Despite the rolling out of drums to celebrate the June 12 Democracy Day, ethnicity and religion can no longer be ignored in our politics, including how we elect our leaders. In a diverse country like Nigeria with over 200 ethnic groups and different religions, there is no way ethnicity and religion will be divorced from our politics, especially at a time when some parties have jettisoned the zoning arrangement between the North and the South and when there are fears over domination by a certain ethnic group and when there are attacks on Christianity and pastors in recent times, including the murderous attack at St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.
It is interesting that some presidential candidates are finding it difficult to select their running mates because of the need to ensure ethnic and religious balancing. For the PDP and the LP, the choice of a running mate will not be problematic and even for the APC too because the country has a North and South divide. The fact that the South is predominantly Christian and the North predominantly Muslims makes the choice much easier. But in our usual way of making simple matters complex, some people went ahead to mull the idea of a Muslim/Muslim ticket probably to satisfy their curiosity or certain ends. To some of the parties, the choice of a running mate has been reduced to a vehicle to win votes, to get power and not necessarily who will be in charge in the absence of the president. Nobody is talking about the qualification of the running mate and his ability to do the job, all that matters now is winning election and not even the wellbeing of the state and the citizens’ matters to the politicians anymore. While some people have argued that what matters in the choice of a running mate is competence and not the ethnic group or religion of the person in question, others have countered by saying that if a presidential candidate is a Muslim from the South, it is most likely that his running mate will be a Christian from the North and vice versa. The last may not have been heard over the issue. No matter what happens at the end of the day, the need for ethnic and religious balancing in the conduct of our political affairs cannot be wished away, because it is in line with our existential realities.
We cannot pretend to be what we are not or pretend to be Americans when actually we are not. Every politics is local and must be dictated by local realities and the prevailing material culture. It can never be externalized. Doing so will disrupt our fragile unity and may even lead to unimaginable crisis. We should as well try to avert such ominous calamities. But some people are saying that we had a Muslim/Muslim ticket in June 12, 1993 election and Nigerians voted for them. Unfortunately, that poll was annulled by the then military leaders based on some reasons which are already in the public domain. The proponents of same faith ticket have gone to a great length to justify such a choice with laughable reasons without minding that the Nigeria of today is quite different from the Nigeria of June 12, 1993 era. They should be reminded that the ethnic and religious differences among Nigerians have become obvious since 2015 when this change administration came on board. The appointments by this administration have been in favour of a certain ethnic group while another ethnic group has totally been marginalized in that exercise.
Nigerians are very much conscious of their ethnic and religious affiliations now more than ever before and it is not healthy in our nation-building enterprise where all ethnic groups are expected to be equal partners. The Nigeria of today has lost the dream of our founding fathers and every part is on its own waiting anxiously for what will happen next, the fire next door. We are still in all this omnibus together because of the oil money and some other gains. When they dry out as they will do sooner or later, every person will answer his papa’s name, as we say in local parlance. It will surely be to your tents Oh Israel, what portion do we have in David? May this not be our portion.
As we move towards the 2023 electoral contest, which will be mainly between Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), ethnicity and religion will to a large extent decide the outcome of the poll. It is sad that after over 60 years of independence, primordial sentiments still dominate our politics. That the situation is so is because we have not been able to fashion a nation out of the assemblage of motley ethnic groupings hurriedly put together and Christened Nigeria, the people of Niger area, by the British imperialists as they were being chased away to leave us alone and go and mind their own business in their cold environment. Although nation-building and putting in place an enduring democracy takes a lot of time to achieve.
Unfortunately, ours has taken a longer time than necessary because we have not really sat together to fashion out a Nigeria of our dream, a Nigeria created in our image and likeness and not that of the runaway colonizer. As we prepare to vote the next set of leaders to manage the affairs of our greatly endowed country but the poverty capital of the world, let us vote for people who can really manage the affairs of this country and remove us from the shackles of bondage, misery and poverty.
We want leaders who know what they will do to make the country great and how they will do it. We want leaders who are adequately prepared, physically and emotionally, to handle the affairs of this giant of Africa. Our collective aspiration should be to have a country which will serve as a reference point in Africa and the world for all that is good. And we can do it. We should stop being known for all indices of underdevelopment. We have the men and resources to truly make Nigeria, the giant of not only Africa but the black world. The presidential candidates need not bore us with unnecessary rhetoric.
Let them briefly tell us what they will do to ensure that we have steady power supply within a four-year timeframe. They must tell us how to shore up the value of the naira, how they can ensure the security of life and property and lift over 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. Let them briefly tell us how they can end the ASUU strike and bring over 15 million out-of-school children into the classroom. They should tell us how they can revive the healthcare system and stop the medical tourism as well as the brain drain in the sector. I can go on and on because there are so many challenges facing the country. They are at liberty to choose the ones they can tackle effectively. The choice is theirs but they can do so without resorting to mudslinging or name-calling.