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After intense campaigns by the four leading candidates to occupy Aso Rock come May 29, Nigerians will tomorrow decide who among them will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari. Although 18 political parties will be on the ballot, the election will be keenly contested by Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). They have campaigned vigorously and sold themselves and their programmes to Nigerians. Only Nigerians will decide who among them will win the trophy.While the Presidential and National Assembly polls will hold tomorrow, much attention is on the Presidential election. It is one election that all Nigerians will decide the winner. It is an election that will determine who rules the most populous black nation in the world after Buhari. That is why the global attention is on Nigeria now. The UK government says that it is closely monitoring what is happening in Nigeria concerning the 2023 polls. I think that the United States is also watching as Nigeria goes into an important poll.
International observers have arrived to monitor the polls. Having listened to all the leading candidates as they moved across the country in search of the support of Nigerians, it is now the duty of the electorate to vote for the candidate they believe can truly lead Nigeria at this critical period in our political history. This election is like no other in the annals of the country. It is a referendum on the future of the country. It is the most crucial election in the country since the present political dispensation was inaugurated on May 29, 1999. Many pundits have described it as a make or mar poll. And they could not be wrong considering our sordid experiences in the past eight years of the APC change government.
Nigerians have never witnessed the social and economic deprivation this administration has saddled Nigerians with. We were better off in 2015 when it assumed office than now. Since the APC came to power, the prices of essential food items such as rice has risen to all time high from N7500 per 50kg bag in 2015 to N45,000. The cost of other food items like garri, beans and yam has risen astronomically. The value of the naira has so much depreciated from N200 per one dollar in 2015 to N800 per dollar now. The price of petrol has risen out of reach of most Nigerians. Some Nigerians buy a litre of petrol at N300 beyond the official price of about N185 per litre. This is a country where there is fuel subsidy. Even at that, Nigerians queue endlessly for fuel on a daily basis.
Under the APC government, 133 million Nigerians have been categorized as being multi-dimensionally poor. Under their watch too, Nigeria became the poverty capital of the world. All these occurred in a regime that promised to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. Nigeria under this regime has not fared any better in all indices of human development. Our country is ranked among the three most terrorized countries in the world. That is why there is insecurity in virtually all parts of the country. In fact, no geo-political zone can be said to be free from insecurity. The Boko Haram insurgency is holding sway in the North-East, the bandits in the North-West and even North-Central. There are also instances of insecurity in the South-East where some gunmen are holding sway. The South-South and the South-West are also grappling with their own insecurity as well. We have not done well in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) despite the administration’s avowed commitment to the war against corruption. More Nigerians move to countries in Europe and America in search of greener pastures. Our medical doctors and nurses move in droves to Britain, United States and Canada to work because of the poor condition of service at home. Nigerian university teachers have also joined the bandwagon.
Under the APC government, public universities were closed for eight months on account of strike embarked upon by members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Up till now, this administration has not fully resolved the burning issues that led to the strike. It is likely that they will leave office on May 29 without addressing them despite the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and other Nigerians on the matter.Under the APC government, the number of Nigeria’s out-of-school children has reached 20 million. Before them, it was put at 10 million. While the children of the elite are educated in the best universities in Europe and America, the children of the poor struggle to get admission in the under-funded and ill-equipped public universities. While our political office holders troop to Europe and America for medical attention, the poor masses attend their ill-equipped hospitals where they die in large numbers. Our over 23 years of uninterrupted democracy has not meant much to the common man or the Nigerian masses. It is not yet Uhuru for them.
Democracy has not ensured their security and better life. Their misery index has risen under the watch of a democratic government. The quality of education has depreciated. The quality of healthcare has equally depreciated. Democracy has not guaranteed Nigerians, potable water, good roads, steady electricity and food sufficiency, rule of law and due process.In an election season, the APC government imposed on Nigerians scarcity of both the new and old naira banknotes to checkmate vote buying, illicit cash inflows, kidnapping and terrorism. Their cashless policy and naira swap meant to bring into the banking system trillions of naira said to be in private vaults outside the system was badly implemented.
Up till now, Nigerians don’t have the new naira notes and they don’t have the old notes, including the old N200 note that President Buhari said would still be valid till April 10. I can go on and on to enumerate the failures of the APC administration but space would not permit me the luxury to do so. You can fill in the gaps. Therefore, tomorrow’s election is not basically about tribe, religion or party. It is essentially the survival of this entity called Nigeria. It is about political inclusion, equity and justice. It is about competence and ability to do the job. It is about voting in the best candidate for the job. The presidency is not a traditional stool. It is a duty to be performed. It requires agility and willingness to do the right thing at the right time.
This election is about Nigerian youths many of who are outside the political system. It is about millions of them who are jobless and poor. It is also about our marginalized women and millions of young girls who are outside the classroom. This is why Nigerians should troop out en masse tomorrow to vote for the best candidate who will take Nigeria to the Promised Land. Nigeria needs a new brand of leadership that will be forward-looking and responsive to the yearnings of the masses. We need leaders who will patriotically develop all parts of the country and take the entire country as their constituency. We want a departure from nepotism, clannishness and mediocrity of the recent past.
President Buhari and the chairman of the independent National electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, have variously assured of a free, fair and credible poll. They should not fail Nigerians and the international community. Let the wishes of Nigerians be respected by making the votes to count.
