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The campaign season is here at last, officially, at least. In Nigeria, however, politicians have continued to campaign from one election cycle to another, often through rhetoric, bile, and hate speech.
Sadly, much of this rhetoric has little substance or relevance to Nigeria’s real problems. Civil society organisations, the mainstream media, and influential commentators, which ought to play vital roles in agenda-setting, have themselves been caught in this vicious cycle of ethnic and religious bigotry, which increasingly appears to have become the norm.
This ugly situation is further accentuated by an array of hate merchants, noisy bloggers, and paid hacks masquerading as influencers, who peddle fake news across social media platforms and exploit the prevailing frustrations in the country to enhance their own relevance.
The real issues today are not the academic credentials of the President or the singular question of fuel subsidy. The real issues are how the government’s policies have affected the lives of Nigerians and what prospects its reforms hold for the country’s long-term stability and progress.
The real issues are also not simply what key opposition figures think about fuel subsidy, border closures, or their personal grievances over the loss of political power. Nor should the debate be reduced to their apparent fears of permanent exclusion from the political system or from the spoils of political office.
What Nigerians want to know is: what viable alternative policies do the major opposition leaders have to offer?
Unfortunately, beyond the familiar criticism of the government’s alleged failure to end insecurity, arrest spiralling inflation, and address the country’s other challenges, opposition leaders have yet to present a radical, clear, and effective roadmap for the post-Tinubu era they seek to lead.
The contrast with previous political eras is striking.
In the 1979 election cycle, the principal political players articulated identifiable policy alternatives. The ruling NPN, led by President Shehu Shagari, placed the Green Revolution at the centre of its agenda, while its principal rival, the UPN, led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, promoted its four cardinal programmes, including free and compulsory education at all levels, integrated rural development, and free health care.
These were clear alternative choices that the political gladiators of that era articulated and sold to the electorate. That is largely absent from the political discourse today.
With a rapidly growing population placing increasing pressure on the food supply chain, inadequate incomes, unreliable power supply, unemployment, insecurity, and a broader economic dysfunction arising partly from the absence of sound and holistic planning, Nigeria faces serious challenges to sustainable growth and stability.
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The debate should therefore centre on how to pull Nigeria out of its current cycle of unstable, fragile, and unreliable economic performance and move the country towards a realistic framework of stability and progress.
We need functional education systems. We need universal healthcare coverage. We need a vibrant, export-oriented economy. We need effective security architecture. We need technology laboratories and innovation hubs where new ideas can be developed and commercialised. We need realistic and sustainable youth development programmes. We need a vigorous national response to the artificial intelligence and broader technological revolution.
These should be at the core of the agenda of those seeking to lead Nigeria into a post-Tinubu political era, not the politics of ethnic mobilisation, personal attacks, and endless efforts to wrestle power from President Tinubu and the APC government.
The opposition should be telling Nigerians what it intends to do differently, how it intends to do it, how much it will cost, and how it will be financed.
Whether one agrees with the Tinubu administration or not, the uncomfortable reality is that even if President Tinubu is defeated by a united opposition in 2027, the opposition parties must still demonstrate that they possess the ideas, policies, institutions, and capacity to deliver the immediate relief that Nigerians are being promised.
Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and the other major opposition figures cannot afford to make the 2027 election merely a referendum on Bola Tinubu. Nigerians deserve more than a contest between personalities, grievances, and political alliances.
They deserve a contest of ideas.
The question should not simply be: Who can defeat Tinubu?
It should be: Who has the clearest, most credible, and most sustainable plan for Nigeria?
• Ayodeji, marriage counselor, author, media expert and philosopher, can be reached on 09059243004, WhatsApp only.
