Debates on the question of post-Buhari leadership are becoming more pronounced in the political space, as politicians intensify campaigns for next elections. KUNLE ODEREMI highlights some criteria Nigerians believe the would-be president ought to possess.
AS 2021 winds down, major political gladiators across the country have stepped up their game ahead of the election year, 2023. Presidential hopefuls have embarked on tours to different political zones, visiting perceived power brokers for a buy-in bid to lead the country. Their surrogates are also busy simulating events to position their principals in a better stead. Second Republic presidential adviser, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai reportedly acknowledged that former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu sought his support even though the latter said he was still holding consultations. He is also said to have endorsed a former president of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, who has equally received the blessings of some major stakeholders in the North Central during his visits to states in the zone.
Another former president of the Senate, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, has been upbeat in lobbying the North to rally round his presidential bid. Anyim, who is also a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), seems to have struck a common chord with a former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife on the necessity for Ndigbo to be more pragmatic and confront certain stark reality about the politics of power in Nigeria if the Igbo must produce president. An industrialist, Chief Sam Ohuabunwa has proclaimed his interest in the race from the South-East.
Such names as a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, are also been speculated to join the presidential contest under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which at the moment is bogged down by variegated internal issues. Governor Aminu Tambuwal has indicated that he might formally proclaim his renewed presidential bid very early in 2022. However, former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has taken the campaign on his fresh bid to the North Central.
In the light of the experience that the country has been going through since the return to civil rule in 1999, many have raised the issue of quality leadership. Some blame lack of capacity and ability by the leaders to rise above mediocre level for the country moving in circles, as most of the issues inherited from the military regimes subsist. Other critics attribute the challenges to the existing political structure, which they claimed is not capable of producing a credible leadership. Leadership question is vividly captured in a submission by an erudite scholar and Head, Department of Political Science at the University of Ibadan, Professor Emmanule Remi Aiyede. According to Aiyede, who delivered the 2020/2021 inaugural lecture, leadership entails a huge responsibility, and this is particularly so in politics. “Politics provides politicians with an opportunity and a challenge. The exercise of political power provides an opportunity for one to make history; just as it provides the opportunity to satisfy vanity and make money, it also carries with it a challenge to be responsible. The action or non-action of a politician has severe consequences, not only on the lives of a huge number of people today but also on future generations.”
Conundrum
A major factor that threw up the Obasanjo presidency on May 29, 1999 was the criminal annulment of the June 12, 1999 presidential election won by the late business mogul Chief MKO Abiola. In an attempt to appease the South-West, power brokers outside his region literally offered the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to former Head of State, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo. They facilitated his victory, in spite of the pedigree and credentials of other contestants for the position from the zone and the South-East and the South-South. Thereafter, the campaign for power shift assumed a crescendo across the country. But, it could not overshadow the demand for power devolution such that the centre would nor remain so awesome at the detriment of the spirit and letters of federalism. The clamour goes parri-passu with propositions for: constitutional amendment; adoption of the 1960 Independence Constitution or the 1963 Republican Constitution, or better still, the drafting of an entire new constitution reflective of the wishes and aspirations of the constituent units of the country.
There is equally the concern being expressed about a plot by some forces to upset and upturn the arrangement that guarantees perceived balance of faith at the top echelon of political power in the land. The leadership of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in the North raised the decibel on the contentious issue last week. Their position is that politicians should not insult the sensibilities of Nigerians and their diversity as the journey to the 2023 elections peak. And their admonition underscores what observers regard as the duty and place of accountability of politicians to the citizens, regardless of religion or creed. Again, Ayeide underlines the importance of responsibility of politicians to the people. According to him, “The ethics of responsibility among politicians is important for any society to survive and grow. This is particularly for a democracy where the large mass of the population is illiterate and disempowered.”
Since former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, donned the garb of partisan politics, he has been throwing jabs at the kind of leadership the two main political parties have been offering Nigerians. He believes Nigerians deserve something positive more than they have been getting in the last 22 years of civil rule in the country. He said the dominant elite were pretending to be practising a liberal democratic framework of governance for the country. “Political parties created by the dominant elite, purportedly as the special purpose vehicles for leadership recruitment and fielding candidates for elections as citizens elected representatives in the governance processes, have instead become special purpose vehicles for self-enrichment, obstruction of citizens’ aspirations and exploitative authoritarian control.” He said the priority of the parties and its powerbrokers is based on self-serving preservation and interest. He asked: “For example, who can tell what really differentiates the APC from the PDP? They are both funded and controlled by self-serving so-called ‘money bags’ and ‘godfathers. “Indeed, in each of these parties, state governors have increasingly become the ‘money bags’ and ‘godfathers’, controlling and influencing the leadership recruitment processes and virtually all affairs of the parties, by virtue of their control of and corrupt enrichment from public resources.”
Some northern interests recently came up with conditions that the next presidential hopeful must possess to enjoy their confidence. Acting under the aegis of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), they listed competence and capacity. “If a northerner is to become the next president with our votes in the North, then he has to be the best among all others. He has to convince us in the North that he understands our problems, and has the capacity to solve them. He must have the disposition, energy, health and intelligence to heal the breached pluralism of the North and build bridges across the entire nation. He has to be able to lead a country that is failing in a number of significant areas. A personal ambition to be President will not be enough, and we will scrutinise and advise those who will listen, to avoid the temptation to put in place persons who just want power, but not responsibility. A president from the North must have the exposure and network to reintegrate all parts of Nigeria into one country and one vision. He must have the courage to eliminate threats of insurgents, bandits, kidnappers, irredentists, impunity, the drugs pandemic and corruption. He must lead with a sense of mission and urgency; the wisdom to negotiate where necessary and the clout to hit hard where he needs to; and a clear understanding of the sources and nature of our threats and their solutions.”
Some prominent citizens have also made other suggestions, including on the issue of age bracket, knowledge and capability of the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle state matters and take Nigeria to the Promised Land. More of such similar propositions are envisaged in the months ahead as horse-trading gathers momentum.