Anthony Obi Ogbo
The rousing Peter Obi movement—is radical change finally coming to Nigeria?
Advocacy to vote for individual candidates without considering their party affiliation will not change the current system; rather, it may yield a disruptive and regressive governance environment —Anthony Obi Ogbo
The current governance system in Nigeria has reached the brink of structural catastrophe. The entire leadership system is wrecked beyond recognition, and the victims of the ineffectual and callous leaders are those who cheered and voted for them. There are clear indications that a radical change is needed to rescue this nation from a deadly slumber. Unfortunately, the masses yearning for system overhaul have been hypocritical and reluctant in using their electoral privileges to facilitate a new paradigm through the polls.
Just recently, Nigerians have witnessed an eruption of youths, all over the country but predominantly in the south, showing up in unprecedented numbers to acquire their permanent voter’s cards. This movement saw a massive surge in voter registration and prompted the Independent National Electoral Commission to extend the registration exercise to September 2022.
Without a doubt, there is tension among party stakeholders regarding the current movement. Contenders in this election already know that Nigerian youths do not play when they unite to fight a cause related to system woes. Indeed, they have every reason to worry, because these young people are advocating for Peter Obi, a charismatic former governor of Anambra State, who defected a few days before his People’s Democratic Party primaries to become the Labor Party’s flagbearer.
Obi is a smart man—a compassionate conservative moderate—who has for months profiled himself as a righteous anti-establishment candidate ready to overhaul the social, political, and economic principles of the system. His message has resonated with the Nigerian Youths, who are voluntarily trooping out in their masses to blow his trumpet. Their excitement over changing the system is generating extensive attention, and for good reason.
The last time Nigerian youths championed a cause was around October 2020 when they created an internet hashtag that took Nigeria and the world by storm. #EndSARS, initiated through Twitter, was a call for the disbandment of Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad. This movement drew the support of many world leaders, including the United Nations’ Secretary-General, António Guterres, and United States (US) President Joe Biden.
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude ” —Maya Angelou
However, these young people are right; the only option left to save Nigeria from the current disaster is a total governmental overhaul—a radical change that would usher in something entirely new. The embrace of a new paradigm could facilitate a revolutionary replacement of old beliefs and ways of doing things with fundamentally new concepts. According to the American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
The value of change has been acknowledged throughout history. Nineteenth-century African American social reformer and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, understood the necessity of transformation. According to Douglass, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Barack Obama II, the 44th president of the US, also made sense of the change process. According to Obama, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
The question, however, is about how this movement can be translated into actual votes, how to translate those votes to victory, and how to ensure that victory leads to legislative policies that open up the path to transformation.
In the presidential system, one major problem with anti-establishment lone candidates or parties is that they often struggle with governance. Currently, the Labor Party—which Obi represents—has no seat in the Senate and only one seat in the House of Representatives. Therefore, promoting Obi without his Labor Party and all the Party’s candidates in the legislature might not accomplish a drastic system transformation in the long run.
Therefore, the current advocacy to vote for individual candidates without considering their party affiliation will not change the current system; rather, it may yield a disruptive and regressive governance environment. To prepare Obi for victory, as well as position him to lead an anticipated change culture, the Labor Party must be carried along with him. They must win significant seats in the forthcoming election. If not, an Obi presidency under the existing structure would be a square peg in a round hole. Such a calamity would see us witness a president of Igbo descent struggling in a den of hostile and antagonizing system adversaries.
♦Publisher of the Guardian News, Professor Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D. is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News. He is the author of the Influence of Leadership (2015) and the Maxims of Political Leadership (2019). Contact: anthony@guardiannews.us
Anthony Obi Ogbo
Dislodging the status quo: Nigerian voters must take anger and conscience to the Polls
Significantly, a vote for Obi and the LP would systematically dislodge a predatory two-party system that has caged this nation since the end of military rule in 1999 —Anthony Ogbo
________________________
In less than one week, on Saturday, February 25, 2023, Nigerian voters will head to the polls to elect a new president amid intensifying anger and frustration over deteriorating insecurity and economic destitution. Among a long list of contenders, candidates from three major political parties stand out. They are a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, representing the Labor Party (LP).
The purpose of this editorial is to reiterate the significance of this election in redeeming this country from decades of captivity under a malicious clique of political delinquents.
