Every election has a story that sets it apart from the previous ones. So is every candidate that offers himself to public office, especially the highest office in the land – the presidency. The very moment the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the kick-off of political campaigns, effective September 28, 2022, I began to look out for what the campaign strategy of the presidential candidates, in particular, the main contenders, would look like. This is because the message of any serious contender to the office of the President is centred on the strategy of his campaign, his promises in concise form, simply spoken. It serves as a compass, a window of sort to look into the vision, the character, competence and mindfulness of that particular candidate.
With only 38 days left for the Presidential poll on February 25, it’s safe to say that the campaigns are on the homestretch. I have mixed feelings about the performance of few of the presidential candidates, in particular, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Anyone who has been following his comments on the campaign trail, his numerous gaffes, lack of quick mind, incoherence, inability to articulate his facts, will be utterly disappointed about what could happen, if par chance, he became the President-elect. He strikes me as cold and arrogant, even naive and egotistical. Very often, he plays fast and loose with the facts. And you begin to ask: Is this the stuff of a presidential material? Please, answer! For me, it’s beginning to sink in why he failed to show up when his other presidential colleagues signed the Peace Accord in Abuja, last Sept. 28, for a peaceful campaign in the forthcoming election. It’s also clearer now why he told his supporters while in the United Kingdom last year that victory in election “is not given ala carta in a restaurant”. They should “grab it and run with it”, he urged them. Disparaging his opponents with over the top comments has become so common and nauseating. At a campaign rally in Ondo state, January 7, he lambasted the PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party Presidential candidate. While he derisively called Atiku as ‘Mr. Privatise’, he called Obi, ‘Mr. Stingy’. He urged voters to reject them at the polls. He claimed that while Atiku would sell the ‘birthright of Nigeria and run away with the proceeds’, Obi would “save money and starve Nigerians”, if elected the President of Nigeria next month. Agreed the campaign trail is often where you hear the ‘good, the bad, and the ugly’, but sometimes, over the top comments take away the real issues in the campaign. Considering the deep hole Nigeria is today, no thanks to the misgovernance of the APC, Nigerians want to hear the truth, simply spoken and the solutions in short, medium and long-terms. It’s about trust, character, performance, background of candidates. As Obi framed it last week while addressing academics at the Business School of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka(UNN), his Alma mater, “Don’t handover a sick country to a sick man, who can’t stand for 30 minutes”. If this is a jab at one of the presidential candidates, it’s also a ringing warning for the voters that the presidential election is so consequential that no margin of errors should be tolerated in the choices before the electorate. It’s also an advice that should be heeded or else we live with the choice we make on February 25. If Obi is ‘Mr. Stingy’, it may be fitting to call Asiwaju Tinubu as ‘Mr. Spendthrift’ or a ‘freewheeler’. Between ‘Mr. Stingy’ and ‘Mr. Spendthrift’, which one is better? Is like asking: Accountability/Prudent management of resources, and wastefulness/generate and spend, which is a better option for a country like ours in dire straits as a result of corruption that has taken a frightening level under the watch of Buhari presidency. What Tinubu has said about Obi, was a clear message that should he (Tinubu) be elected as president, he would not be ready to save for the “rainy day”. ‘Obi, no dey give shishi’, signifies prudence, not wastefulness, because there’s wisdom in being frugal. Period! In different ways, the ‘old brigade’ politicians in Nigeria have misled themselves in their vaulting and entitlement ambition, that the presidency is a prize to be won rather than a duty to be done. But unknown to them, Nigeria’s political architecture is changing thick and fast before their very eyes. Today, there’s a ‘new order’, new cadence and rhythm in our politics. The citizens are wiser. The emergence of Mr. Peter Obi is driving our politics in astonishing manner, bringing hope and optimism in the horizon. The incontrovertible fact is that Obi, more than any other national figure, is defining the public agenda for the presidential election. He has been arguing – articulately and emphatically – the urgent need to fix a broken Nigeria, clean up the mess, cut the cost and size of governance. He has been marshaling out the challenges of immediate sort that confront us, and proffering solutions. He has urged the youths to ‘take back their country’. This is their time, their season, he says. Everywhere he goes, his message is resonating. It’s a measure of his frugality, not stinginess. As a critic of the present system in Nigeria that has left millions of Nigerians in extreme poverty and the country on the brink of collapse, Obi reminds everyone who cares to listen, that one of the aims of his struggle “is to dismantle the present structure of criminality” in our country. It’s not by any violent means, but through citizens’ active participation in the democratic process. And that’s why some spokespersons of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Council are in overdrive to malign the truth regarding Obi’s record of accomplishments. There’s no doubt that Tinubu has done some wonderful things as a politician. It’s also true that he has done some terrible things, and all of them came out of the same place. But this is my take on him. His pride and feeling of entitlement are stronger than his recognition of his Achilles heel. I reiterate the point I made in this column September 6, 2022, to the effect that Tinubu views admitting the truth as a sign of weakness. His understanding of what leadership entails in turbulent times like what Nigeria is going through today is wrapped up in self-worth, and failure to admit that anybody else possesses better qualities to be the next President of Nigeria”. There is a danger with people who have such mindset. Their dream often ends in tears. That’s exactly the prophesy foretold in the book of Daniel 11:25. It says that the “king of the South will prepare himself for the war with an exceedingly large and mighty army, but it will not stand”. Indisputably, Tinubu sees next month’s presidential election as ‘war’ that must be fought with all arsenal at his disposal. Everywhere he goes, he draws this to the attention of his supporters. For him, it’s “winner takes all”. It’s like a player playing his last game. We can understand. The same with Atiku. But there’s life after politics. A recognition of this fact will make our politicians not to be seeing political contests as “do-or- die affair”. That’s why having a larger end has always been more important for political leaders than businesspeople. For such political actors, power means nothing but the desire for power and to use it to bend people to their will. Across the states, such tyrants are strutting the political stage, preventing other political parties except their own from holding campaign rallies. These actors don’t have vision beyond their own immediate advancement. They are literally paralyzed once the goal has been achieved. That’s what Peter Obi is up against, in his words, “to dismantle the present structures of criminality” that have held this country down for a long time. The stars seem aligned in his favour.