2019: Peace And Pieces Of Nigeria

By SOC Okenwa..

Last week Sunday marked the official commencement of electoral hostilities toward the 2019 general elections in Nigeria. Political parties (including the ruling APC party and the opposition PDP) had launched their campaign manifestoes signalling the start of what promises to be weeks and months of gruelling campaign for votes in the presidential, gubernatorial and legislative polls slated for February next year. For the embattled APC-led Federal Government they promised taking Nigeria to the “Next Level”.

And for the PDP its presidential flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, unveiled the ‘Atiku Policy Document’ aimed at ‘Making Nigeria Work Again’. And for the Omoyele Sowore-led African Action Congress (AAC) it was “Taking Nigeria Back” from the political wolves and hyenas, corrupt old politicians that had, for decades, ruined our collective hopes and aspirations.

Read also: The Salient Issues in the 2019 General Election

Of course as we approach the Yuletide and the ushering in of a new year we are bound, of course, to hear and read and see political fireworks from the different camps trying to push for the ultimate victory. Indeed the general elections of 2019 promises to be an interesting one for many conceivable reasons.

For one, it is going to be a competitive one quite unlike no other before now. For another, we have got a lot of new talents taking interest in politics and poised to make a difference. And for yet another the incumbent President’s failures have led many disgruntled and disenchanted Nigerians, in their silent majority, to think that the status quo ought to give way for a new order.

It has been predicted that it would be a tough electoral battle, one too close to call for now! Apart from the leading two parties (APC/PDP) there are dozens of other political formations jostling to replace the failed retired General in Aso Rock muddling up our lives. Upon being advised by some prominent compatriots to quit the stage for a younger more competent leader to emerge President Buhari has remained adamant deciding to try his luck yet again.

Since 2015 (almost four odd years down the line) when Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new President it was then a straight electoral fight between the then incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan, and the then opposition (now incumbent) President Buhari. Having tried and failed three consecutive times to clinch the presidency Buhari was in a better position to have beaten Jonathan whose rudderless administation was generously accused of gross incompetence, grand corruption and insecurity of lives and properties of our compatriots up north.

For the first time ever in our giddy democratic experiment an incumbent President was then soundly defeated in a relatively free and fair election. And he (the vanquished) promptly acknowledged his defeat in deference to the democratic tradition and system or what we were made to believe. Back then in 2015 there was a groundswell of public opinion against the re-election of GEJ based on the fact that he had been found wanting on many scores and fronts — socially, economically and politically.

Like this year (months leading to the crucial polls) 2014 had witnessed a gale of defections from the then ruling PDP party to the then opposition APC coalition. Alas the millions and billions of Dollars looted from the state treasury (remember Dasuki-gate and Diezani-gate?) could not save Jonathan from the humiliating trouncing he deservedly received from the Buhari crowd.

Today, however, Buharism has unravelled, demystified as it were by a combination of factors to wit: nepotism, insecurity, selective war on graft and ubiquitous economic mismanagement leading to mass poverty and increasing unemployment.

In the eyes of many Nigerians the Daura man (“Jubril from Sudan” or whatever) of vaunted integrity has failed like others before him. So given the present exigencies of the times it is incumbent on the Nigerian electorates to unify their desire towards electing a new competent and capable hand to set or re-set Nigeria back on the path of sanity and development.

The two frontline candidates, according to the history of the past presidential combats, remain the incumbent Buhari and the re-invigorated opposition PDP’s Atiku Abubakar. However, there are other notable eminently-qualified Nigerians in the race too. It is expectedly a crowded race involving the serious and the unserious! Seriously speaking nonetheless some great Nigerians have thrown their hats into the ring ready to do battle. Among them ‘SaharaReporters’ publisher, Comrade Omoyele Sowore, (a former radical student union leader), former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili and former Cross Rivers State Governor, Donald Duke.

With the recent launch of the APC campaign manifesto document tagged “Next Level” some critics were asking whether Buhari and his handlers wanted to take Nigeria to the next level of misery, bloodletting, unemployment, economic fluctuations and mass frustrations? The ‘next level’ to where? Besides what about the suit filed by an organisation in America claiming that their intellectual property had been violated by the “Next Level” plagiarism? Does it then mean that no fresh ideas exist anymore in the Buhari camp to warrant a ‘stealing’ of next level logo? What if the American-based establishment triumphs in the litigation? Would there then be a change of ‘next level’ slogan to ‘past level’?

The ‘Atiku Plan’ contains some refreshing promises for a better nation. Apart from restructuring the Waziri Adamawa promised to tinker with a lot of policies and programmes of the incumbent regime. He has said he would sell off the majority federal share in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He boasted recently that he knew how Boko Haram was formed and how to defeat same! He has told Nigerians how prepared he is for the job having coveted same for decades.

Atiku Abubakar at 72 is indeed an old man but he is cosmopolitan in nature. He is well connected and seems to understand the language of Nigerians as it concerns job creation, wealth creation, efforts against corruption and devolution of powers to the states. But Atiku remains a big man with big baggage. He has made up with his former boss, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, but the accusation of corruption and lack of rigour in state affairs are still issues yet to be resolved or clarified convincingly.

As a benevolent billionaire Atiku may not have the urge to haul the federal treasury, as the late Gen. Abacha did, into the offshore bank accounts. But what motivates him to desperately want to reach Aso Rock as the Commander-In-Chief remains in the figment of imagination.

Our position on the general elections of next year is that Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, the Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, must emulate Prof. Attahiru Jega, by organising a flawless electoral process that would give victory to those deserving of same. If Nigeria is set ablaze by the partial disposition of the electoral umpire then history and prosperity would never forgive Yakubu and his team.

Also Read: “Transition Hours”: President Jonathan writes back

The 2019 presidential poll particularly, for all intents and purposes, is between maintaining peace in our beloved nation and salvaging her broken econo-social pieces. For peace to reign, therefore, the contenders for the top job must endeavour to engage themselves in a campaign of issues and solutions. And for the pieces to be picked up we must elect a capable charismatic man or woman who has what it takes to fix the fixable!

As we live dangerously in the now and await dangerously the arrival of February deliberate conscious efforts must be made to save the fragile peace in the land. And salvage the broken pieces of our national lives. The doom and gloom of the present orchestrated by Buharism must give way in 2019 for prosperity and stability in the system to be ushered in.

As a people betrayed we must resolve to get it right in February or continue in the suffering and smiling ‘syndrome’ afflicting us all. Between the present fragile peace we are enjoying in our country (despite the tragic exploits of the Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen terrorists) and the pieces of what is left of her politico-economically and socially something, come 2019, must give!

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