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Tag: 2019

  • 2019: IRI seeks to reform campaign strategy of APC, PDP, others

    The American International Republican Institute (IRI) said yesterday that political parties lacked ideology and are being influenced by wealthy individuals, who fund parties and usurp powers of party leaders.

    The institute also said there was the need to  reform the campaign strategies and message base of political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to be centered on issue-based ideology rather than personality-based campaigns.

    IRI Resident Programme Director Sentell Barnes spoke yesterday during a campaign messaging workshop for State House of Assembly candidates in conjunction with USAID, which took place in Abuja.

    The workshop, which comprises of four states’ House of Assembly candidates, including Adamawa, Bauchi, Ebonyi, and Sokoto states, aims at training the candidates on how to address the shortcomings present in the campaigns of political parties and engage the voters in a more progressive route.

    “We are training State House of Assembly candidates from four states starting from Sokoto,” Barnes said in an interview during the workshop.

    “We are working with multiple political parties; we are working with APC, PDP and some others.

    “The four states were states USAID had good governance programmes with. So, what we are trying to do is to attach the political party aspect with the good governance so if we can bridge those gaps and we can see greater results with what the political parties are doing.

    “It’s important to realise that political parties are the people going to government. So, if we imbibe the structures within the political parties, then we enhance the governance that comes from people serving in government.”

    “Our goal is to train them on how to develop policies that they can share when they are out campaigning. What we are trying to do is kind of enhance their ability to run issue-based campaigns.

    “What we are trying to move away from is personality-based politics. We want people to talk about the issues. We want to help candidates to better understand how the whole campaign process works.

  • 2019: Time for a new paradigm shift

    The politics of today is so partisan that it is bereft of the nationalistic sentiments that would augur well for a nation. Nigeria is at the cusp, and we must come up with a philosophy that is antithetical and diametrically opposed to what we have done in the past. The constitution of the country is moribund, retrogressive and subversive to the Nigerian cause. We need to restructure, and no extant or subsisting party can address this issue, due to sentimental affiliations. Nigeria has come to a point where the only way forward is to have an interim government and it will be obvious as time goes on. At the presidential level, there will be difficulties that will not be surmountable except we submit to another paradigm.

    The prognosis concerning any venture that one is mandated to undertake is not usually given by God. What He does is to give a command and expect faith to be exercised in relation to that command, albeit there is no palpable feasibility for the actualization of that mandate. There is a plethora of instances in the Bible when people were called by God to carry out specific responsibilities, and it can be unequivocally stated that victory was dependent on their level of obedience. We all know we are currently embattled with these quandaries and in light of this, I refer to myself as a consensus remedial facilitator, with the mandate to establish a system of government which I have christened Government of Reconciliation and Reconstruction. It is an ad hoc concept to address the situation we have in this country, after which we may go back to the status quo ante.

    I am neither asking to be a part of the PDP or the APC, nor am I asking to be their candidate in the 2019 presidential election. I am asking both parties and other political parties not to field presidential candidates in the forthcoming election but they should subscribe their support to a model that I have advocated, which is to set up an Interim National Government. The mandate to restructure Nigeria shall deal with fundamental issues that beset us as a nation in order to prevent a catastrophe. However, irrespective of the parties’ agreement to my proposal, I will definitely pursue it because it is not dependent on them. It’s a divine mandate from God, which is why I have maintained the same stance all these years. There is a lot of scepticism in the world itself, even in the church. Remember, Moses went before Pharaoh several times before he yielded, and it wasn’t because God didn’t send him from the outset. This has never been an issue for me because delay is not denial. I’m a man on a mission.

    I have been working with a group of men and women who are of like minds; people that can be trusted and be seen as the symbol of national unity. The enormity of the task itself is apparent for all to see; but with God, all things are possible. What I know is that God loves Nigeria and what is ahead is not a regular sequence of events that we are conversant with in election cycles. Without a doubt in my mind, there will be those who are opposed to it. Even the Lord Jesus, while He was here, had opposition. But I’m saying that the prevailing circumstance at that time would make it mandatory. I’m persuaded that there are patriots within these parties who have a clear vision of present realities and the time will come when there would be a convergence. These negotiations would be based on consensus, as it would be decided among ourselves how long it would take and what the interim government would address.

    There is a high level of resentment present in the nation today which is unprecedented. We must find a solution while our people are still willing to dialogue: a practical pragmatism which is necessary to engender a state where Nigerians are willing to continue in this entity that we call our nation. We have never had people this vocal in their condemnation of the things going on in government. A drastic event would occur that would change the course of this nation. This change would lead to the renaissance of the Nigerian state. Regardless, God has a hand in the destiny of this nation. I believe that He has given us another opportunity and we must grab it with both hands, with all the tenacity that we can muster.

