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By Gabriel Dike
Former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Victor Attah, has said the outcome of the 2023 general election badly damaged the image of the country.
Attah stated this in Lagos as a guest speaker of the Institute of Certified Sales Professionals (ICSP) 2024 investiture ceremony with the theme: ‘Fostering the Art of Being Outstanding’.
According to him, “Let me say the circumstances and conduct of the 2023 elections caused serious damage to the character of our president, our electoral process and our judiciary.
“It left Nigeria with a badly damaged image. It is difficult enough to sell a good product in the face of stiff competition, and to sell a damaged product is a daunting task.
“Selling Nigeria in the aftermath of the 2023 elections is not by any means an easy job. As has been shown, our actions and utterances that led up to the elections and have since continued after the elections, have left us with two major strikes.
“The first strike is that we have a gravely damaged product (Nigeria) and the second is that our number one salesman (president) has been badly disabled. But we must not give up.”
Attah, who spoke on: ‘The imperative of selling Nigeria to the outside world in the post-2023 national elections Era’, said the Nigerian passport after the 2023 elections, is the least welcome globally of all major countries of the World.
The former governor said one interpretation of the rejection is that foreigners don’t want to see “our faces. If that is so, how can we reasonably expect them to want to invest here or to buy anything, except crude oil from us.”
He said one thing that distinguished the February 2023 presidential elections from others, which preceded it, was that the presidential candidates and their supporters spent more time on the character assassination of their opponents than on setting forth their plans for governance if they were elected.
“Nigerians forgot that the number one national salesman is the president of the country. He, more than any other person, has the responsibility of selling Nigeria first to Nigerians, and Nigeria to the rest of the World.
“Our common refrain after every election is ‘go to court’ without minding the gravity of the damage that will inflict, not only on the judiciary and the electoral system but even more on the nation.
“He asked if we can sell Nigeria to the outside World, post-2023 and affirmed it is possible,” adding, “we must not destroy its image any further but rather take necessary and appropriate steps to correct all perceived wrongs.”
He acknowledged that certain factors, including lack of security, non-observation of the rule of law, corruption and lack of basic infrastructure, particularly power, have worked to exacerbate the problem.
President of ICSP, Arthur Ozoigbo, acknowledged the achievements recorded by Attah and that he has continued to speak out on issues affecting the country.
“Just imagine if our politicians can learn the act of sales, we will not have problems of corruption, bad leadership and budget padding,” he said.
