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One of the notable features of our march to the 2023 presidential election and others is the high premium placed on interactions with the presidential candidates of some political parties, especially the leading ones, organized by professional bodies, non-governmental organizations and the media. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) set the ball rolling when they invited the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) during their annual bar conference to tell Nigerians what they will offer them if elected the next president of the country.
While Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC was represented by his deputy, Kashim Shettima, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the LP were present at the well-attended event. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Organized Private Sector (OPS) have featured some of these presidential hopefuls at their events to extract words from them on how they are going to address the daunting tasks facing the country, including but not limited to, oil theft, insecurity, separatist agitations, power challenge, restructuring, resource control, poverty, climate change, perennial flooding food insecurity, poor exchange rate of the naira against the dollar and other major currencies. In each of these occasions, the presidential candidates have used the platform to market themselves and their manifestoes to Nigerians, the electorate. Stakeholders from the North have also organized such a meeting with the presidential candidates at Arewa House, Kaduna and the candidates appeared at different times to tell people of that region what they will do for them. It is likely that the presidential candidates will visit other political blocs to intimate them of the programmes they have for them. Whether the candidates address a region or a group, they are indirectly saying what they will do for Nigerians, because they will be the president of the entire country and not a section of the country. Some gaffes have emanated from these fora as well as some banters, they are all part of the political game. However, some of the candidates have equally distinguished themselves and made useful and quotable statements on the way forward for the beleaguered nation in search of credible leadership.
The latest of these town hall meetings was organized on Sunday by the Arise News Channel in conjunction with others. The meeting which featured Peter Obi of LP, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP, Kola Abiola of the PRP and VP candidate of the PDP, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who represented PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was one of the best so far. Unfortunately, neither the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, nor his deputy, Kashim Shettima, attended the event. Although the Arise News Channel’s meeting was tagged Presidential Town Hall Meeting Series, which the organizers explained was not a debate, it almost looked like one. More of the series will hold before the poll. A presidential debate is a core feature of the United States presidential elections where candidates showcase what they will do for Americans and even dispute what their opponents can offer. In the US, it has become customary for candidates to engage in a presidential debate during the presidential election campaigns. The debate revolves around the major controversial issues of the time. Often times, electoral outcomes have almost been decided by such debates.
Although a presidential debate has no force of law or being constitutional, it has become a vital part of the US electoral process. Since we borrowed the US presidential system of government, we have been trying so hard to incorporate all other aspects of that system, including the presidential debate into it. Unfortunately, we have not been particularly successful in transplanting the US presidential system into our own. We have not been able to fully domesticate it either. Like every imitation, there are always some lapses. Although our own version of a presidential debate is not constitutional, it has become an integral part of our presidential election process. Those evading such a debate are doing so at their own risk. The only exception here is if the candidate is sick or something urgent prevented him from featuring. In such a case, the candidate in question, will send a representative. We have had enough of absentee candidates and their deputies.
Nigerians and indeed the voters are taking note of such disdain by the affected candidates. Anyone seeking to be employed as the next CEO of Nigeria Enterprise must be willing and humble enough to present himself for an interview, the presidential debate or the presidential town hall meeting. No amount of running away from the debate will save the day for such candidates. If you want a top job, you must be ready for a rigorous job interview. Whether it is a presidential debate or a presidential town hall meeting, the end goal is almost the same. At the Arise Group meeting, the candidates were asked general and personalized questions, which they attempted to give their best responses. Some of the responses revealed to a great extent how the candidates will tackle the myriad problems of the nation if elected. From the responses, the audience, the voters were able to gauge who among the candidates could manage the affairs of the country come May 2023. From the interactions with the presidential candidates present at the meeting, Nigerians will determine who among the candidates can fix the economy, tackle insecurity and revamp the power sector and solve other problems facing the nation.
Going forward, we need more and more of such town hall meetings before the presidential elections. Such meetings will help the voters to assess the candidates very well and ascertain who to vote among them. With the town hall meetings, our politics is gradually moving away from what it used to be to what we want it to be. Nigerians are believing that it shall no longer be business as usual. There must be a departure from our ugly political past. The era of vote selling and buying is going to be over with the deployment of technology into our voting system. As I am writing this article on how to improve our electoral process using presidential debates or presidential town hall meetings, I am worried that the industrial peace in the public universities is about to be disturbed, once again, over the issue of half salary paid to lecturers for October or what the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, described as pro-rata salary payment based on actual days of work. The new rift over full or half salary must not be allowed to cause another strike or sit-at-home by lecturers in the varsities.
Ngige and the APC government should stop playing politics with university education. This is the time to call a spade a spade and not by any other name. Any attempt to disrupt the university calendar again will have unpalatable consequences. The job of a university teacher is specialized and even peculiar. It is not like the job of an office clerk or someone carrying files in the labour ministry. It involves intellectual rigors and other requirements. That is why it is very difficult to sack the university teachers. Their replacement won’t be easy either.
Since the affected work will still be done, the government should swallow its pride and pay the teachers their salaries for eight months, using a suitable formula to do so. Paying them half salary is indeed an insult on the university teachers and tertiary education system. The varsity teachers don’t deserve this type of ill-treatment by the federal government. I am also not comfortable with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq’s gaffe on which state has the highest flood between Jigawa and Bayelsa states. Such a comparison at a period of monumental flood disaster is parochial and unnecessary. What is needed now is to assist all flood victims irrespective of their state of origin. For the next president of Nigeria, perennial flooding is a present danger that must be tackled with dams, dredging and other measures. Presidential debate is so important that no presidential candidate should evade it.