    • Rev. Okotie is the Pastor of the Household of God Church and Presidential Candidate of the FRESH Democratic Party (FRESH).

  • 2019: Southwest regional integration as imperative for electing quality leaders 

    Year 2019 is here when Nigerians will choose new set of political leaders from the federal to state level. Three of the states in Southwest Region – Oyo, Ogun and Lagos – will have new governors on May 29 of the year that marks 20 years of the return of democracy to the country. By that date, the Southwest region would have welcomed five new governors, including Ekiti and Osun’s, who are being sworn-in this year.

    There is no doubt that self-government has engendered a level of development and citizen involvement in the administration of our country notwithstanding its attendant shortcomings. For instance, Nigeria has transferred power from one government to another, and from one political party to another. The capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize free, fair and credible election has also improved over time. The country has experienced a fair measure of economic successes and failures. Regrettably, Nigeria still relies largely on proceeds from sale of crude oil while struggling to diversify revenue sources.

    The establishment of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission by the six Southwest governors is one of the vital gains of democracy in the region in this 4th Republic. Established in July, 2013, the commission manages the regional development integration programmes of the homogenous states, serves as a catalyst for development, and facilitates sustainable working relationships among different governance stakeholders thereby making the region a preferred place to visit, live, work and invest.

    DAWN Commission’s successes in the last five years reinforce the imperative of the bottom-up approach to development given the failure of the top-down approach that has been the lot of our pseudo-federal system where all states look to the central government for survival. It takes little reflection to see that a bottom-up growth trajectory will automatically engender socio-economic integration among the states in the different geopolitical zones of Nigeria. In fact, the examples of regional integration as a potent factor in economic successes abound across the globe: European Union (EU), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and even regions within American federation such as the Mid-Western States regional cooperation suffice.

    Regional cooperation delivers great benefits in several ways. It promotes economies of scale that reduces transactions cost and/ by implication, high cost of governance; promotes knowledge and experience-sharing among member states thereby shortening the learning curve for innovations;  creates opportunities for pursuing joint infrastructure that will aid seamless transportation within the region; improves ease-of-doing business and deepens market for goods and services. Regional cooperation also puts the states in good stead to collectively negotiate for opportunities as a bloc as against individuals going it alone. And as a region seeking self-sustenance, the issue of resource mobilization through Internally Generated Revenue can be enhanced by harmonization of taxes and levies within the region which will help prevent tax evasion and avoidance.

    Governance is serious business because it determines the rise and fall of a nation and the human condition of the citizens. Thus, the quality of minds to be handed the reins of leadership is of essence. It also calls attention to the need to put the incoming governors on notice on the need to continue from where the outgoing chief executives will stop on the regional development integration programme.

    The region’s electorate have the responsibility of ensuring that the right leaders are elected into office. Citizens need to be sufficiently educated on the need to not allow undue sentiment to sway them into electing misfits in our communities to preside over our affairs. Citizens need to consciously elect credible persons who are intellectually sound and sufficiently imbued with the omoluabi ethos for which the people of the region are renowned. We owe our people and the generations unborn the duty to think about the development of the region over and above self-interest or pecuniary gains.

    The constitution only requires anyone seeking to occupy a political office to show evidence of being educated up to at least a school certificate level or its equivalent. While the writers of the constitution can be excused for that provision for such leadership positions, it goes without saying that we need to up our game and raise the stake for anyone seeking public office in the region, especially as it concerns demonstrated leadership qualities. Aside our early exposure to Western education, our forebears that occupied those exalted positions were known to be widely read and great thinkers who commanded the respect of their contemporaries.

    Public governance in the globalized world of today requires sound intellectual foundation. A contemporary public administrator must have sufficient grasp of issues and an exceptional ability to diagnoze problems and reach out to the depth of his/her knowledge base to prescribe solutions to enormous challenges militating against the well-being of citizens. Hence, anyone aspiring to public leadership in Nigeria of today must possess a well-developed intellectual capacity enhanced by good education, exposure and native intelligence. Otherwise, the individual will struggle to discharge the responsibilities expected of the office.

    This would not have been an issue in the Southwest based on our glorious history but the reality of present-day politics makes this an imperative – a situation where the democratic space has been so deregulated to the extent that anyone with money but without the requisite leadership skills begins to aspire to occupy the governance stools, continues to threaten and invariably affect the trajectory of our development as a region. While anyone is constitutionally eligible to stand for election, the people of the region must be very circumspect in exercising their right. Candidates seeking public offices in the region should be conscientiously considered before being voted for. Our future and that of our children depend on the quality of minds elected to coordinate the affairs of the states in our region.

