Comr. Amos Kalu – AFK

GUINEA BISSAU – Upon my arrival in Guinea Bissau for this Continental Assignment, on the morning of the second day, over breakfast with the incoming President, the Presidential Candidate of APU-PDGB, Engr Nuno Nabiam, our wonderful host. I and my colleague Comr Tunde Oke were curious to know why he is insistent on travelling to the villages as a presidential candidate whereas the cities handle over 70% of such campaigns.

He was very apt in explaining to us that this is what makes him feel as part of the people for who he is planning to take their destinies on a mission for the next 4 years, insisting that leadership is about carrying the people along which is the primary target of his administration when elected. A social engagement to understand the challenges of the people.

On the 4th of November, 2019, the actual date for the kick off of the official campaign, He was concerned for us and asked if we can possibly manage because he is going to the rural areas where he will engage in serious talks with the people, he told us to park for 5 days journey, I was dazed to learn that the President to be was planning to go and live in the jungle for 5 days just to talk to every person. As Nigerians, he didn’t know that we are made of concrete jungle, we assured him of our readiness for the experience.

Mind you, my surprise was not because it was impossible, I was surprised because having been here for one week and followed the political activities going on, it is clear that Nuno Nabiam is a candidate with good followership in the city, having won over more than 5 other political Parties who dropped their ambitions to support him, including RP, the party of the great and powerful Late Kumba Yala of blessed memory. As a result, my curiosity was heightened because I wanted to knock the pieces together.

So on the morning of 5th November, we set out from Bissora to Nbunha, through to Bula, Biman, Bissanar, Nfantre, Mancala, etc. There’s no need to start explaining the terrain for want of space, besides; I wouldn’t know exactly how to quantify the terrain without sounding bizarre. But it was within this terrain that I have come to learn some new things about politics of “Rural Engagement” even to the Presidential level. Imagining other climes like mine made me appreciative of this method firsthand.

We passed through roads that could not enter four wheels of cars, but we trudged on, the people on the backs of our trucks like our soldiers and police turned to masquardes from dust, yet we moved on, deeper into the bush, meeting with people who possibly haven’t had contact with the city for the first time in their village lives and the open excitement in them and the man that has brought the city to their villages made the experience even more endearing.

In NUNO NABIAM, I saw a man that has not just come to canvass for votes that abound in the city, I saw a man with genuine love for his people and has come to put a smile on the faces of his people with his presence.

The summary of his mission stated: “Take the campaign to them, Let them speak and listen to them, Drive their roads to know how they are suffering from its dilapidation, Be in their shoes by being in the midst to feel their feelings because; Only this can help you to know how to solve their problems genuinely.

And I forgot to mention i was out of network coverage for greater parts of the journeys because we were deep inside the jungle seeking for a better future for Guinea Bissau, a kind and accommodating people that deserve more.

To be Continued