By Abuchi Obiora
The soul of Nigeria is presently under contest. Long rendered a wanderer through her tumultuous journey to the yet-to-be attained destination of nationhood after her independence in 1960, the soul of Nigeria has been wandering in the dark alleys of instability, seeking to perch on a stable pedestal of nationhood. Several times through this tumultuous journey, she had collided with thunderstorms but took off as soon as she could, without maximum damage to her nature. One of such thunderstorms was her experience in the 30 months civil war between 1967 and 1970. There are a myriad of other such experiences in her search for nationhood but the most recent of these experiences should be said to be the #ENDSARS protest of 20th October, 2020.
The #ENDSARS protest of 2020 was a landmark and a turning point in the history of Nigeria. For the first time in the history of the country, Nigerian youths found a unified and spontaneous voice for themselves and decided to take the bull by the horn to address the problems of the country themselves. With the youths questioning the wicked operations of the special anti-robbery police squad called SARS, the civil society organizations (CSOs) who had been the lone voice in interrogating the lapses of the government and its agencies, found partners in seeking for the reformation of Nigeria.
It was not long after this protest when politicians and people from different trades and professions joined the movement to reform and transform Nigeria. Having served as the immediate symbol of the rejection of oppression of Nigerians by the political elites and the ruling class, the #ENDSARS protest, therefore becomes the beacon upon which the structure of a new Nigeria is sought by an increasing number of the citizens.
With a high unemployed youths population and a cut-throat inflation against the backdrop of the eroded value of the Naira, high and unbearable foreign debt profile in an atmosphere of non-existent national reserve which is made worse by a massive depreciation in foreign earnings as a result of a non-productive base both for internal consumption and for non-oil export, a corrosive trend of crude oil theft amounting to 85% of the total Nigerian daily oil production by government officials and security agents, the soul of Nigeria, having wandered in limbo, is at the point of death.
Against this background and angered by it, an estimated 93.4 million registered voters across Nigeria with about 70 million of them being youths, will troop out on Saturday 25th February 2023, to stage another protest, this time, not on the streets with placards but in the polling units with their ballots to cast their votes in 176,846 polling units across Nigeria for the presidential election.
They will be casting their votes to elect a new President who will not only be trusted to reverse the trend that is almost snuffing out the life out of the country, but a President who will be capable and competent with the capacity to once again unite the many ethnic nationalities in the country, restore order and security of lives and properties, which by the way, are the two underlining reasons that have brought the ill fortunes of Nigeria.
Standing to be voted in as the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are eighteen contestants with four front liners to the election. These four front liners are Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, a trader, an Economist and a former governor of Anambra state, who is contesting under the platform of the Labour Party, LP. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a professional politician and a former Vice President of Nigeria is contesting under the umbrella of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, while Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, another professional politician, a known ‘Godfather’ to many present politicians in Nigeria, and a former Governor of Lagos state, is contesting under the canopy, of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a technocrat and an Architect, the fourth front liner in the Presidential election, is contesting through the NNPP, the New Nigeria People’s Party.
Nigerians have seen and carefully observed these personalities during the period of the just ended election campaign which started in September 2022, with mixed feelings and reactions. It is on record that while some of them moved freely around Nigeria and fielded questions (like Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party), others dodged all opportunities to be scrutinized by Nigerians (especially Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC) and refused to participate in many of the Town-Hall meetings organized by both the media and other concerned professional groups. Though Alhaji Atiku Abubakar did not perform badly during the electioneering campaigns and is deemed to have enough experience to be the President of Nigeria, the burden of the fact that he is seen as being one of the older generation of politicians who caused ruination of the economy of the country trails him as a man whose political fortunes have elapsed. For this reason, most Nigerians, excepting a few who will directly benefit from his presidency, believe that he should go home and rest.
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s case is a different ball game. The most significant contribution of the APC presidential candidate to the election debates and the verbal exchanges is on the glamor and comic side. Though some people attribute his unusual bala blu, bulaba rhetoric to a weakening physical and mental health as a result of his unknown age, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears to be the most trended comedian in Nigeria and indeed the world during the electioneering campaign period.
Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the MADUGU, visibly the most popular presidential candidate in Kano state and some other Northern state in Nigeria where the ‘Talakawas’ are in great numbers, takes after the great Nigerian politician, late Aminu Kano. Though Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is the next man to watch in northern politics as his influence continues to spread amongst the down-trodden northerners, he still remains a regional politician, both in his mentality (as confirmed by his views about other politicians especially those from the south) and in his non-acceptance beyond some states in northern Nigeria.
The last of the four Presidential candidates who has been mentioned earlier, who is at the forefront of all the frontrunners as confirmed by national and international opinion polls is Mr. Peter Obi. The most scrutinized Nigerian Presidential candidate ever to come out of any political party, Mr. Peter Obi has been beamed the searchlight by those who need to know the reasons why they must support him as well as others who are desirous of finding reasons for castigating him and whittling down his chances of emerging as the president of Nigeria.
With an organic followership imbued with love of the man and commonly bonded by the cause which every patriotic Nigerian holds dear in comparison with some of his colleagues who are known to rent crowds bought over with money or political errand boys (thugs) and other indirect beneficiaries all wanting to join in the queue to milk Nigeria drier, Mr. Peter Obi, the so-called structure-less presidential candidate of Labour Party has eventually become the cynosure of all eyes in Nigeria and within the international community. Suddenly his presence in the Nigerian political landscape has erected a vibrant animated and organic political structure of willing people who have established a self-sustaining, auto-piloted movement, the first of its kind in the political history of Nigeria.
The Chatham House London, (also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs) has a feel of the charisma and the preparedness of Mr. Peter Obi to tackle the problems of Nigeria when Mr. Peter Obi was invited to tell the world his governance intentions through that institute one of whose major functions as an independent policy institute is to provide commentary or world events by offering solutions to global challenges through periodically interrogating prospective African leaders who seek political offices in Africa, with a view to ascertaining their preparedness for the offices they seek.
Apart from capacity of the duo of Mr. Peter Obi and Senator (Dr.) Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed to reunite Nigeria, revamp the economy and restore security of lives and properties, the OBI-DATTI presidential ticket has some very serious moral implications for the Nigerian youths. Both of them stand clearly out as achievers in the private sector unlike two other major contestants whose immense wealth can be traced to either corruption and/or illicit businesses including narcotics.
Looking at the Nigeria society, has anybody ever asked why there is so much criminality amongst many Nigerian youths who compete amongst themselves to be more dastardly? Nigeria does not need a leader who will only secure her citizens and re-invigorate the economy, Nigeria also needs a leader who will show examples for the youths to emulate. Nigerian youths need a role model in their leader, a leader who will inspire them to altruistic behaviours and not a leader who has a tarnishing record of having been a drug baron and a money launderer, or a leader who is so corrupt that he is known to swindle anything ‘swindable’ that may come within his reach either in public office or in his business deals. As a matter of fact, Nigerian youths need a role model leader who must come out clean of all accusations to either corrupt enrichment or sleazing of public funds. There is no doubt, with available records, that Mr. Peter Gregory Onwubuasi Obi is an epitome of this exemplary role model leader.
In more decent and not morally bankrupt societies, some of the presidential candidates presenting themselves for the high and esteemed office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would have been safely relocated to spend their lifetimes in jail. But hitherto, and most unfortunately for Nigeria, these dubious personalities, very often, attain political limelight and leadership through whipping up the primordial sentiments of ethnicity and religion to the utter chagrin of the sensibilities of Nigerians of clean moral dicta. But thank God for the new political awareness of a greater number of Nigerian youths of diverse ethnic nationalities and religious faiths who are now, in common accord, saying ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘Never Again’.
