by Dakuku Peterside .
It is now a cliché that this election is a make-or-mar election for Nigeria. It is
our way of saying this is a consequential election. The importance of this
election has dawned on everyone, and unlike every other election before it, it
is the first election post military era that the result is difficult to predict .
There
is a multiplicity of struggles between some simple and binary issues and some
multifaceted issues. Some Nigerians are pitching this election as a contest
between established orthodoxy since the current democratic dispensation in
1999 and the clamour for a new political order . Some are neither interested in
any old nor new political order but want a political order that will solve the
challenge of insecurity, poverty, unemployment and underemployment, and
improve economic and social well-being .
This group seems more result-oriented and endlessly analyses the
presidential candidates to determine who is more likely to tackle the hydra-
headed problems facing Nigeria, irrespective of whether he is of the orthodoxy
or the new political order group.
Unfortunately, because our electorate is still largely illiterate, some are
transactional and mercantile about this election. For this group, this election is
about buying and selling votes and maximising the total commercial value
possible in the voting value chain in Nigeria. Against the background of Naira
redesign policy or according to Progressive Governors, “Naira confiscation
policy”,the contest of supremacy on this issue has shifted to the public space
and Supreme Court . More fundamental is the fact that it is on the background
of excruciating economic challenge that Nigerians will be making a choice in
less than five days.
About 74.72 million Nigerians who had collected their Permanent Voters’ Card
(PVC), or 80% of 93.4 million registered voters, will on Saturday, 25th
February head to the polling booths in what promises to be a pivotal moment
for Nigeria. Elections will be held for National Assembly seats and the
presidency, but all eyes are on the presidential ballot for good reasons.
Whoever emerges victorious would have severe implications for the country’s
future and Africa. Many people must have made up their minds about whom to
vote for. They must have made this important decision based on numerous
factors, some logical and noble, others primordial and sentimental and may be
superstitious ignorance .This notwithstanding, performing the civic task of
voting is essential to keep our democracy going. Nigerians are quite optimistic
that this will be a comparatively free and fair election because of what INEC
has put in place . We hope, too, that the best presidential candidate wins the
election. However, what should be the priorities of the average voter as we go
to the polls to elect the president?
Nigeria has not had the best leadership, which impacts the country’s fragile
state and citizens’ economic life. The Nigerian problem, at best, can be
reduced to a leadership problem. The quality of leadership a country gets
directly correlates with the quality of leaders it has. Leaders who selflessly
serve the interest of their people, leading the country to a clearly defined
vision that is tangible, measurable and specific. Nigeria needs a leader that
will lay the foundation for harnessing the vast potential of Nigeria and push it
to be among the top 10 economies in the world within the next few decades. A
leader that stops our sliding into the abyss and reverses the trend to growth
and prosperity that will improve the lives of every Nigerian. A leader of the
people, voted by the people and is for the people. We need this leader, and
we need it now!
The first priority of the average voter is to identify who among the contending
presidential candidates truly represent such a leader. Using their knowledge of
each presidential candidate’s antecedents and prior experiences in leadership,
voters can judge whom this presidential candidate is and vote for him based
on their conscience.
The second priority of the average voter is to identify and vote for a
presidential candidate capable of addressing the most critical challenges
confronting Nigeria as a nation. A significant challenge for voters is identifying
a leader powered by vision and purpose . Nigeria seems directionless, and
every effort made by existing and subsequent governments yielded less-than-
expected results at best and negative impacts at worst. We need a leader that
will define what kind of future our country will have. A leader that will provide
clear direction for the country and galvanise everyone to share and work for
that future. The question is who, not which party, can best guarantee the
future we deserve. Therefore, before casting your vote, you must be sure that
the candidate can envision a future for the country, that his vision of the future
aligns with yours, and that he can start the country on the road to that great
future. The questions every voter must consider are: what kind of future do I
want for Nigeria? Does this align with that of the presidential candidate I want
to vote for? Does the candidate have the qualities, character, knowledge,
skills and experience to fulfil this dream? Your answer to these questions will
guide you towards the right choice.
The third crucial challenge for the presidential candidate is having the capacity
to address the problem of disunity and lingering agitations of marginalisation
and distrust among the various groups making up Nigeria. The candidate to
vote for must be able to promote and strengthen our unity and nationhood.
Presently, this election poses the most severe test of the unity of Nigeria. For
the first time in this post-1999 democratic experiment, we have three major
contenders for the presidency position, representing the three major ethnic
groups and two major religious groups in Nigeria. Only a free, fair and credible
election on Saturday will lay the foundation to douse the emotional
sentimentalism that may ensue after the polls. The critical question is, who
among the candidates can promote and strengthen our seemingly fragile
unity? Who among them is a true Nigerian that will carry everyone along and
challenge the pervading feelings of superiority or marginalisation by groups or
sections of the country? The answer to this question is vital for voters to
choose and vote for the next president.
The fourth challenge is for the candidate to have the clarity of vision and
proven capacity to address intractable insecurity, massive unemployment,
fantastical corruption, and devastating multidimensional poverty. These
challenges have been the bane of Nigeria since independence, and it seems
to be getting worse by the day. A content analysis of the electoral promises of
Nigerian leaders from independence until now reveals that these problems
have been there all this while. Political leaders in different shades, regimes,
and dispensations have promised to eradicate these ills but failed woefully.
We need a leader that will surmount these seemingly insurmountable
problems. Only then shall we make progress. We need a leader who
understands the link between economic security and social security – one
cannot exist without the other. Therefore, we need a leader who will improve
our economy through good infrastructure, sound economic policies, a
business-friendly environment, high productivity, and a stable, moral, and
ethical social and judicial system that drives national progress. A voter must
ask: who among the candidates can tackle, most radically and definitively, the
four issues of insecurity, unemployment, corruption, and
poverty?
This election is the most technology based in Nigeria’s history. The need to
deviate from the electoral malpractices of the past has led Nigeria to adopt the
most modern electoral technology used in an election in democracies in the
world. This is the first time in a presidential election in Nigeria that the BVAS
and online transmission of result technology is adopted, and this has
increased people’s hope for a transparent election with the future looking
bright for credible elections. This hope has led many voters to believe their
votes will count and therefore have power. This will likely lead to a high
turnout for voting on Saturday. The body language and rhetoric of the
president show that he is eager to leave a legacy of electoral transparency
before he leaves office. This, too, is fuelling a quest for ownership of PVC and
using it to vote in elections. It is noteworthy, too, that the president is
championing moves to truncate any chances of buying the presidency and
monetising the electoral process through vote buying or financial inducement
to the INEC officials. This election, hopefully, will live up to its bidding of being
the most accessible and fair election in Nigerian general election history.
The international community expects a credible, free, and fair election. As one
of the biggest democracies in the world, the outcome of Nigerian elections
reverberates worldwide. A successful election in Nigeria will strengthen
democracy in subsaharan Africa and serve as counterforce to the growing
appetite for coups and unconstitutional means of changing government in the
region. A crisis in Nigeria would have far reaching migration and refugee
implications for the entire continent of Africa. We need credible and peaceful
elections more than ever at these perilous times when global politics and
alignments are shaky, especially given NATO – Russia, brouhaha .
As voters perform their civic responsibility on Saturday, it is an opportunity to
choose between different options, not only candidates but also what they
represent versus what we want. It should not be about religion, region,
ethnicity, and party but about the future of our country. The next president
must have the capacity and character to change Nigeria for good. Your vote
counts! Vote by vote, and election by election, we will rebuild Nigeria into the
country of our
dreams.