    Meanwhile, the search for quality minds to occupy front-line governance positions would not be peculiar to the region going by what is now becoming the trend in other parts of the country. A cursory scan of states in other regions across the country will confirm this assertion. The relevance of Plato’s postulation as to the need for philosopher-kings to administer society is more apt now than ever. We can observe that lucid minds are now being put forward for leadership positions. For instance, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State and his deputy, Ivara Esu, are professors of note while Willie Obiano, a respectable banker, holds sway in Anambra State.

    The administrative capacity of Mallam El-Rufai has never been in doubt. In Kano, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has a Ph.D in Public Administration, his erstwhile Deputy Hafiz Abubakar is a professor of Biochemistry, while his new deputy, Hon. Nasir Gawuna is a PhD holder too. Sokoto and Gombe states are being governed by a successful lawyer and a chartered accountant respectively. We, therefore, as a region cannot afford to drop from the present level of governance in the region but rather aspire to take some notches up.

    The region’s electorate must be reminded of how the incredible leadership qualities of our past leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his successor in office, Chief SLA Akintola, made the region a go-to-place in the days of yore. This should remain the reference point for subsequent leadership recruitment in the region. These two leaders would probably have not achieved their level of success without of good education, exposure and native intelligence that they were made of and which also enabled them to choose very competent aides together with whom they drove development in the region.

    We must also know that the region does not reserve the right to remain number one in any sector. If we are to remain at the top, we must prove ourselves worthy by employing the services of quality minds in all sectors of governance.

    Another issue of note as we approach another transition is the need for the incoming chief executives to sustain the existing cooperation and collaboration among the six states. As mentioned earlier, the inherent benefits in regional cooperation and development integration cannot be gainsaid.

    In the five years of existence of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, strong support of the governors has helped it travel a bit far in its mandate.  While serving as the secretariat of the Western Region Governors’ Forum, DAWN facilitates periodic meeting of the governors. One of the flagships policy issues that have headlined the forum is the Rice Accelerated Programme for Integrated Development (Western RAPID).

    In the project,  Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states will make land available for rice farming while Lagos will provide funds. Lagos will also serve as the off-takers of the produce for processing at her rice mill. Beside the objective of making the region rice sufficient, it will also generate direct and indirect job opportunity for the people.

    I therefore enjoin us to give consideration to all the above as we approach another transition in 2019.

    • Oyeleye is DAWN Commission DG

  • 2019: No obstacle to Buhari’s victory, says Nda-Isaiah

    PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will return elected in 2019 without hitches, Leadership Newspapers Publisher Sam Nda-Isaiah assured at the weekend.

    He said the good work being initiated under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration would enable Buhari retain his exalted seat.

    He spoke to reporters in Akure, the Ondo State capital, after he was conferred with the chieftaincy title of “Aare Baroyin” of the ancient kingdom at the weekend.

    Nda-Isaiah, who was a former APC presidential aspirant, however, said the party must not take things for granted.

    He stressed the need to rally more support for Buhari to win the 2019 presidential poll.

    His words: “I am a member of APC and I will be supporting our candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, for the 2019 presidential and general elections.

    “He will win again. Although, we are not taking things for granted that he will win just like that without any hard work.

    “There is need for hard work and to explain to Nigerians about his good work, which will bring him in again.

    “We are not going to take anything for granted. Of course, you all know I am not contesting this year, but I am going to rally round for his support.”

    He noted that the party’s manifesto, which has spelled out the promises to the people, shall be reactivated to fulfill the “change agenda” of the Buhari-led administration.

    According to Nda-Isaiah, the nation has experience a remarkable change under the APC government, mostly in agricultural sector.

    This, the media executive explained, would be part of the APC campaign strategy as 2019 general elections gathered more momentum.

    “Things have started growing again and we have become the biggest economy in African in spite of every other challenge. Don’t forget that recession came in and things have to change and we overcome this recession of a thing.

    “Also, there are many revolutionary changes that have happened in the agricultural sector under the current government, which speaks loud,” he said.

  • 2019: Buhari, Atiku dangle records, SGF at Southwest

    President Muhammadu Buhari is wooing southern leaders in a bid to strengthen his support base ahead of the 2019 poll.

    The Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) is in talks with prominent southern leaders and groups, including Afenifere, Ohanaeze, Ijaw National Congress and Middle Belt Forum, it said yesterday.

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar is pleading with critics of his running mate Peter Obi’s choice to take it easy.

    Atiku is dangling before the Southwest two main items —restructuring and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) slot.

    Buhari’s campaigners are relying on the President’s records to fetch him support.

    BCO believes that Buhari’s second term will be in the best interest of the country because, said the organisation, he is poised to use the next four years to consolidate on the policies of his administration.

    The Director of Communication and Strategic Planning of the BCO, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, noted that the group had been touring the southern states “in the past few weeks”.

