Despite the depressing mood of the nation occasioned by daunting security challenges across the country and killings by criminals, bandits, terrorists and of recent religious extremists, politics is dominating the news on a daily basis. Not even the senseless and barbaric killing of Deborah Yakubu by some religious extremists in Sokoto over alleged blasphemy could eclipse the political news.
Whether the government will fish out the killers of Deborah Yakubu and give them adequate punishment or not will be deciphered in the days and months ahead. And should they be allowed to evade justice like others before it, the circle of such religious inspired lynching will continue. All Nigerians must be equal before the law. The law should be no respecter of persons, no matter how highly placed. The rising religious intolerance in some parts of the country must be stemmed for peace to reign. While calling for justice for the deceased, the issue of religious inspired murders will be a topic for another day.
Not even the killings and destruction of people’s buildings in some parts of the South-East and the ritualized and normalized sit-at-home orders and prevention of school children from taking JAMB and WAEC exams could stop the dominance of political news. Do I add the Dei-Dei uprising in Abuja, the gas or bomb explosion in Kano and the ban of Okada in some parts of Lagos State with effect from June 1? The ban which affects six local government areas and some development centres is indefinite. Unfortunately, these developmental issues are still being strongly overshadowed by politics. Apart from football, our lives revolve around politics. Politics is the biggest business in the country with the highest return on investment. If we get our politics right, every other thing will hopefully be right.
On daily basis, politicians of different colours are moving all over the country regaling Nigerians with their individual tales of how they will redeem the sinking Nigerian nation only if we give them the chance of becoming the country’s next chief executive officer come May 29, 2023 when President Muhammadu Buhari will quit the stage and probably retire to his farm in Daura, Katsina State. Good enough, the presidency has reiterated that the May 29, 2023 handover date is sacrosanct in spite of calls for tenure elongation by some patriots.
Regardless of the kind of redemption song some of the presidential aspirants are singing currently in order to woo voters, party delegates in this particular instance, to their side, one noticeable trend is the quality of aspirants on parade from virtually all the six regions of the country. Another remarkable development is what the aspirants are saying they will offer Nigerians if given the chance to preside over the affairs of the country in the next four years. Unlike 2015 and 2019 election seasons where voters faced limited choices, 2023 election season is quite different as more energetic and knowledgeable and even visionary Nigerians have joined the race whether they will win or not.
Although politicians in this part of the world don’t normally do what they promise when they get the power, the current crop of presidential aspirants are saying fundamental things about the country, why the country is not developing and how best they can salvage the country. Some of their promises such as restructuring, making the country productive, revamping the education sector and other sweet, sweet talks, which politicians say during political campaigns, are resonating with many Nigerians. With the nation’s 15million out-of-school children population, any incoming president will really do something to put all of them in the school system. A country that has 15 million children without education will not know peace and development. Such a country is playing with a ticking time bomb which will explode sooner than later. The general insecurity in the country can be traced to years of frustration and marginalization of some Nigerians from the good life a government is supposed to give its citizens.
The agitation in the South-East is due to over 50 years of political and economic emasculation of people of the zone on account of the Nigeria/Biafra war. The disillusionment caused by this state-engineered political exclusion and mass youth unemployment can be blamed for the continuous restiveness in the South-East region and why many of them are clamouring for a separate nation state of their own.
It is likely that the insecurity in the North-East and the North-West maybe due to some unresolved and unaddressed past injustices. The herdsmen killings, noticeably more in the North-Central zone than other zones, can as well be traced to some unattended injustices. The aforementioned injustices are pertinent issues that are urgently begging for state attention in our new journey and resolve to reclaim our failing or failed nation. This is why Nigerians will pay attention to those aspirants who are promising us that they will restructure the country, make Nigeria a productive country, and create wealth and prosperity. Many Nigerians, especially the patriotic ones, are aware that restructuring the country in such a way that there will be a measure of autonomy among the federating units will to a large extent reduce the tension and insecurity in the country. Those aspirants promising decentralization of the police and reorganization of the security architecture and ensuring the security of life and property, the primary function of government, are worth listening to because their themes also resonate with most Nigerians. Let the presidential aspirants take note that Nigerians are listening and jotting down their promises and will hold them into account should they default if entrusted with power next year. Let them only promise what they can really do and not be carried away by the euphoria of the moment to say what we would like to hear. The aspirants must note that in an era of the internet, nothing said can be erased any more as the internet never forgets.
As from next week and thereabout, when the parties must have concluded their primaries, the race to 2023 will be clearer and Nigerians will know the candidates and campaigns will take off in full swing. Already, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given all political parties up to June 3 to conclude their primaries. Therefore, let the parties be serious with the primary elections and conduct them with utmost fairness and transparency, irrespective of the mode of conducting it.
The electoral laws allow for three modes of conducting primaries, direct, indirect and consensus. One of the vital requirements for the conduct of direct primaries is that the party in question must furnish INEC a hard and soft copies of the complete party register. Another is that there will be no discrepancy between the hard and soft copies. What this means is that without the submission of the party register, it will be difficult for any party to conduct direct primary. The consensus mode of primary has its problems as well because not many politicians will agree to a consensus, whether imposed or real.
Nevertheless, whichever mode a party chooses to conduct its primary, it must stick to the stipulated rules and the electoral umpire must ensure that the primaries are transparently conducted. Imposition of candidates must be avoided because that has been the bane of our politics. We must all strive to get the primaries right and if that is done, it will definitely rub-off on the 2023 elections.
