Last week, the Nigerian Bar Association held its 62nd Annual Convention titled, “Bold Transitions,” and brought presidential candidates of some political parties to unveil the path they might be taking Nigeria if they became President of Nigeria in 2023.
Both former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, respective presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, pointed out that Nigeria, under the current dispensation, is practically a failed state.
Understandably, Kashim Shettima, speaking on behalf of his principal, Bola Tinubu, of All Progressives Congress, ignored that part. The current underwhelmingly performing government is of their party.
The trio respectively submitted that the road to resolving Nigeria’s seemingly intractable issues is in unity and restructuring; vision, character and competence; and the track record of those who aspire to be president.
These are part of the bouquet of issues that practically every Nigerian has identified but which the sundry governments of Nigeria have somewhat failed to address. Each Nigerian government acts clueless.
Someone says the problem of Nigeria is not in the failure of everyone, including the government, to acknowledge the myriad problems afflicting Nigeria. It’s more the lack of the political will to implement the same.
Shettima boasted about Lagos State, once run by Tinubu as governor, and Borno State where he was governor. Not a few observers concluded that, despite what they considered to be his wardrobe malfunction, Shettima gave a good delivery.
Looks like the cacophony against APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket is thinning out. Maybe critics are reserving their worst bile till when the campaign proper starts in September 2022. The Tinubu-Shettima camp had better be prepared.
Shettima’s more significant faux pas was in trying to share responsibilities between himself, whom he says will face insecurity issues because of his experience with Boko Haram in Borno State, and Tinubu, whose professional antecedents qualify him to run the economy. Talk of counting your eggs before they are hatched.
No one is sure that Shettima has the mandate of his principal to make a policy statement on how the Tinubu presidential cabinet will run. Tinubu is known to encourage robust debate in making government decisions.
Yet others are not exactly enamoured of Tinubu’s track record, which they claim has been marred by graft, that one must admit has never been proven or confirmed by a competent court of jurisdiction. The allegations are no more than allegations.
Though many of Tinubu’s critics argue that tax consultants, Alpha Beta, is the instrument that he uses to milk the resources of Lagos State, his supporters counter that his Alpha Beta, consultants to Lagos State Government is currently helping many other states to ramp up Internally Generated Revenue
Some sceptics snigger at Vice President Abubakar’s pitch for restructuring Nigeria as a red herring and he’s not quite sincere. They keep reminding anyone who cares to listen that a certain Intel Company diverted a significant chunk of Federation revenue, from the ports, into his personal coffers.
The Intel deal, which has already suffered a deathly blow under the current President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), may have a chance of being revived if the restructuring that he is talking about comes to be.
Critics think Abubakar will make good his stated intention to offload Nigeria’s assets to his friends. They also worry about his records as a serving customs officer who bought taxis to do transport business across Nigeria’s border.
As for ex-Governor Obi, they keep referring to Anambra State funds that he allegedly invested to resuscitate what they refer to as the drowning business of his family. They also think his deployment of what they regard as his sometimes questionable statistics could be misleading.
His supporters, who claim that the investment is more in the figment of the imagination of his critics, also argue that Obi’s “fact droplets” should be commended for, at least, directing electioneering discourse along the lines of issues.
Obi’s somewhat rebellious revolutionary supporters have a momentum that is practically independent of their candidate. They are on autopilot, with no patience, even with Obi himself. They seem poised to compel him to run even if he doesn’t want to run anymore.
All these grouses demonstrate that despite the grand posturing of the three most prominent presidential candidates, each one has an Achilles heel that the opponents can use to score political points against them.
But the Nigerian electorate is stuck and must choose from amongst these candidates in the presidential election of February 2023. Things are looking like 2015 when Nigerians were stuck between “ko da” and “ko sun won”—bad and not-so-good.
The primaries of the political parties have been concluded and Nigerians have no other choices outside the 18 presidential candidates that have emerged. Nigeria’s Constitution has no room for Independent Candidates.
Recall that Section 161(c) of Nigeria’s Constitution insists that no one can be a presidential candidate unless he is a member of a political party and the political party nominates him as a presidential candidate.
The mischievous may add that Subsections 161(a) and 161(b), which respectively require that the candidate should be a citizen of Nigeria and should have been educated up to at least a School Certificate or its equivalent, have probably been held in the breach in recent times.
The presidential candidates seem to realise that Nigerians are more interested in issue-based campaigns, which Bayo Onanuga, Campaign Communications Director of the Tinubu Campaign Organisation, has acknowledged.
Candidates, who have recognised this reality and accept to play by the rules, should be congratulated. But Nigerians and the media must ensure that the candidates do not derail from this path.
Somebody says restructuring is the one-size-fits-all solution for Nigeria’s problems. Every effort must be made to convince those who do not believe in restructuring to buy into this ultimate necessity.
Restructuring should be a campaign issue and no presidential candidate must be allowed to dodge it. Each candidate should tell Nigerians his attitude to restructuring, as the media must make restructuring a cornerstone of the presidential campaign.
Also, presidential candidates must commit to ensuring that the government they will run will reward good behaviour and sanction bad behaviour. They should commit to not condoning impunity and disregard for the rule of law.
Not even those who break traffic regulations should be allowed to escape. Sanctions must be swift, appropriate and sure. No sinner must be allowed to go unpunished. Everyone must be made to carry his can.
And yes, the most fundamental economic policy that has to be made is to reconstruct the Nigerian electricity supply system so that every household and economic entity will have a regular supply of electricity.
All those principalities and powers that hang onto the coattails of the electricity supply value chain must be removed. There can’t be any room for economic parasites in the generating, transmission, distributing and allied sub-sectors of the electricity business.
Those, who lack financial and technical competencies but bought the Gencos and Discos, must be excused so that those with the requisite competencies can take over and switch those companies to the efficient and effective mode.
Time wasters, who distract Nigerians with unprofitable content, should discharge their folly elsewhere. And, ahem, presidential candidates who fail to address the frustrations of Nigerian youths must be sent to political Golgotha.