    According to him, the group’s meetings with southern leaders, including royal fathers, is to get them to re-examine the scorecard of the Buhari administration in the last three years, and realise that he has performed well, contrary to “the falsehood” being peddled by the opposition.

    Ibrahim  said: “First, we want to reach out to fellow leaders in the South and convince them to rally round Buhari and support him beyond boundaries.

    “If the President is allowed another four years to do what is needed to consolidate on what he has started, within a very short time, the situation will change in Nigeria.”

    According to Ibrahim, most of the North’s leaders are leading Buhari’s campaign for re-election because his performance, particularly in agric, and his economic diversification policy was yielding results for the economy.

    The group has visited the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III. “We reviewed President Buhari’s performance in the last three years. The royal father agreed with us that he has done creditably well, Ibrahim said.

    On why the meetings with the southern leaders had been going on secretly, he said: “The agenda of the meetings is not for public consumption. We have been meeting and it is not for me to announce the dates of the meetings and venue of the meetings for newspapers. It is not proper. When we circulate notice of meeting, it is for those who are involved only and not to those who are not part of the meeting”.

    On the consistent criticism of President Buhari by some opposition leaders, Ibrahim warned that the “divisive” politics being practised by certain politicians won’t benefit the country.

    He added: “Let me state here that some so-called opposition leaders should desist from attempts to draft Nigeria into unecessary national opposition and negative narratives on national events by their destructive criticism of President Buhari. Some groups have also appointed themselves as opposition. This is not the right thing to do.

    “President Buhari should be praised for fulfilling some of his campaign promises in sectors like security, war against corruption and the economy. He has even done much more in global politics. Nigeria is no more treated with disdain in the international community,” Ibrahim said.

    Over  200, 000 members of the Atiku Care Foundation  in the North-West Zone yesterday dumped the Foundation and collapsed into Arewa Media Group Organisation for Buhari 2019 Campaign. Their leader of  Alhaji Abdulmajid Danbiliki Commander.

    At a brief ceremony,  chairman of the amalgamated group under the auspices of Atku Care Foundation, Comrade Sanusi Ababai, said over seven affiliates of the Atiku Care Foundation supporters, decided to dump Atiku for Buhari because of unfulfilled promises.

    He said: “For several years now, we have been working hard for the development of Atiku Care Foundation. A lot of promises were made when we started.

    “They told us that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar needed a platform to reach out to the masses at the grassroot. We were committed because there were programmes from healthcare delivery, education, entrepreneurship, youth and women empowerment.”

    Ababai, former Director of Administration and Strategy in-charge of North-West for Atiku Care Foundation, said the group  has decided to pitch its tent with President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid for his foresight and commitment to redeem Nigeria from the shackles of corruption and poverty.

    Worried by criticisms of the choice of ex-Governor Peter Obi as his running mate, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has initiated moves to pacify Southeast PDP governors.

    To set the tone for reconciliation, with PDP leaders in the Southeast, it was also learnt Atiku is said to have called Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.

    Further talks with Southeast leaders will begin when Atiku returns from vacation this week.

    It was gathered that Atiku limited his consultation on the choice of Obi to stave off pressure and reduce friction on his decision.

    There were indications that the PDP candidate might disband his personal campaign organisation to pave the way for the take-off of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC)  with Senate President Bukola Saraki as the Director-General.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, confirmed Atiku’s reconciliatory moves. He said: “What happened was that Atiku was not unilateral in picking Obi. There was really consultation but restricted to some national and PDP leaders to avoid the search degenerating to conflict in the South-East.

    “Following reactions from governors and PDP leaders in the Southeast, Atiku has started reaching out to them. In fact, he has put a call to Ekweremadu whose camp was more embittered.”

    Details of Atiku’s discussion with Ekweremadu remained unknown yesterday.

    “Atiku is returning from vacation this week and he will embark on more rapprochement talks with Southeast leaders.

    The Southeast leaders will want other issues addressed. They include:

    • reaching consensus on other posts to concede to the zone;
    • finding a meeting point with the zone on Atiku’s idea of restructuring;
    • the need to spend one term in office; and
    • ceding power to the Southeast in 2023

    A PDP leader in the Southeast said: “We need more discussion with Atiku on the fate of this zone. Between 1979 and 1983, the defunct National Party of Nigeria(NPN) conceded the vice presidential slot to the Southeast with the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme nominated as deputy to ex-President Shehu Shagari.

    “Within the same power sharing structure, the Southeast also produced the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke.

    “We want a concrete deal with Atiku beyond the choice of Peter Obi. We need to know his plans for us. What other things will the Southeast get, apart from being Vice President.”

    As at press time, there were indications that Atiku Campaign Organisation may be disbanded to give room for the Presidential Campaign Council headed by Saraki.

    “The PDP candidate is expected back in the country this week and one of his plans is to disband Atiku Campaign Organisation.”