Since its independence in 1960, Nigeria has struggled violently with every area of democratic dividends. The voting process, which allows citizens the choice of electing competent leaders, has always been falsely designed. The constitutional structure is unfairly compromised to protect ethnic favoritism, fraud, and mediocrity. The standard of ethical leadership has been fictional, leaving this nation in sheer depression. For decades, each election year has produced the same caliber of visionless political miscreants recycled under the same crooked political organizations. Without a doubt, Nigeria as a nation has never been lucky with decent leaders.
As Nigerians prepare to head to the polls, it might be necessary to undertake a short analysis of what the country stands to gain or lose with each candidate. Each of the front-runners has indeed been in the political system for decades, yet the current electioneering trends draw sharp distinctions. It might be a waste of editorial space to go into party proposals or campaign rhetoric because those metrics have not favored the masses in the past. In the current political terrain, making electoral choices would not be a difficult one.
In the almost eight years of its incumbency, the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), has rendered the worst development record in Nigeria’s political history. Besides unchallenged insecurity, accelerating inflation is reflected in the rising cost of living, leaving many families struggling to survive. The latest figures from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics show that 33% of the population is unemployed—jumping to 42.5% for young adults.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a ruthless political godfather intoxicated with power and greed.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and running mate, Kashim Shettima (both Muslims), represent this party. Besides leading such a failed political entity, Tinubu is not a good man. He is a ruthless political godfather intoxicated with power and greed. Armed with a huge amount of influence, cash, and a sense of entitlement, he believes that he wants to be president because it is his turn. His running mate Shettima is a proven jihadist whose spiritual ideology abhors democracy.
A vote for this team could translate into a 16-year prolongation of APC’s disastrous stewardship. Under the current culture, the incumbents (president and vice president) have the political advantage to manipulate the system and exploit a constitutionally allowed double four-year tenure (eight years) each. Thus, an APC victory under Tinubu and Shettima could finally erase a representative governance culture from the system. Placing two radical Muslims as leaders in a secular country with a history of violent religious extremism might not be a good electoral choice.
PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, are believed to be less notorious yet politically unsafe for Nigeria. It may be recalled that the PDP has ruled this nation for 16 years, and indeed, is a coconspirator of the current draconian constitutional structure. Atiku was a vice president in a PDP regime under Olusegun Obasanjo (1999–2007) who somehow missed becoming the next president at the time. Since then, he has spent a huge amount of resources struggling to return as president.
A vote for Atiku and the PDP would yield nothing but continued governance of loot sharing and system hopelessness.
Atiku is one of those political elites who prospered through the looting of public funds. Pompously rich, he shuttles between wealthy cities in the Middle East and would swagger with money, extravagant gifts, and young women. Atiku’s fraud case with William Jefferson—a former Louisiana politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009—made global headlines. A vote for Atiku and the PDP would yield nothing but continued governance of loot sharing and system hopelessness. Voters could be looking at another 16 years of hardship.
The LP candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, are not exactly new in politics. Yet both individuals represent what could offer Nigerians a fresh start in rebuilding a nation that has never seen peace, stability, and system fairness in nearly six decades. Significantly, a vote for Obi and the LP would systematically dislodge a predatory two-party system that has caged this nation since the end of military rule in 1999.
The difference is clear. The duo of Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed remains the most qualified team for steering this country in a different direction. Both candidates are open-minded liberals who are open to structural change and who truly see Nigeria as a united nation rather than a personal property.
The standard for political candidacy is not supposed to be a turn-by-turn privilege. Challengers must be morally and intellectually upright, tender convincing proposals for change, and show knowledge of the conversion of strategies into governance actions. To date, the APC and PDP have offered no single excuse for their years of mismanagement. Yet they have been parading basic campaign posters of unsubstantiated policy proposals irrelevant to the major issues of the moment.
Voters must leave hypocrisy at home and take their anger, conscience, and interests to the polls.
The stakes in this election are very high. Voters must leave hypocrisy at home and take their anger, conscience, and interests to the polls. They must snub their tribal or religious comradeship and opt for values that serve a national interest.
One of the core doctrines of change in the political framework is how candidates fare in significant areas of national interests. In this case, however, both APC and PDP, along with their candidates, represent fear, amoral values, and abject failure.
At this time, voters are faced with a choice between two ideologies. They may choose to embrace the brutal APC–PDP status quo and continue living in system wretchedness. Alternatively, they may opt for the LP and start over to create a nation and structures of their choice.
♦Publisher of the Guardian News, Journalism and RTF Professor, Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D. is on the Editorial Board of the West African Pilot News. He is the author of the Influence of Leadership (2015) and the Maxims of Political Leadership (2019). Contact: anthony@guardiannews.us
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