Of Platforms, Literally and Metaphorically

eni-B BY Eniola Bello

In Nigerian political speak, there are many words and phrases, or many expressions so to say, whose usage does violence to the grandeur of English lexis and grammar. One such expression is the application of ‘platform’ as a metaphorical symbol of the importance of political parties in Nigeria’s electoral process. Daily, in the media, print or electronic, you are bound to read or hear the expression about one politician or the other contesting or not contesting for an office, public or party, “UNDER the platform” of party A, B, or Z. This expression appears in newspaper reports or headlines, and in the articles of respected columnists; it features in the commentaries of popular TV anchors, just as politicians mouth it on different campaign grounds. It’s been so repeatedly used that many do not seem to know that the phrase violates some basic English language rules.

Literally, a platform is a raised ground; it is what Oxford Languages, said to be the world’s leading dictionary publishers for more than 150 years, defines as “a raised level surface ON which people or things can stand.” In a second definition, Oxford Languages also describes platform as “the declared policy of a political party or group.” For clarity, the publishers of this leading English dictionary give an example of the usage of that word in this sentence: “seeking election ON a platform of low taxes”. From both definitions, ON is the only preposition that is used before ‘platform’ when it functions as a noun in a sentence. The preposition, UNDER, did not feature in any shape or form in both definitions aforesaid. In any case, the purpose of a platform is to allow whoever stands ON it to stand out and be seen by many people around, or for that person to see far into the distance.

Since every expression must be literally meaningful before its metaphorical application could be sensible, I couldn’t understand how Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara could have directed his supporters, as reported by one columnist, “to contest (the controversial local government elections in the state) UNDER the platform of the almost unheard-of Action People’s Party (APP).” Of course, the “almost unheard-of” APP handsomely won almost all the chairmanship and councillorship seats in the state, just as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State as well as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State respectively won all the seats in contest during the council polls in those states. Significantly, the winners in the council polls in both Benue and Akwa Ibom States, as it happened in other council elections in other states, were mostly reported to have contested UNDER the platform of the ruling APC and PDP in the respective states. 

In the 2023 general elections, many of the candidates who contested UNDER the platform of their various parties, particularly in the governorship and National Assembly polls, won the elections with what the media loved to call “a wide margin.” Although I do not know if the situation was similar in previous polls, particularly the 2007 election in which the then President Olusegun Obasanjo had described was a do or die affair for the then ruling PDP, or even the 1983 election in which the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) recorded what was then described as a landslide victory in many states across the country; I want to believe there is a nexus between the nature of a candidate contesting for an office UNDER a political party and the “sweeping victory” (apology to the media) of that candidate in the polls. This would, of course, require further study by political researchers who understand the dark arts of Nigeria’s political and electoral process.

I, however, suspect, indeed would like to believe, that there is some dishonesty or fraud or danger or deviousness in any activity taking place UNDER something rather than in an open space. Why do Nigerian politicians prefer to contest election UNDER, rather than ON, the platform of a political party? Could it be because of the endless possibilities of winning elections UNDER the table, sorry platform? Could it be where ghost voters are conjured, where every INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) innovation to improve the electoral process is perverted, where electoral thugs are procured, where stolen and damaged voting materials are hidden, where vote-buying money is minted, where the security agents used for harassing political opponents or chasing voters away are quartered? Could it even be where those funny judges issue strange ex parte orders even in cases their courts have no jurisdiction, or where favourable judgments could be easily bought by the highest bidder? Is that the oven where those hot election victories are baked? Could that also be the reason why the (political) platform, in the words of a colleague, “shifts like a thermometer”; where a politician belongs to one party in the morning and another in the evening, or contests election UNDER the platform of the PDP in 2019 and the APC in 2023?

Should that be the situation, we should collectively collapse the platform, literally and metaphorically, as to leave no space UNDER for political parties to carry out unwholesome operations. That way, politicians would be left with no choice but contest for elections ON a party platform or whatever remains of it.