It is often said that politicians think about the next election while statesmen think about the next generation. A professional politician in Nigeria is a person who takes politics as an occupation and as a means of livelihood. To him, politics is the business of buying and selling of goods and services for personal gains. He does not have any other thing doing except politics. The goods and services being vote buying, thuggery, rigging, rituals, corrupt practices, killing, indeed he can do anything to win election and remain in power. He is a perpetual lawbreaker.

A statesman is a person who is experienced in the art of government or versed in the administration of government affairs. He is a person who exhibits great wisdom and ability in directing the affairs of a government or in dealing with important public issues. He is a professional in politics. He is often someone who has accumulated a lot of experience and wisdom in other areas of human endeavour and came into politics to use such experience and wisdom for the benefit of the people.

Nigeria is beset with a lot of problems today because the majority of our politicians are professional politicians not professionals in politics. In 1999, when democracy came back to Nigeria, after many years of military dictatorship, a lot of good people and statesmen stayed away from politics because of the fear that democracy will not last beyond one tenure with the attendant consequences that the military boys will come back to power and sentence the politicians that served in the previous regime to hundreds of years in prison. It happened in 1966, when the first coup was executed in Nigeria leading to the killing of some of the foremost Nigerian politicians. It happened in 1983, when the Second Republic was overthrown by the military and the politicians sentenced to hundreds of years in jail. It happened in 1993, when the June 12 presidential election was annulled and the winner put in prison by the military until he died.

With this fear at the back of the minds of the good people in 1999, they refused to go into politics thereby leaving the democratic space to professional politicians. Fortunately, for the professional politicians, democracy refused to be extirpated by the military. The people were so tired of military regime that they were willing to tolerate the professional politicians with their baggage. The professionals and statesmen had no choice, but to become their servants. It is often said that the penalty the good men pay for not being in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.

We said earlier that the major preoccupation of the professional politician is the next election. In advanced nations where statesmen are in charge of politics, immediately after an election, every politician will rally round the winner and concentrate on the governance of the country for the betterment of their people. In America, which practises the same presidential system of government like us, immediately after a presidential election, no politician indicates interest for the office of the president until after two years. For instance, President Donald Trump of America was elected on November 8, 2016 and sworn in on January 20, 2017. No politician in the United States of America indicated interest in the presidency until in January 2019. They recognised that the whole idea of politics is for governance and they give the winner clear two years to govern before challengers emerge.

In Nigeria, the framers of our laws recognised that as a developing nation, we need more time for governance than for politicking and restricted the time for campaigns by political parties to only 90 days to the next election thereby releasing a whopping three years, nine months out of the four-year tenure to the winners of the elections to govern. Section 99(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended states: “For the purpose of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day”.

Unfortunately, this provision of the Electoral Act is often obeyed in the breach by professional politicians. Immediately after the presidential election held on February 23, 2019 in Nigeria and won by President Muhammadu Buhari, these politicians unashamedly commenced the campaign for the 2023 presidential election with the attendant negative consequences on the stability and good governance of the country.

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With profound respect, divisive calls and campaigns ahead of the electoral timetable for 2023 presidential election is having negative consequences on the stability and good governance of the nation. Our elders involved in such calls must understand that their words count and are capable of overheating the polity.

It is believed that the attack on the cordiality between the President and his constitutional deputy, the VP by a group of people within and outside government is done in order to sow seeds of discord as some of them are afraid of what 2023 portends. The VP has not indicated any interest in running for the office of the president come 2023, yet several allegations against him are mounting by the day. Some allegations include that some money was found in some private accounts related to the VP family; that some FIRS funds were traced to VP’s office; that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu himself is behind the attempt to smear the VP because of his interest in the 2023 presidential race and so on. Indeed, one Mr Timi Frank drove it to a ridiculous level by insinuating that the FIRS gave the VP the sum of N90 billion for the 2019 campaigns. The VP’s office has described all of such allegations as “grand lies”. They have even gone further to threaten legal actions against some of the accusers.

As a student of management, I was taught that when there is confusion in the highest level of leadership, the confusion spreads down to the lowest levels and this affects the productivity of the organisation, institution or government. The promoters of the 2023 presidential project should respect our electoral laws and stop this immediately. The political parties must immediately caution their members to refrain from publicly making statements or campaigning for anybody for the 2023 presidential election until the time appointed for campaigns is fulfilled.

On a personal note, let Mr Frank come out openly with his evidence to prove that FIRS gave the VP N90 billion for the 2019 elections. I say this because I was a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, 2019 and we were told clearly that there was no money to share; that President Buhari made it clear that he will not dip hands in the public treasury to bring out money for party campaigns.

I, personally, went out with the VP on campaigns in the street of Abuja and I did not see his office sharing money. I was with the VP in Lagos with Festus Keyamo, SAN and Alhaji Nasir Danu, when we organised a meeting with the entertainment industry and I had the duty of telling the entertainment industry that there was no money to share. Till date, some of them thought we received big money from the VP’s office and refused to share.

I personally organised a rally for President Muhammadu Buhari in Kurudu, Abuja that attracted the presence of the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo to represent the president and a crowd in thousands from the six councils of Abuja and was not given any money to share. I spent chunk of my money for the rally and confessed openly to the crowd that nobody gave me money to share. Some of the organizers of the rally still thought that I was given multi-millions for the rally and I refused to share. We campaigned solely on the goodwill of President Buhari and VP Prof Yemi Osibanjo. I am interested in Mr Frank proving his wide and wild allegations against the VP, so that if he succeeds, I will give a fresh bill to the VP’s office to indemnify me with multi-millions for my efforts.