    Also yesterday, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the Director General of the  Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, said the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) will go to the Southwest, should Atiku become president.

    Daniel, a former governor of Ogun State, broke the news at an interactive session with reporters in Lagos.

    The PDP initially zoned its national chairman to the Southwest, but  gave the job to Uche Secondus (Southsouth).

    Also, Atiku’s running mate, Mr Peter Obi, hails from the Southeast.

    “We need to understand that the candidate has control over who becomes his running mate during the election and who becomes the SGF if he wins.

    “The decisions on major offices are being given serious consideration and no zone or region will be marginalised.

    “The offices of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Reps will be decided after the polls and based on what plays out in both houses.

    “Aside major slots, I think what is paramount to the people of the Southwest is restructuring of the country, which Atiku is very serious about.

    “So the issue for the Southwest is not personality or slot issue per se because personalities come and go but restructuring Nigeria is significant and more symbolic than zoned offices,” he said.

    On Atiku’s manifesto, Daniel said that it would be published as soon as the campaigns kick off.

    The PDP said its Presidential candidate was set to revamp the economy through the creation of qualitative employment for the youths.

    The party gave the assurance in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Sunday in Abuja.

    The party added that Atiku would implement the political and economic restructuring of the nation in a manner that would engender unity, inclusiveness in governance and uplift the general standard of living for all.

    Ologbondiyan added: ”Atiku will open a system-wide fight against corruption as soon as he is elected into office by strengthening the institutions empowered by our laws to do their jobs.

    ”He will do this while he also concentrates on the onerous duty of governance and rescuing our people from hunger, starvation, bloodlettings and wanton killings.’’

    Ologbondiyan assured that rebranded PDP would ensure that all those looting the national treasury, would definitely face the wrath of the law and go to jail.

    He added that Atiku administration would not only fight poverty but will also uncompromisingly fight corruption.”

     

  • 2019: A note to Kingsley Moghalu

    Asked to explain the seeming contradiction between the concepts of predestination and prayer – two important tenets in Islam, Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) had made use of an analogy: Every man’s destiny is like grain of corn. Every healthy grain of corn is predestined to grow if planted; however, there would be a difference in the growth and yield of a corn planted in the middle of a marketplace and one planted in a rich humus soil. Predestination in human beings can be likened to the potential for successful growth that all corn seed carry, while prayer is what determines whether that potential succeeds or fails.

    While this story is primarily of a religious dimension, the implication of the wisdom in it is unquantifiable for every area of human endeavour. It has a particularly important consequence on the challenges young people face in getting elected into public offices in Nigeria, especially in the light of the forthcoming 2019 General Elections. Since the signing of the Not Too Young to Run Act, a good number of young, extraordinarily successful individuals with quality pedigrees have come up in the political scene to signal their interests to run for one or other political office in the country – the foremost among which is the presidency.

    Of this lot, the evidently most qualified in terms of cerebral quality, character, proven capacity, and conduct has been the former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Kingsley Moghalu. Unlike other “young” contestants like Omoyele Sowore, Fela Durotoye, his plan, and the manner he has advocated them has disclosed a man with his head firmly on his shoulders – a level-headed, serious, and capable individual who has a good grasp of the responsibility he is asking for and the intellectual-cum-behavioural assets to discharge them. Following the analogy above, Moghalu could be said to be a good grain of corn that has the potentials to grow if planted on a good soil.

    However at the risk of sounding like a “critic”, Moghalu’s approach to becoming elected for the position – while it has been commendable for a man like him with little to no serious institutional financial backing, has been wrong-headed. Moghalu believes that politics is a game of rationalism; that if he shows the electorates the “best” credentials for the job, the electorates would simply choose him over others of lesser qualities. This thinking mirrors the hope of Gani Fawehinmi when he contested for the presidency during the 2003 General Elections. Like Moghalu, Fawehinmi – who is an eternal hero of mine by the way, had believed in the power of a stainless reputation, his unquestionable love for the people, and his immense intellectual head-start over other contestants to sell him to Nigerian voters and get him elected. He did not win. As this did not work in 2003, it is not going to work come 2019.

    No matter how sound one is personally, morally, intellectually – all these commendable and important traits are just one of the many other requirements one would need to get elected into any national office. Besides these, one needs something called a popular platform – a platform that is robust, ubiquitous, and resilient. And by platform, I refer to no other thing than a political party that can get the job done.

    At the current level of political activities in Nigeria, hoping to win the presidency of Nigeria on any party platform other than the Big Two – the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) is being naïve. The reasons for this are two: First, Nigeria has moved past the phase of party experimentations of 1999 – 2007 where there was no truly national political party. Pre-2007, it was easy to form a new party and get followings for it by simply appealing to the ethno-tribal or group sentiments (the young, the workers, etc.) of its key patrons. By February 2013 when the coalition of parties that united into the APC got their acts together, their merger put an effective end to sectional party politicking in Nigeria, and ushered in the reign of national party politics.

