OBJ’s warning on 2023

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has reportedly warned Nigerians to make sure they elect the right candidates into political offices in the coming 2023 general election. He says that if Nigeria makes the wrong choice, it will be consumed. The former president’s message is instructive because Nigeria is on the precipice, and any wrong move by way of poor leadership recruitment could occasion inexorable descent into the abyss. Therefore, the electorate need to scrutinise candidates and make an informed choice based on their perception of the candidates’ capacity to solve the seemingly intractable challenges facing the country at all levels.

Ordinarily, Obasanjo’s advisory would have been unnecessary against the backdrop of the fact that the socioeconomic challenges facing the country are grave and  pervasive enough to urge the average  electorate to insist on the right candidates without being prodded.  But politicians are reputed for being cunning and they  have a way of hoodwinking the electorate with promises they do not intend to keep just to get elected. Unless the electorate are prompted to insist that politicians should answer some critical questions, their leadership recruitment could  be suboptimal. And like the ex-president opined, if critical and careful choices are not made and irresponsible politicians are elected into positions, the country could be doomed too soon because its situation is already precarious. We urge  the electorate to take  Obasanjo’s warning   seriously so that they will not have to lament about poor governance which they may have to contend with for at least another four years after the general election.

It bears stressing that all elections are important for offering a new beginning and platform for change and the possibility of better performance and should, therefore, be approached with every care and caution. The coming 2023 general election, in particular, presents an opportunity for Nigerians to redefine what they want from their government. And it should be noted that the veritable issue has transcended problem identification because that is virtually common knowledge. It is rather about what the candidates can do to solve specific problems with a strong emphasis on how they intend to do so. Elections are meant to provide voters with the chance and opportunity for assessing the direction of governance in a country in order to be in a position to redirect it as appropriate. The voting public are, therefore, enjoined to latch onto this periodic chance to redirect governance by carefully choosing the right candidates.  This becomes of crucial importance because  governance has become a mirage and an albatross for the mass of the people.

It is important to note that the choice of a president for the country during the 2023 presidential election may prove difficult and confounding to the electorate because none of the three or four front line candidates can be totally excused from  culpability for  the present rot in governance. Indeed, two of the candidates who are pursuing their aspirations outside the platforms of the two dominant parties berthed on other  political platforms  because of the difficulties they encountered in securing the ticket of one of the big parties.  In essence, apart from the platforms, not much has changed, as all the major candidates share common reputation and ideological persuasions, as it were,  with the two dominant parties that could hardly be said to have served the country well. And that makes  the choice of any of them as a change agent a task which requires careful and critical evaluation.  As it stands, the electorate may have to make do with the best out of an array of presidential candidates whose credentials and antecedents are anything but spectacular. This is another reason  the advice of an opinion moulder like Obasanjo to the electorate is not out of place.

We applaud Obasanjo’s timely advisory. The 2023 national elections should be seen as a decisive time for the voting public to avoid careless choices in order not to sustain and perpetuate the drift enveloping the country. We urge them to ensure that electoral choices are carefully weighed, made and defended so that voting decisions meant to usher in more competent and effective leaders at all levels will prevail. This is the task before Nigerians as they approach the 2023 general election.

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