In preparation for the 2023 general elections, the President, Mohammadu Buhari signed into law an electoral bill the contents of which are regarded by both Nigerians and the international community as being capable of changing the narratives upon which electoral victory in Nigeria can be attained. Few weeks before the elections, the President took another measure, the redesigning of the higher denominations of the Nigeria currency, the Naira, in order to forestall the buying of votes by politicians who have been warehousing tons of Naira for the elections.
These two measures have so much unsettled the politicians of the status quo that some of the APC states whose executive governors are afraid that they will lose their states to any of the opposition parties if they are presented from buying votes, hard to take the Federal Government to Court. Other APC party stalwarts like Chief Femi Fani Kayode and the executive Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasiu Ahmad El-Rufai accused the President of planning to replace himself with either an interim government or a military coup d’etat organized by officers most probably loyal to him.
It is most surprising to me that these two politicians most probably beclouded by their insatiable desire to continuously be relevant as they stay in the corridors of power, have missed to understand the strategic resolve of the President, a former Nigerian Military Head of State, to use his second chance in office as the Sovereign Head of the country, to put up some of the changes he may have failed to initiate in his first outing with General Tunde Idiagbon, when they were hushed out of the state house by General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
My understanding, therefore is that as a civilian President, Mohammadu Buhari does not want to miss the opportunity of his second chance to redeem both the abysmal failure of his inglorious eight years tenor, but also to stamp his feet upon the sands of time in the history of Nigeria. With the electoral bill signed into law and the Naira redesign, the President has just succeeded to stage, not the type of coup d’état envisaged by FFK and El Rufai, but a silent, successful, bloodless, yet politically revolutionary coup d’ grace to retire himself and his compatriots in politics as he leaves Aso Rock, in the same manner that the course mates and compatriots of an ascending Military Head of State are retired. His intention may be to send the older politicians back to their homes as he is going back to his home after the 2023 general elections.
By and large, the block votes of Nigerian youths (to whosoever they decide to give their votes), will determine who amongst the four frontrunners, will win in the presidential election. Yet, the voting pattern of Nigerian youths across the six geopolitical zones of the country during Saturday 25th February, 2023 presidential election will reveal to what extent these youths across the six geopolitical zones have minds of their own, that is, how far their minds are still beclouded by religious and tribal/ethnic sentiments.
With both ethnic and religious sentiment in his mind, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP had once boasted that northern Nigerian youths, most of whom do not use smart phones, according to him, will not vote a non-northerner in the 2023 presidential election. But he failed to tell Nigerians that he is one of the Northern Nigerian political elites who impoverished those northern Nigerian youths so much so that most of them are unable to buy smart phones and participate in the activities of the World Wide Web. It is also on record that Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP made a similar statement, specifically saying that Mr. Peter Obi can only be a President of the Igbo people. We shall see how it goes after the D-day, February 25th 2023.
Both the United States the United Kingdom and other Western European countries have encouraged Nigeria to conduct a peaceful election that is fair and just to the contesting parties. In this regard, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Phee has urged young Nigerians, the Nigerian youths, to take the bull by the horn and fix their country. Molly Phee said that the U.S Government or its Western Allies cannot change the Nigerian leaders but the youths can and must do that, if they desire a new working country, by using their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVCs) to elect a new political leadership in their country to govern them.
In furtherance to having a peaceful and fair election in Nigeria in 2023, a team of commonwealth-constituted election observer group with a former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki as the Chairperson, arrived Nigeria on Saturday 18th February, 2023, to keep watch over the elections.
After the presidential election on the 25th February, 2023, the group will be required to submit its recommendations in a report to the Commonwealth Secretary General, the RT. Hon Patricia Scotland K.C. She will accordingly send the report to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the INEC, and the Nigerian political parties who participated in the elections. Two days after the presidential election, precisely on 27th February 2023, an interim statement of the group’s preliminary assessment of the election will be delivered by the Chairperson of the group in a Press Conference. Apart from the Chairperson, the Commonwealth observer group comprises other 15 eminent personalities from around the Commonwealth nations. These include politicians, diplomats, and experts in law. People drawn from Human Rights group, gender equality campaigners and election administrators are also enlisted as members of the Commonwealth observer group.
