Hopefully in the upcoming election we will focus on the ideas of the candidates as opposed to their religion, tribe and party affiliations. We have always focused on the wrong things and it has done us no good. The time for Nigerians and most especially the youth to prove to the world that they are tired of the disservice of our leaders is fast approaching…
As the 2019 election is fast approaching, a phenomenon that is responsible for the current state of affairs in Nigeria has resurfaced once more. This is the enthusiasm to select recycled/weak candidates who already have tainted political resumes but whose past misdeed we seem to forget, for some reason or the other, and fall for their messages of “hope”. It is puzzling how we think that a politician who has failed in office in the past or who has been involved in a scandal will all of a sudden turn a new leaf. If you ask many Nigerians why the country has not met her potential, I am sure most people will blame it on poor leadership but one would think that since we know the problem then we can simply solve the problem by picking better leaders. For so many years, the electorate have seen their voices silenced at the polls through massive rigging by unscrupulous politicians, which has led to political apathy for some and for others, the willingness to “sell” their votes for little gifts (i.e. food and paltry sums of money) because at the end of the day it’s not like their votes actually matter.
On a brighter note, the use of the PVC (permanent voter’s card), which started in the last election, could be the solution to this issue of poor leadership. I am aware that the last election still had some rigging in spite of the use of the PVC, but the voter’s card has made rigging a much more difficult task. The elections that were rigged in 2015 were possible because some candidates and political party bigwigs bombarded the polling units and cajoled election officials to change the results of the election. This can be mitigated in this coming elections by the voters staying back at the polling units until the votes are counted and aggressively protecting the area to prevent any contact between the candidates and the electoral officials. More so, voters can record any irregularities on their phones and hand it to the news agencies. It is high time citizens grabbed the bull by the horn, because at the end of the day we are the ones who suffer when weak leaders are elected.
However, the PVC is only a tool to prevent electoral malpractice, but it cannot stop Nigerians from picking the wrong candidates. We need to pick candidates based on merit and qualification, as opposed to tribal sentiments. What good does it do to have your kinsman in power who lacks the capacity to improve the country? More so, any Nigerian that believes that there is a major difference between APC and PDP is grossly misinformed. There is no ideological difference between political parties in Nigeria, which is why politicians jump from party to party shamelessly. If there were ideological differences between both partie,s it would be difficult for politicians to switch parties because doing so would be tantamount to switching ideologies, which in reality is a slow process.
I have noticed that there is the notion that if a great candidate does not belong to either of the two major political parties, then s/he does not stand a chance of victory. I used to fall victim to that line of thinking but fortunately I have evolved from that thought process. If we all get our PVCs and decide to vote in a dynamic candidate from a lesser known party, then that candidate will win because it is all about numbers. I believe that we need younger candidates with technocratic experience who are not career politicians. If the youth (because the youth are the majority in the Nigerian population) overwhelmingly support candidates like that, then we may eventually see the Nigeria we have all be yearning for. A leader that truly emerges from the people is the recipe for success!
Televised debates should be mandatory, as it would expose the weak candidates because the nation can see their body language and be able to critique their ideas. I enjoyed the 2017 Anambra Gubernatorial Debate on Channels TV and I hope we have many more this election cycle. If we truly embrace democracy, then the political parties should push for their flagbearers to square off in a national debate.
Hopefully in the upcoming election we will focus on the ideas of the candidates as opposed to their religion, tribe and party affiliations. We have always focused on the wrong things and it has done us no good. The time for Nigerians and most especially the youth to prove to the world that they are tired of the disservice of our leaders is fast approaching and I hope we don’t miss this opportunity.
Uju Obii-Obioha, a procurement professional and contract specialist, writes from Maryland, USA.
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