    Since 2015, Nigeria has become a domain of two major parties. Not only this, every other region in the country has since chosen sides. Other than in the Southeast where All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has managed to hold down a state and few unnoticeable wins in the states and federal houses of assembly by some minor parties, the Big Two, combined, control over 90% of the elective political machinery of Nigeria. As evidence of the truly national nature of these two parties, the PDP that used to be seen as a northern party is now being controlled from Port Harcourt, with Uche Secondus as the chairman and Governor Nyesom Wike as its unofficial chief financier. The APC, long-held to be dominated by the Southwest currently occupies the seat of power with a northern candidate in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari, and is returning him to contest for the seat in the 2019 General Elections. As you can see, the times have changed.

    Another reason for making this “Big Two assertion” is that elections are won not just on rhetoric but also on brick and mortar structures of campaigning and reaching out to far-flung electorates. A candidate that seriously wants to become the president through a democratic process needs a party with physical branches, motivated staff, and delegates in wards and constituencies that would do the job of knocking on people’s doors and mobilizing them to vote.

    While Moghalu has written some really good books and organized rallies in states and visited university campuses, there are people in Nigeria who cannot read or write; people who have no smartphone or internet; people who have no Facebook account – and these are going to vote. These set of people outnumber the intellectuals that abound on social media. They live in scattered and far-flung hamlets and homesteads from Ilesa to Ogoja to Kafanchan, and most of these do not speak English or understand the GDP. They vote for people who knock on their doors. Parties with material and resources, mainly the Big Two in this case, are those who usually make a killing off this voting bloc.

    The way Nigeria’s public offices can be more easily won by the young people is for us – the young people – to join one of these Big Twos – the PDP or the APC, and form a group of like-minded individuals or factions within them to drive the causes we care about. Political parties all over the world have their progressives and their reactionaries; the vanguards of new ideas and the old-guards of the status-quo. This is why parties have factions. The faction with the strongest control – in terms of resources and number is the one that determines the ideas and manifestos a state is run by when such a party gets to power. What the APC and PDP are currently perceived to represent in Nigeria is the function of the values of the currently dominant factions within the two parties. If new people with large enough numbers infuse these parties with a different set of ideas and energy, these parties would change with them. That political parties are always changing is why a party like the Republican Party which produced a president like Abraham Lincoln in 1861 – more than 150 years ago, could turn around to produce someone like Donald Trump who is unlike Lincoln in anything.

    Starting new parties is a racket. Nigeria, in fact because of her unique geopolitical peculiarities, cannot succeed on anything other than the two-party system. That the 1999 constitution makes multiparty system possible is one of the gravest errors currently retarding our political progress as a nation, and this must be corrected swiftly for success to be in sight. The troubles afflicting Nigeria would never be displaced as long as visionaries like the late Fawehinmi, Moghalu, and millions of other high-souled Nigerian thirsting for political progress busy themselves with erecting new political structures instead of embracing and revolutionizing the existing ones.

    To all Nigerians that feel something in the heart for this country, let us quit frittering our energies around and take the fight to the real field. Let every person – young and old alike interested in rendering a service of honour to Nigeria get up and join one of the Big Twos – the APC or the PDP. Let us infuse these parties with our ideas and ideals. Let us form interest groups in their body politic and push them. Like the good grain of corn in Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) analogy, let us sow our potentials for electoral success in the good soil of a robust political party fertile enough to bear our dreams fruition, or like healthy grains of corn planted in a marketplace, we may all just under-accomplish and wither and die in spite of all of our great potentials.

     

    • Oyeleye is a PhD student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

  • 2019: PDP warns members against illegal submission of candidates’ names to INEC

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said it had officially submitted names of its candidates for the 2019 National Assembly elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The party said it noted with disdain moves by certain individuals to illegally submit unauthorised names from some purported primaries by those it described as dissident elements, notably in Ogun State.

    In a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said it was aware that the said dissident elements forged and sold various fake nomination forms, and cornered the proceeds for their selfish gains.

    It stated that those that unwittingly bought the fake nomination forms did not pass through the due process of screening and did not participate in primaries as officially conducted by the Electoral Committee set up by its National Working Committee.

    The statement reads in part: “The conduct of primaries and submission of names of candidates remain in the purview of the National Working Committee. Any other purported primaries by any state chapter or any other level of the party is absolutely illegal and of no consequence.

    “The PDP, therefore, warns, in the strongest possible term, that anybody who attempts to present any name from such illegal primaries as candidate of our party will face arrest and prosecution for forgery and stealing of funds derived from sale of fake nomination forms.”

