AS campaigns for Presidential and
National Assembly elections kicked off on November 18 ahead of the February
polls, it is requisite that all participants must play the game by the rules of
the electoral umpire. To serve the people shouldn’t be by might. If not, it is
no longer for service-delivery but selfish interests. The overall essence of politicking
is to sell ideas and dreams to the people for evaluation.
And whatever decision
the people opted is within their powers and should be respected. In democracy,
the majority will always have their way and nobody is accorded powers to make
the right choices for the people. This accounts for the definition of democracy
as ‘government of, for and by the people’. Unequivocally, the crux of democracy
is allowing the people to freely choose their leaders and representatives
without any form of intimidation or molestation irrespective of soundness of
their decisions.
Remarkably, President Muhammadu
Buhari while launching the ‘Next-Level’ a moment ago at the Banquet Hall,
Presidential Villa charged all the seated guests to consciously enthrone altruism,
decorum and civility while going about with campaigns, and particularly jogged
everyone’s memory that Nigeria is our only country, and therefore to play
politics with sense of responsibilities and patriotism instead of setting the
nation ablaze. That is outstandingly leadership and statesmanship. Immediately
President Buhari made the statement, I instantaneously recalled some years back
when the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in a similar gathering ahead
of his second term bid audaciously declared ‘do-or-die’ politics with the justification
of consolidating his purported achievements in the first term for the masses.
That is a blunder and anti-democratic. No leader chooses to lead the people by
force. If a mandate is not freely given, it is nothing else but a junta.
Interestingly, the Buhari
administration fashioned the event to showcase the journey so far since 2015
the government was inaugurated vis-à-vis achievements. As the administration’s
major area of concentrations are on economy, infrastructural development,
security and fight against corruption, the Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) rendered his stewardship on significant
attainments of the tripartite ministry under his control. His counterpart in
the Ministry of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi followed suit and
acquainted the guests with actions his ministry embarked upon as approved by
the President and Federal Executive Council including completion of numerous
abandoned projects; some abandoned as far back as 30 years ago. Ditto on the
Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment, Mrs. Maryam Uwais that
stringently used few minutes to highlight on the achievements of her section.
Others shortlisted to speak including
Minister of Agriculture were unable due to time constraints. Undeniably, despite
the fact it was APC government’s event, no speaker chanted the usual party’s
salutation ’APC – Change’. Again, neither did Comrade Adams Oshiomhole nor
Festus Keyamo (SAN) as APC-National Chairman and official spokesperson of MBCO
respectively, addressed the guests.
Then, the service chiefs in
attendance probably to render account on the security situation in the country
in President Buhari’s three-and-half year’s administration left the venue prior
to the commencement of the event. As some believed, the sudden exodus of the
service chiefs from the event was to prevent allusions from some quarters over partisanship
by their presence. Incidentally, as envisaged, the insinuations came from the
PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar questioning presence of service
chiefs at such event at State House.
But holistically, could that be
reasonably suitable for the polity at this point in time that the people earnestly
look forward to issues-based campaigns? By virtue of the position of the Commander-in-chief
of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, any serving president is covered to have the
presence of service chiefs at any gathering he attends. That is a privilege a
ruling party has over oppositions. If the service chiefs will compromise their
oaths of office, not attending a function organized by Mr. President is no
remedy. Again, during campaigns, it is always difficult to separate activities
of the government from the ruling party, and that’s a conventional norm that
replicates down to the states.
Irrefutably, politics and government have
a thin line during campaigns, and therefore, it would always be difficult to
separate the party from the government. The hullabaloo over the presence of the
service chiefs at the event is uncalled for. What is important is that the
people are entitled to a free-and-fair election to choose by ballot their
desired leaders. Besides, from the invite card, it was clear that the event tagged
“Next-Level” was organized by the presidency for the presentation of the
achievements and projections of the Buhari administration through the office of
the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and not from APC
secretariat.
Without a doubt, the event has political
ingredients; nonetheless, it was equally, competently a government programme
for appraisals and stewardship for accountability. To sum, let’s focus on
issues and policies that can move the nation forward. Anything inconsistent is bunkum.
Former US-President Barack Obama’s once said, “I know that campaigns can seem
small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues
become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and
advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me - so
am I”.
Umegboro
is a public affairs analyst and Associate, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
(United-Kingdom). 07057101974-SMS-only.
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