2019: With 94 parties still a limited choice
As campaigning for the 2019 Presidential election officially commences, Nigerians have every reason to be confused as to what the relevant issues really are. Under normal circumstances the vote should be a simple referendum on the performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) over […]
As campaigning for the 2019 Presidential election officially commences, Nigerians have every reason to be confused as to what the relevant issues really are. Under normal circumstances the vote should be a simple referendum on the performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) over the past four years. However, in Nigeria issues are never quite that simple. The election can’t really be said to be a contest between a “morally upright” ruling APC and “treasury looting” main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who ruined the nation in 16 years of hedonism.
Most of the top echelons of that PDP are now APC bigwigs having been “cleansed” of malfeasance by decamping. The upcoming Presidential election boils down to a contest between President Muhammadu Buhari and Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. While both of them have maintained decorum in their utterances, their spokespersons Festus Keyamo (Buhari) and Segun Sowunwi (Atiku) have not. Both perpetually interrupt others and speak as if they have a monopoly on wisdom, both exhibit unbecoming hubris, care only for their own prejudices, and have a penchant for criticising opponents rather than promoting an agenda.
Thankfully the political tension created by falsehoods, propaganda and blame games won’t be heightened by religion or ethnicity. The two main candidates are Fulani Muslims. The issues at stake should be the candidate’s competence and capacity and their Party’s innovative policies to solve the problems of job creation, poverty alleviation, infrastructure development and health care in the 21st Century. Nigeria will never be destroyed by external forces. Of far more threat to national unity and progress is the seemingly unending internal rot of huge fiscal deficits, disregard for the rule of law, a fractured political system, ugly public discourse, absence of a social safety net, oppression of dissent, and a penchant for violence.
Over the past four years the APC led federal government has laboured to live up to the expectations of the people in dealing with these problems, if only because those expectations were too high in the first place. Their 2015 Change Mantra inspired dreams of an innovative government which would place growth and development of people above all else. The expected Cabinet of vibrant and innovative experts who would correct the ills of our society with military dispatch never materialised. Instead, after a seeming eternity, an uninspiring mishmash of recycled deadwoods, incompetents, the unqualified, the un-informed, and mal-administrators formed a Federal Executive Council (FEC) which blamed their inability to perform in their predecessors. It comes as no surprise that they failed to fulfil most election promises. They certainly not the best the nation, or even the APC could assemble.
The floundering anti-corruption war has provided entertaining headlines, but has been of little tangible benefit to Nigerians. The problem is that after 4 years the nation is still being promised a greater tomorrow rather enjoying a better today. As elections approach and attempts to rubbish government’s political opponents on corruption charges are cranked up, opposition allegations of ongoing corruption are equally flying thick and fast. There are allegations of money missing from NNPC/NLNG and Nigerian Ports Authority, and of corrupt payments to a Governor and the APC National Chairman amongst others. Most reprehensibly large quantities of rice donated by China to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), allegedly rotted away in warehouses while some was diverted and sold. Kindness is a prominent manifestation of a healthy society.
While Nigerians tend to be kind and compassionate as people, regrettably their political leaders are not. A toxic political culture in which abuse, assault, brashness, inconsideration, crudity, cruelty, conspiracy and disregard for the rule of law are the pillars of political success is being promoted and encouraged. All said and done it favours the APC for the upcoming Presidential elections to be regarded as purely as a referendum between the personalities of candidates rather than on their performance in governance. This is where Atiku falls short. Virtually all 94 Opposition parties claim that the APC government has been the most pretentious, hypocritical, incompetent and un-innovative in our nation’s history. Be that as it may, in reality, the election boils down to a choice between the APC candidate and incumbent President Buhari, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who appears to be running alone independent of a lacklustre PDP.
Role models are people who are good examples, and whose behaviour should be emulated by others. Such people tend to possess qualities of compassion, generosity, selflessness, empathy, dedication, contentment, gratitude, impartiality and dependability. The question is: has either of these two main candidates exhibited all these qualities during their various sojourns in power? It is perhaps a tragi-comedy that fringe candidates aside, the real choice is limited to these two.