Albert NgeneBy Ik Ngene
That was the essence of a tweet from Pius Oseghale this February. He didn’t add any context and he didn’t expatiate. It was one of those random things you hear or read which completely captures your imagination for its simplicity and poignancy.
That tweet completely owned me.
#So is Nigeria on the road to greatness? That will depend on what we get for president in 2023 — a visionary public servant or another government indigene.
I invite you to come and consummate this dream with me. If Nigeria must have a good president in the next general elections, two things must occur simultaneously this year: First, an intractable crisis must consume All Progressives Congress, splinter it, and force Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu out.
Second, following closely behind, the People’s Democratic Party must overcome its atavistic instincts, re-purpose itself to re-capture power, and nominate a qualified candidate for national president
SENATOR BOLA AHMED TINUBU IS THE MAIN ISSUE IN THE POLITICS OF THE 4TH REPUBLIC
Tinubu has been around and he has paid his dues. But, Nigeria’s presidency cannot be a closure for his lifelong ambition. Too much is at stake.
Tinubu was the most critical singular resource that foisted the incompetent and indifferent government of Maj. General Buhari on Nigerians in 2015. These past seven years have been like a serial locust invasion that has devasted the land.
Tinubu can’t be allowed to profit from it.
The omens appear good. The APC emerged from their convention on March 27, 2022, with a dramatic shift in the intra-party power dynamics. The APC state governors’ choices for national chairman (Senator Abdullahi Adamu), deputy national chairmen (Senator Abubakar Kyari and Chief Emma Eneukwu), and national secretary (Senator Iyiola Omisore), all emerged triumphant.
Most of the candidates on Team Tinubu led by federal ministers and the outgoing national officers lost such as Mai Mai Buni, Senator Ken Nnamani, Ife Opeyemi, and others.
#With the party machinery in the hands of the APC governors led by Nasir El-Rufai, Kayode Fayemi, and others, it does not appear that there will be a consensus for a presidential candidate, let alone for a Tinubu candidature.
To cap off a bad week for Tinubu and start off a new one on the back foot, the president and his vice, Chief Yemi Osinbajo, were no-shows for the planned pomp and pageantry of his 70th birthday. He had to cancel it after arriving at the venue in Lagos.
Perhaps, that cancellation was connected with what happened a day before his birthday: Home-grown terrorists had hijacked the Abuja-Kaduna train line and gone on a killing orgy that left scores of persons dead or maimed, and/or kidnapped. Almost two hundred persons are still unaccounted for. A tragic dose of unpleasantness had intruded into the separate and secure life in the bubble of privilege our politically exposed persons live.
So what happens if Tinubu is not the flagbearer for APC?
I hope he exits and goes ahead to form another political party with which to pursue his lifelong ambition to be president. That would unscramble what Uncle Dele Sobowale called, “a grand conspiracy to seize power“, and create a window period for something new.
ATIKU ABUBAKAR IS THE HOUSE GUEST WHO HAS OVER-STAYED HIS WELCOME
If Tinubu is the main issue of our baleful politics, Atiku is the non-issue.
He has had a good run of influence and relevance from 1993 to 2015. In 1993, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua asked him to step down for Chief MKO Abiola’s candidacy for the Social Democratic Party. In 2015, he contested and lost to Maj. Gen. Buhari again this time with Mr. Peter Obi as running mate.
The bane of his political life was serving as vice president to General Olusegun Obasanjo at the beginning of the 4th Republic in 1999. Like Icarus, who flew too close to sun and perished, Atiku’s spatial proximity to an implacable force of nature such as Obasanjo was a lose-lose situation:
“You can’t do right cause you’re the wrong man!’ – Anita Baker
Atiku’s political fortunes reached its nadir as Obasanjo’s vice president. The most ridiculous thing ever was watching him go to Otta Farms to seek Obasanjo’s blessing ahead of his 2015 run.
Atiku should retire his personal ambition. Being a president is not the only way one could serve one’s country. He could, for instance, help to re-purpose the PDP to recapture power.
Question For Atiku: As Peter Obi was your running mate in the past, doesn’t one good turn deserve reciprocity?
PETER OBI – THE BEST OF A FEW GOOD MEN
Nigeria is a Peter Obi-presidency away from greatness.
So, how do we go from candidates who claim entitlement to the presidency as fulfilment of their life’s ambition to candidates who have a proven track record of competence, probity, and even-handedness in governance?
It may be hard but we can start by focusing our minds and resources on all the necessary pathways we can use to deliver Peter Obi to his destiny with fate.
For a study of the excellent credentials and experience Peter Obi brings to the table, you have to look elsewhere.
As for me, two things recommend Peter Obi above all else: He will not be a sectional president – “The constituents, for example, that gave me 97% cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5%” – Maj. General Buhari.
With a training in banking and finance, and coming from a family of traders, Peter Obi sees his own vocation in public service as an enabler of environments conducive for businesses.
I dare say his priority and mission will be to reduce the cost of power, transport, administration, and security, and release our national entrepreneurial spirit.
If Davido rules the world, what can limit us? Your Excellency, we shall repeat after you:
“Yes. Nigeria is open for business!” Conversely, the other side of Nigeria’s greatness is midnight.
Ik Ngene is a retired community practice pharmacist; now a manuscript editor. He lives in Atlanta
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