’s record of corruption, brutality, the annulment of June 12 election, Dele Giwa’s gruesome killing, the likes of Vasta’s case and other related ones that make the Pharaohnic figure, an object of hate.

The internet is another information communication and technological infrastructure that would be of great use in voiding the dictator’s political ambition. This medium can provide multiple means that when properly harnessed would make the political terrain unbearable for the General and his boys. Social interacting e-facilities such as blogs, face book should be employed for this purpose. Interactive websites that are exclusively devoted for this mission should also be developed and hosted while other existing ones could be directly or indirectly used to serve the same purpose. Doing this directly means, the owner of such existing sites would create and help in managing an anti-IBB charting room, article column and blogs. The indirect approach would require getting some dedicated anti-IBB people to write and post articles on existing websites that focus on Nigerian matters. Such individuals should also register as one of the websites’ online  members so that their eligibility to make use of the website’s charting room, blogs and other interactive facilities could be used in advancing the anti-IBB course.

Realizing that some website owners might frustrate such moves based on vested reasons, it is advised that a well publicized and well managed interactive anti-IBB website should be developed and hosted. Services of experts and intelligent writers should be secured in penning articles that would expose the atrocious and corrupt antecedents of the General. Provision should be made for blogs, charting room and how messages can be sent, from this forum, to other e-communicating facilities which include the yahoomails, gmails, spacemails, hotmails and the likes. Within the urban populace, this will assist a great deal, in turning the table against the man who masterminded the cancellation of the June 12 elections. One way that the public can be made to be aware of such websites and e-facilities is to use the mobile phone text-messaging option, place newspaper advertorial and to use the e-fora and online resources that attract a large patronage of Nigerians.

The mass and print media would also play a significant part in aborting the ignoble ambition of IBB. There have been reasonable efforts in this direction, but, these have offered more of a reactionary and less of well construed intellectual reproach of the General. Well articulated and intellectually pieced articles should be fortnightly published in virtually all the Nigerian dailies. These should be backed up with veritable, verifiable and validating claims that expose how the General wasted and aborted the hope of Nigerians through engendering corruption and officializing the culture of impunity. State organized killings that were carried out during the IBB days should be highlighted in addition to the human and economic losses which the cancellation of June 12 elections caused the country.

Setting up a specially designated anti-IBB news bulletin would supplement and compliment the the print media effects. The anti- IBB news bulletin which is suggested to be ten paged, and single coloured, should be published fortnightly and distributed free of charge. Campuses and offices should be major places where its distribution should mainly focus on.

The mass media should be used in staging debates and phone-in programmes which would educate the public on the reasons why the General should be scornfully rejected and humiliated. Such programmes should feature professionals with a reputable pedigree and it should be conducted at convenient hours when people would be in a relaxed mood.

Since virtually all homes in Nigeria have developed avid taste for home videos, capitalizing on this would make a good gain in championing the say no to IBB presidency. It is based on this that it is suggested that a film which demonstrates the repressive and corrupt years of IBB in office as well as the agony of the June 12 elections should be facilitated or sponsored. The horrible death of Kudirat Abiola and other ones which were as a result of the cancellation of June 12 elections should be a part of the play’s story line. This should be planned such that it would move stoned-minded ones to cry and develop instant hatred for IBB. If sponsored, it would be easier to make it enjoy a wider access as it can be easily mass produced without violating copyright rules. Such film could be easily uploaded on the YouTube, dobbed, and be distributed freely. The film may be acted using the three major Nigerian languages or in English language, the official language of the country. However, the counsel of film experts on this should be relied upon so that this could be fully optimized to serve its intended objectives.

As an alternative or a backup plan, a documentary or multimedia presentation which shares the same direction as the film could be run. This would be cost effective, time saving and less expensive when compared with the option of acting a film. Another edge with this alternative is that the documentary’s voice over could be easily done in different languages with the same image or pictorial background. Added to this is that, such documentary can be produced in series, therefore allowing planers the opportunity to monitor and assess the consequential effects this has generated in the minds of people.

By the same token, ewi/poetry singers could be contacted to compose lines which expose IBB crookedness and wasteful years in office. Chief Olarenwanju Adepoju  had done similar things in the past. This should be laid as voice over and recorded in the audio form using the three major Nigerian languages. This should be distributed free of charge to people so that the message can easily go round.

On a concluding note, anti-IBB protests which would involve student leaders, trade unionists, market women, peasants, religious and non-governmental organizations should be held regionally and nationally. This should be given local and global media coverage and should be led by prominent individuals with good public image. Ways should also be fashioned out to use the Diaspora community in using their respect base to discredit the General’s candidature. If these lines of action are properly looked into, it is my humble projection that IBB may before the conduct of the Party’s presidential primary, be forced to quit the race. Other possibility is that this may mar and blur the possibility that the primary would work in his favour.

If we are to succeed in stopping the gap-toothed General, we must put up a good plan, and it based on this that I have undertaken this effort which I belief could be improved upon by other likeminded scenario and political experts.

The writer, Mr. Adebiyi Jelili Abudugana, a former student union leader of UNILAG can be reached through abudugana2000@yahoo.com.

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