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The campaign season is on once again. There is no doubt about it. President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated his rainbow Presidential Campaign Council (PCC). The opposition is still talking about fielding a single candidate to unseat the incumbent president. It is a season Nigerian politicians will do everything possible to win the hearts of the voters by serenading them with the mighty things they will do to change their lives, including miracles and even magical things that human beings cannot do.
We have been through this journey many times, yet our lives remain the same or even worse than we were. We are told that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. This is true of Nigerian politicians. They will promise you what they will hardly do just to win your support. The politicians woo us like the proverbial beautiful bride just to get our votes. After ascending the throne of grace and abundance, they will be asking us to give them more time and explaining why the promises are hard to fulfill.
They hardly remember the suffering of the masses. They even forget their promises to the people. They will say four years is not enough to make impact or solve our problems. They needed another four years to fulfill all the promises. Even eight years may not be enough for Nigerian politicians. They may one day ask for 12 years or more to solve our problems.
We will hear more this campaign season. There will be jabs and jabs on political opponents. Already, politicians in APC rainbow coalition are throwing jabs at themselves. We will see more in the days ahead. Don’t forget they promised issue-based campaign. I hope they have not forgotten that promise. They will soon be throwing the political scud missiles at each other very soon.
In unveiling his PCC, President Tinubu said the campaign won’t distract him from governance. He urged governors and lawmakers that there will be no credit until they deliver the votes. The council’s Director-General, Abdulaziz Yari, affirmed that the administration’s achievements and future plans would form the centrepiece of the campaign. According to Tinubu, “we have not gathered merely to inaugurate a council. We have gathered to renew a covenant, a covenant with Nigerian people and the historic responsibility they have entrusted to us as Nigeria’s governing party.”
On the other hand, the camp of the opposition is still mooting the idea of producing a single candidate out of Atiku Abubakar (ADC), Peter Obi (NDC), Seyi Makinde (APM), Prince Adewole Adebayo (SDP) and Donald Duke (PRP). I don’t know how the Salihu Lukman-led G-100 Opposition will perform this political engineering with a few months to the presidential election. If the candidates fail to have a consensus candidate, it means that all of them will compete with Tinubu in the January 16, 2027 presidential election. We shall see how it will go.
In the course of political campaigns, presidential candidates should tell Nigerians why they should vote them for the topmost job in the country. While Tinubu camp will explain why Nigerians should give him another four years, the opposition candidates will have to convince Nigerians why they should prefer them to Tinubu. Without preempting the candidates’ manifestos, fuel subsidy, the economy, poverty and unemployment will feature prominently in the campaigns.
Those calling for return of fuel subsidy must elaborately explain how they are going to do it. They should tell us how they would tackle rising poverty and unemployment as well as high cost of housing and healthcare services. How will they tackle the education crisis and poor remuneration of varsity teachers? Nigerians now want somebody who can do the job and do it effectively.
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Beyond the campaigns, the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is crucial in conducting a free, fair and credible 2027 poll. This why the chairman of INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has not left anyone in doubt about his preparedness to give Nigerians the best ever poll in the history of elections in the country. He once boasted that INEC under his watch will conduct an election in which the loser will willingly congratulate the winner.
The closest we got to that was the August 15 gubernatorial poll which returned Jackson Ademola Adeleke as governor of Osun State for a second term. During a recent event with the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in Abuja, Amupitan warned that perpetrators of vote-buying and financial inducement would be arrested and prosecuted. INEC has also strengthened collaboration with anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligent Unit (NFIU) to track election expenditure and strengthen surveillance around polling units.
On the commission’s neutrality in the 2027 polls, Amupitan said: “we have no preferred candidate, no preferred political party, and no agenda other than a guaranteeing a free, fair, transparent and credible election.” We hold INEC to this solemn promise. It is like an oath, which must be kept. It is a promise to the Nigerian people, let Amupitan keep it.
INEC cannot do this job alone, the voters, the observers, security agencies and members of political parties and other Nigerians should help to ensure a free, fair and credible poll. The INEC chairman said that electoral officers and temporary staff would be required to take an oath of neutrality. He warned that partisanship, negligence and compromised ethical conduct would attract sanctions. Amupitan should keep faith with this promise of punishing erring INEC officers and temporary staff.
INEC also declared that artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms will not determine the outcome of the 2027 general election, promising that the power to choose Nigeria’s leaders rests solely with the electorate. He warned that AI-generated disinformation, deepfake videos, cloned audio recordings and other forms of digital manipulations could undermine public trust, influence voter behavior and threaten electoral integrity. Let INEC address these challenges.
Voters should monitor the process until results are announced. However, Amupitan should also promise Nigerians that technical glitches witnessed in the 2023 general elections will not occur in 2027 poll. INEC should follow and improve on the Osun governorship poll which was generally adjudged to be free, fair and credible. There was even no going to court to determine the winner of that poll.
Let INEC conduct an election in which nobody will even contemplate going to court. The courts should not determine the winner of our elections anymore. Nigerians should decide the winner. Nigerians expect no less from Amupitan. We believe and trust that he can deliver a credible poll that will respect the wishes of Nigerian people.