     

  • 2019: APC still barred from fielding candidates in Zamfara, says INEC chair

    THE possibility of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not fielding candidates in the 2019 general elections in Zamfara State may have been sealed.

    Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said yesterday that the commission’s stance on the issue has not changed.

    INEC had barred the APC chapter from fielding candidates in the elections after allegedly failing to conduct primary elections.

    The commission had set October 7, 2018 deadline for parties to conclude their primary elections. But divisions within the APC state chapter prevented an INEC-supervised election from taking place for the governorship and legislative positions.

    Consequently, a letter signed by INEC’s Acting Secretary, Okechukwu Ndeche, and addressed to APC’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, stated that the party could no longer conduct any primary elections outside of the originally-stated window.

    It added that the state APC would not be allowed to participate in the governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly elections in Zamfara next year.

    But the party would not want to hear any of this, vowing to participate in the election.

    But, the INEC boss yesterday stuck to his gun, saying that the commission has not changed its earlier decision on the issue.

    Yakubu spoke yesterday in Abuja at the end of the opening of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Network of Electoral Commission (ECONEC) meeting in Abuja.

    The INEC boss, who was responding to questions from reporters, said: “We have issued a statement on Zamfara and nothing has changed. We stand by the statement that we issued.”

    He noted that the October 18 date for the submission of list of candidates by the political parties is sacrosanct.

    There are 91 parties. But only 89 notified the commission of their intension to conduct primaries.

    Yakubu said: “I am sure we have made some progress, but the deadline as we say is on October 18.”

    He ruled out any possibility of extension as he declared, “we will give a full report after the October 18. No extension”.

    On Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), Yakubu said INEC had printed the PVCs of those who registered in the first, second and third quarters of the year.

    “We are looking at the end of November 2018 for all the PVCs to be printed, including request for transfer and relocation.”

    He reiterated the commission’s assurance to ensure that outstanding PVCs are ready for collection before the 2019 general elections.

    Yakubu said the two-day meeting, which kicked off yesterday, is expected to validate the study carried out on the issue of cost of conducting elections.

  • 2019: Finally, the race begins

    I have in the past week seen not a few partisans frame the 2019 presidential elections in strictly binary times: good versus the bad; saint versus sinners etc. Not a few, I must confess, have somewhat framed it as one battlebetween anti-corruption crusaders and that formless, internet tribe that calleditself the Bring Back our Corruptionmovement –drum majors for the freeloading ancien regime that Nigerians sent packing in 2015.

    Today, withAtiku Abubakaron the ballot for the Peoples Democratic Party, a man who supposedly wears corruption on his shoulder like an epaulet, it seems to me that that issues underlying the contest would certainly not be framed so narrowly. Of course, in a race, which only few months ago, seemed one-sided if not entirely closed, the nation should consider itself indebted to the TurakinAdamawafor finally injecting the long expected verve.

    And so here we are: Atiku Abubakar versus Muhammadu Buhari. As The Nation’s highly esteemed columnist Idowu Akinlotan argued with his usual candour in his column on Sunday, had the APC a choice in the matter, Atiku, the Turakin Adamawa would certainly be one opponent they would rather not have on the ballot. That Atiku is a formidable opponent is certainly undeniable. In fact, had the ruling APC ever nursed the illusion the 2019 presidential contest would be something of a cakewalk, the choice ofAtiku has since changed that; today, the challenge that he representsis certainly one that the APC can afford to ignore to its peril.

    Yet, there is something intriguing about the latest quest by Atiku. This was an individual who flunked the APC primaries in 2014. Never mind that he has been a perennial sojourner in virtually all the leading parties in the quest to realise his presidential dream.  Add to that the baggage – corruption – that most Nigerians revile, the question of his electability immediately pops up.

    Well, that is the individual that PDP has thrust forward for the highest office. My colleague Segun Ayobolu had raised the poser in his back page column in this newspaper on Saturday: Is this the Atiku moment?  That Atiku’s quest has since moved from a wild proposition to a distinct possibility seems to me not just a measure of how easily the tides can change in the affairs of a complex country like Nigeria, but how easily too success can be mismanaged, this time by the APC.

    Proof of course is the near alarm in the camp of the ruling APC since his emergence as the PDP flag bearer! Just imagine the number of tanks already rolled out even when the real battle is not even joined – yet!

    We must of course understand what makes the Atiku challenge a viable proposition . If I may make the preliminary point: nothing makes the Atiku candidacy any less sellable than of Mai Gaskiya, the ramrod, Daura-born infantry General who in 2014 was painted by the PDP as unelectable: put it simply to the issue of messaging!

    I have heard many dismiss the Atiku surge as merely underlying the craving by corrupt elements for the return of the ancien regime under which slush funds are freely shared among the elites. They are right to the extent that there are no free funds anymore for anyone to share – thanks to the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which ensures that entities which hitherto operated outside the strictures of the appropriation process are now brought into the orbit.

