By Ambali Abdulkabeer
Nigeria, for instance, is a complex entity littered with heavy realities only a young, energetic and creative leader can handle. Whatever happens, limiting our choice to a candidate from the list of Tinubu, Osinbajo Jonathan, Atiku or anybody in their clique would mean a lot of harm for the future of the country. The reasons are simple to grasp.
As 2023 elections draw close, scores of unsuspecting Nigerians forming sudden ad hoc political groups of critics, analysts and fans have taken to the social media to offer their comments on who should succeed Buhari. Some people have even started to mobilize themselves for Tinubu as a sort of best presidential candidate. While this continues, a close friend informed me of the ongoing efforts by some young people in his locality to pool support for Saraki too. Similarly, I have seen a growing caucus of people confidently aligning themselves with Atiku as their choice in the next presidential race. In all of this, what is evident is the fact that Nigerians are surprising people wired to toxic decisions that have continued to stymy the progress of the country. Here is why.
Recall that the ouser of Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 in favour of Buhari was on the back of people’s lack of confidence in the PDP administration and the fact that the party failed to address the country’s widening problem of insecurity as well as humongous corruption. Not minding the physical, intellectual and emotional capital of the one coming to power, Nigerians willingly trooped out to aid the emergence of a disastrous regime in which the country is enmeshed. No argument that Nigerians, that time, were not only tired of a government that perpetually folded arms while the country was heading an abyss, they were also desirous to change the head of Ask Rock at all cost. Six years on, here is a country under the siege of terror resulting from the utter failure of a government that rode on insecurity to win the space.
As a Nigerian, I have always felt irritated by the political philosophy driving the Nigerian public. It seems that despite an abundance of politically informed people in the country, there is obvious lack of coordinated attempt to sanitize our political environment and make those in power accountable. The situation is so worse that even among the so-called educated Nigerians, nothing of substance or strong enough to create sound political awareness, which can bring about the true change the country needs, exists. This is why the political firmament is suffused with people who have no concern for the progress of Nigeria and her people. Should the self-induced problems terrorizing the country continue? No!
Nigerians must look beyond the boring, geriatric thugs who have have been controlling the political stage since the country’s notional independence As I wrote somewhere, gerontocracy— a system where by the political space is occupied bya group of old people or council of elders— is grossly inimical to the progress of Africa as a continent. As far as I know, almost all the African countries under the rulership of old, ideas-deficient leaders don’t get it right. Nigeria, for instance, is a complex entity littered with heavy realities only a young, energetic and creative leader can handle. Whatever happens, limiting our choice to a candidate from the list of Tinubu, Osinbajo Jonathan, Atiku or anybody in their clique would mean a lot of harm for the future of the country. The reasons are simple to grasp.
There is no denying that none of these people are better. As a matter of fact, all are the selfish enablers of a system that has been holding Nigeria to ransom. Jonathan, like the other three, have served Nigeria in different capacities and the record is there for us to see. Don’t let us talk about Atiku’s never-ending mania to sell what is left of the country. Tinubu is lethargic and intellectually incapacitated to lead a nation as complex as Nigeria. In other words, these people but Osinbajo lack the required physical and intellectual capital to handle the country’s multilayered issues. They can be described as a coterie of people ailing what is left of a generously blessed nation.
Israelmore Ayivo once said, “You don’t necessarily need atomic bombs to destroy a nation. Politicians who value their pockets than the life of citizens always do that every day”. So given how terribly battered Nigeria has been courtesy of Buhari-led regime, it would be ridiculously wrong for Nigerians with vestige of hope in the future of the country to circumscribe their choice to one of these people who are only obsessed with the growth of their personal wealth and interests to the detriment of the masses. So there is need for us to rework things.
I am bent out of shape by the opinion of some Nigerians that a new, young president is a mirage, based on how needlessly expensive the country’s old stagers have rendered the system. Of course, the opinion isn’t untrue; it just emblematizes our lack of sincere readiness for the struggle towards a better country. The political perspectives of most Nigerian electorate have been so badly configured that they fail to pay attention to new, young, intellectually sophisticated candidates contesting political positions. The abysmal, thoroughly ignorant politics of fraud that pushed Omoyele Sowore and Kingley Moghalu out of attention in the 2015 general elections is a testament to this. This has to stop if we truly want progress for the country.
That brilliant America-based Nigerian who is a Professor of Journalism and dispassionate sociopolitical commentator, Farooq Kperogi, in one of his recent Facebook posts, brilliantly analyses what can be called the Nigeria’s presidential dilemma and advances that the best presidential candidate in 2023 elections should not be from these old contenders. According to him, “People who are picking favourites among these monsters of deciet and fraud are not only clueless, they are also enablers of Nigeria’s progressive decent to the nadir of hopelessness. Our options are not limited to Tinubu, Osinbajo, or even Atiku and all other older stagers who have been endlessly circulating themselves in the political arena and who’re responsible for the perilous state of the country. If we really want national salvation, we must be prepared to do the hard work of looking beyond the villains who have got us to where we are today”.
In other words, in order to secure a future for our beleaguered country, Nigerians must support the vision of a young, vibrant candidate whose political and intellectual credentials can be trusted. Nigeria is witnessing hard times and deserving of creative, energetic and proactive president who can rule the country differently. We will definitely find one if we’re really ready for the task.
Ambali Abdulkabeer is a writer and critic of contemporary writing based in the northern part of Nigeria. He can be reached via abdulkabeerambali@gmail.com.
