By Sam Nwanze
Guest Columnist
The permutations of what may likely be the 2027 political chess game are already underway openly and clandestinely.
Defections and all kinds of political indiscretions that make Nigeria look like jokers are rife. Fear of one-party state looms.
That we still have two years down the road doesn’t matter. On the side of politicians, the earlier, the better, not minding the fact that most Nigerian citizens, especially the downtrodden, are suffocating under the economic policies of the current APC administration since May 2023, a situation that has rendered many Nigerians pauparised and powerless. A lot of unemployed youths roam around, some join gangs, others who could afford it bolted to foreign lands either legally or illegally on what’s now popularly called “japarism.”
But one interesting aspect of the discussion is the fact that His Excellency, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last election, is in the centre of the equation, given his performance in the last election, which a lot of Nigerians, not just his followers, still believe he won.
Incidentally, evidence of the perception that Obi was the winner of the presidential election in 2023 but was denied the victory can be located in the fact that Obi remains very popular thereafter and many argue he is even more popular now than then.
Three major issues, to my mind, have been the drivers of Peter Obi’s phenomenonal rise and popularity in the current political permutations in Nigeria.
Number one is his frugal tendencies on the use of public money while in office and personal lifestyle in spite of his enormous wealth acquired outside public office.
This he exhibited while holding the governorship seat in Anambra State for eight years. All he did or didn’t do during that era is public knowledge and needs no restating here. And, confidently, he would tell those who may doubt his score card, “Go and verify.”
The second issue is his well-known insistence on dealing with statistics and facts in the conduct of governance issues. From his days as number one citizen in Anambra, Peter Obi was an adherent of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) model of development put together by International Economic Agencies as the best pathways for national or sub-national development for rapid economic growth in the critical areas of health, food security, education, human capital development and other indices of development that can be measured.
To him, this is the best way to lift millions of people out of poverty within a determined period of time. To justify his postulations, he reels out statistics in numbers from different countries within a space of time in comparison with our own to support his arguments and guide the public. But people who hate to hear the truth call him names.
He also propagates the policy and economic strategy of production, instead of consumption, as the way out of our current economic quagmire, and means of national development of any nation.
He also preaches eradication of corruption drastically, since it can’t be eliminated completely, love of one another, inclusivity and love of the nation as a way of nation-building.
Peter Obi believes that, with those measures in place, being driven by a strong character like him, other issues like insecurity, energy, injustice, social malice and other divisive tendencies can be checkmated.
He calls on leaders to live by example, instead of squandering the nation’s resources on self-agandisement and projects that do no add value to the lives of the people.
The third leg of Peter Obi’s strong personality is being humane, humble and living by example. He is not pretentious about these personal attributes and a lot of Nigerians love him for this. And this is why the Obidient Movement, which spang up around him a few months before the last elections, is largely intact for him up till now and is strategically being organised properly for future ventures.
Also, Obi’s electoral value is still intact in the eyes of many Nigerians at home and abroad.
No wonder, Obi is the main “problem” of this administration. And they believe that the only way to stop him is through unwarranted attacks by people in government and other sponsored goons. But such attacks indeed win for him more admirers and supporters than haters.
The 2027 elections will be an interesting scenario both in content and context. In spite of daunting economic problems and massive hunger, many Nigerians are preparing for a real life-saving fight between the APC government and the Nigerian masses. Propaganda will play little role then.
What the opposition parties need do urgently is to put their house in order and support a candidate like Peter Obi. The current defections said to be sponsored by the party in power at the centre, being celebrated by them, may be counter-productive later.
And if I may advise His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, he should simply perish the idea of coming out again to contest in 2007 after many years of previous failed attempts, although he has the right to so do.
It is not even about his age, which also is factor, but the fact that the issue of North-South dichotomy is strongly entrenched in the Nigerian polity as of now and it will take deliberate socio-political re-engineering to set it aside in the future.
But if he defies this humble advise, he will fail again and his defiance may aid this administration to come back to power in 2027. And more lamentations may follow.
The main issues that should engage the Nigerian populace now are far-reaching electoral reforms, judicial reforms and enthronement of an INEC that works for the people and not for those in power or the highest bidders.
Another elephant in the room is the security agencies involved in election matters and other ad hoc staff. There must be a way to hold them accountable for their actions and inactions during the elections.
Civil society bodies, the media and other stakeholders must hold elected officials accountable, especially the executive and the legislative arms at the national and sub-national levels, in spite of the efforts by the government and security agencies to gag the press amd the public through the Cybercrime Act and stop protesters from their constitutional rights.
Legislatures across the divide, tragically, have become an appendage of the executive at the national and sub-national levels for selfish reasons.
If we must move forward, now is the time for progressive politics to be practised in Nigeria for the growth of the nation, not the current retrogressive tendencies pulling the country apart in different directions.
• Nze Sam Nwanze is a journalist and media consultant based in Abuja