The INEC, the independent Nigerian election umpire, as the name signifies, must resist any attempt from anybody or interest group not to do its work properly. Their declared results must reflect the true opinion of Nigerians after they have cast their votes. INEC must understand that all eyes are on it from all parts of the world. Whatever INEC does in the 2023 election will determine whether there would be peace in Nigeria after the election.
On its part, the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security must find proper ways to handle the security of voters during the election especially in such volatile area as the South East. INEC must also make sure that Nigerians who are still caught up in the IDP camps around the country especially in the northern parts of the country, are not denied the opportunities to vote in their camps.
One does not know the arrangement made by the INEC to bring back Nigerians whose IDP camps are located in the neighboring countries of the Cameroons and Benin Republic to exercise their franchise as the borders will be closed in a few days from now. One believes that the interest of these voters must have been taken care of by INEC in their planning. Additionally, the National Peace Committee in concert with INEC must commit all the stakeholders across the political parties to observe signed undertakings of the Peace Accord for keeping peace, eschewing violence and maintaining cordiality during and after elections when the results must have been announced.
In this regard, the warning to the supporters of political parties by the Nigerian Police Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, during an interview with Sunday Punch to maintain peace during the election campaign that just ended should be followed now with discreet underground surveillance of the activities of the supporters of political parties with a view to busting electoral crimes before they are perpetuated. Manning of the electoral polls by the security agencies should also be well co-ordinated.
The Nigerian situation has gone so bad as a result of the bad leadership of the present political elites that all Nigerians including those people who caused the ruination of the country are agreed that things must change. To do anything that may have the semblance of allowing the present socio-political and economic conditions of Nigeria and Nigerians to perpetuate will amount to committing suicide for those who do it because the Nigeria youths have become as restless and dangerous as bees whose beehives have been dismantled who will sting the members of the present political class with the worse venom that may not have been recorded in Nigerian political history. Additionally, the ‘mouth pieces’ of the expiring political class must be careful and not delude themselves that all is well. They must not underrate the present restiveness of Nigerian youths and the resolve of the youths to carry on to the conclusion, the present silent revolution sweeping across the country.
Nigerian must guide itself not to walk the dangerous path walked by Somalia when Somalian henchman and President, Mohammed Siad Barre was forced out of office by the Somali people’s rebellion. Nigeria must run away from installing an unpopular government on Nigerians because that government will not hold forth for a long time. There could be internal insurrections that could lead to the type of power vacuum at the centre that happened in Somalia when having become very unpopular, Mohammed Siad Barre was chased out of the office by Somalians. With that power vacuum, Somalia slided into anarchy within days. That anarchy led to the gruesome Somalian civil war known to be one of the deadliest civil wars in modern history.
It will be too bad for the 2023 election in Nigeria to slide out of control. Though a fierce battle for the soul of Nigeria will be fought at the polls in few days from now, this battle must not be allowed to enter the streets by the security agencies because much of the stolen wealth of the country already in control of very deadly, ambitious men and power mangers across the country, will be available for them to seek control of parts or all of the country. May God not allow us to walk the path of Somalia.
Everybody must do something for the survival of the country as the battle for the soul of Nigeria subsists.
The least but most important thing anybody must do as the battle for the soul of Nigeria enter the final stage is to go and vote on Saturday February 25th 2023 for a presidential candidate who will turn around the fortunes of the country.
Desmond Tutu once said that “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”, while Mr. Peter Obi, talking about the battle for the soul of Nigeria tells Nigerians of all religions and ethnicities that, “In this battle, if you can’t run, walk! If you can’t walk, crawl! If you can’t crawl, roll! If you can’t roll, shout! By all means, we must be on the move and we must be heard”.
To be properly and finally heard, Nigerians, I repeat must go out on Saturday February 25th 2023 to vote and elect a President to lead all of us and usher in a new Nigeria of our common dream.
So help us God!
ABUCHI OBIORA
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