    However, it would certainly be the height of conceit for the administration to frame issues so narrowly. To be sure, the economy is certainly not in great shape despite the vast improvements in oil earnings. In any event, there is a sense in which the economic environment, despite the ambitious reforms being undertaken, is still light years of what is needed. A part of the administration’s unflattering scorecard is the ‘emergence’ as global capital of poverty; it certainly says a lot about the efficaciousness of current therapies that the population of out-of-school children has since jumped from 10 to 13 million. Despite oil prices being above $80 a barrels, the economy continues to wobble. For a country whose economy in the last three years has been in reverse gear, the kind of appetite for development  that one would expect is to put it mildly – missing. Where new thinking is indicated in our public finances and project implementation, what is more apparent are old wines being put in old wineskins and then labelled as new!

    The result, which is the ‘stasis’ across the board would ordinarily suffice to feed the current angst.

    Agreed, the seeds of the rot were sown by previous governments including the PDP. But then, the Buhari administration has had the whole of three years to fix some of them. Had the administration shown greater verve and dexterity, there is some chance that the current regression could have been mitigated. Again, the charge has always been – and this is not entirely without some merit – that the Buhari administration has tended to operate like the famous Red Sea – neither open nor welcoming to ideas different from its own. For a country so gifted with diversity, it is unfortunate that the administration has neither tapped into this nor reflected this in its policies and programmes.

    Indeed, had the administration been less insular, it would probably have availed itself of different perspectives other than its own – in dealing with some of the challenges facing the country.

    Is Atiku therefore the answer?

    Here, my simple answer would be that there is simply no evidence to support this. So much for the hype about being  business savvy, Atiku is neither in the mould of a Dangote nor in the class of Mike Adenuga or Oba Otudeko – individuals that have either built or are building world-class institutions. In any case, while a fair knowledge of the economy will be a clear advantage, these are hardly requirements to run a country like Nigeria where talents could easily be assembled and pressed to work.

    Although it has been said – and this would be a strong point if true – that Atiku has a way with talents, at this time, that is merely conjectural – yet to be proven.

    In any case nothing says that the Buhari administration cannot spring surprises. And this, it must!

  • 2019: Atiku’s costly mistake

    SIR: Recent events such as the Arab Spring and BREXIT, depicts that the populace across different climes and strata are easily swayed by the bandwagon effect. This is a growing concern due to the dearth of depth, tact and knowledge of the real impact of sudden viral fevers like the Atiku 2019 Bug. Yesterday it was Sai Baba, Nigeria is yet to recover and Nigerians have been branded Wailing Wailers. Today, it is Daddy Cool. In a Daddy Cool’s presidency, what fate will befall the great people of Africa’s largest economy? A cursory look at Atiku’s calculated political mistakes, raises a flag of a man with inept or no advisers who cannot articulate.

    Stopgap thinking was the root cause of Atiku’s political strangulation by his former boss. In 2003, greenhorns and fifth columnists pushed Atiku to contest against his principal. The permutations were to field Alex Ekwueme of Southeast as his vice presidential candidate. Daddy Cool declined the Greek gift after Obasanjo appealed to his instincts but went on to suffer for this.

    On a higher pedestal, Proverbs 23:7b says For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Atiku said; “I took all the states with the exception of Lagos. Why? Because Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and I came a long way from the SDP, PDM and all of that, and I felt I should leave Lagos for him. In fact, I could easily have taken over Lagos, but I did not. I have since regretted my decision: please, my sisters and brother in the party, I want you to forgive me for taking Lagos out of that arrangement. If I have another opportunity again, Lagos will be taken to where it belongs. So I am appealing to you to give me that opportunity so that I can correct the mistakes that I made”.

    The choice of Peter Obi as VP for Atiku was a mistake. Firstly, the sight of Emmanuel Macron in Lagos is still fresh in the minds of Nigerian youths. A masterstroke would have been to pick a 40 to 45 year old as his running mate. Secondly, the Yoruba’s have no basis to swap Buhari. Pastor Yemi Osibanjo is VP. Thirdly, the Igbos deserve but do not need the VP ticket because for them, Buhari is a no-no. Fourthly, the Southwest has a higher voting strength than the Southeast. PDP should have dangled the gender card, female VP.

    Obasanjo is at liberty to forgive for political expediency but actionable intelligence points that Atiku needs to change is lexis from “I” to “WE”. Daddy Cool’s defeat or victory at the polls is dependent on the sagacity of his inner team. The 2019 election is against a Sherriff who has issued a warning ticket by placing a travel ban on the famous 50.

     

    • Dr.EnameguoloOrugbo,

    jetageNG@gmail.com