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By Oluwabamise Adedapo
It is appreciable that Nigerians are beginning to express their concerns, especially as the elections in 2023 draw near. With just about nine months to go, many are voicing their opinions as to who should run for the post of President and who should not. The other angle to it is “who has not offered to run yet, but should by all means have their hat in the ring already?”
These and more were the issues discussed on a Twitter Space session hosted by Azubike Osumili, the popular host of the radio show “All Out Politics” on Inspiration FM.
Hosted as an extension of a segment of his radio show, tagged “On The Presidential Campaign Trail,” Osumili decided to bring to the Twitter Space a nagging, unresolved question a caller had raised earlier on the radio show about some capable people who should really be running for President, but until now are not only absent from the field of contestants but are also not showing the willingness to do so.
A typical name mentioned as an example was the former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, and that spurned a whole new argument. This formed the virtual backdrop for the Twitter Space session, which ran for over two hours.
During the interactive and engaging conversation, different individuals intelligently dissected the topic, creating multiple angles. A Twitter user mentioned why the question of “who should run and who should not run” was important and should have been asked a long time before now.
“While it is important for us as citizens to get our PVCs and vote, a major stage we need to be very invested in is the part where the party representatives are chosen,” she said. According to her, it was critical that Nigerians do not have to choose the lesser of two or three evils.
Digital media expert and author, Omojuwa, also joined the conversation to share his thoughts. Among many other points made, he had this to say in reference to those mentioning the need for a third force at this seeming late hour in the day, “You cannot have a big party like the APC and PDP that will behave differently from Nigerians. Such big parties cannot behave differently from the mass of people. They are us, we are them. They are representative of our collective behavior.”
Another speaker on the platform was @fimiletoks who pointed out that “Fashola has proven himself over and over again. He has handled different tasks very well. He’s a firm believer in the private sector and Fashola is someone who can rally the private sector for economic development.”
A different speaker agreed that “Someone like Fashola, should actually put his hat in the ring. He needs to start looking at the patriotic and posterity angles. With what he did in Lagos, he would do a great job as President.”
Offering a balance to the topic and the perspective, U.S. Army veteran Major Adebayo Adeleke indicated that “The conditions that allowed Fashola to thrive in Lagos might not allow him thrive at the national level.”
In the same vein, a Twitter user @boicom7, reacting to the call for Fashola to run for the presidency, said, “One might have the experience, but if one doesn’t have the fire and willingness then the person shouldn’t be forced.”
At some point, the conversation drifted towards the controversial idea of zoning.
“One thing that we should be talking about that is fundamental, because of the way our democracy is defined at this particular point in time, is where power should actually go,” said @Iroutumhe. Elaborating, he continued: “If we must talk about justice and inclusiveness, we must have equality stressed and from there we can go forward.”
“We want aspirants who have credibility,” host of the Twitter space, @azuosumili harped.
These angles throw up the need to take a wholesome look at the intricate process of selecting candidates at the party primaries so that the nation is not stuck with two savage choices from the major parties, with no credible or competent option.
Proffering solutions, speakers opened up different sides to the discussion: @iroutumhe said, “Let us come together and mobilize. Like the way we made a statement with the #EndSARS movement,” referring to youths creating a voting bloc that can be used as a proper bargaining chip.
“We need to do the heavy-lifting, come together as one to choose someone in the third party,” said Twitter user, @SearchPunt.
Reacting to the same question, another speaker opined that “You can’t just wake up and say you want to be President, you need to start from somewhere.”
Some other person asked, “We have someone like Fashola who has actually worked his way up. Shouldn’t he be a candidate?”
The interesting conversation saw Fashola become a permanent fixture on the Nigerian Twitter trend table all through Thursday night till Friday, May 6. Some Twitter users also created polls asking people to choose who they’d vote for in the APC among some of the most popular names who have declared and not declared, with Fashola coming tops on all the polls.
All of these interesting conversations will continue until the final deciders are in. At the moment, APC has about 23 contestants who have indicated interest and PDP at least 15 who have been screened to participate in the primaries.
While Fashola is well ahead on the list of desired candidates who have not declared, it is worthy to note that the minister once mentioned running for the President of his own home, speaking sarcastically as to running home to his family, instead of being President. We cannot tell if that is still his position at the present moment. Surely, time is ticking and the primaries are drawing ever so close.
•Adedapo writes from Lagos
