2023: Why Nigerians should not repeat 2015 mistake (Part 1)
By Ifeanyi Onyekere Mandela
Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, once said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
In the coming months, Nigerians face another tough task of electing a new president to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
It is therefore most surprising that the most discussed topic in Nigeria currently is the 2023 general election.
After the return to democratic system of government in 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took over power at the federal level and in almost all the 36 states in Nigeria.
At the time, the western region, predominantly occupied by the Yoruba ethnic group, had some states ccupied by a few opposition parties, and some others from the northern parts mostly occupied by the Hausa/Fulani people.
However, the South and the Eastern regions were under the full grip of PDP.
Nigeria under PDP seemed a messiah and the devil at the same time. As Messiah, it was better than the dreaded military rule, and as the devil; most developmental yearnings and democratic tenets were butchered on the altar of self aggrandisement, lack of political will, poor leadership qualities and utter wickedness by politicians.
Ironically, such issues necessitated the incursion of the military into the governance of Nigeria.
Fast-foward to 2015, the All Progressives Party (APC) which has played an opposition party by the merging of different smaller political parties and some splinter groups from PDP clinched power at the federal level.
Many Nigerians thought the APC would inspire a new dawn and tackle the country’s challenges.
However, It didn’t take long before the citizens started grumbling.
“What is the matter?” Someone had asked.
“Seems APC is at the best just like PDP, and at worst, worse than PDP”
We spent half a year waiting for a newly sworn-in president to appoint his cabinets, followed by a subtle consolation that the president was ‘rigoriously’ selecting the best team.
At the end, we saw the height of ineptitude as the APC started blaming the PDP even for its own mistakes and failures. Nigerians went through this mind-belittling show of blame till 2019 and continued afterwards following Buhari’s re-election.
The result? The economy collapsed. More excuses. Inecurity became worse. More excuses. Education system hit the wall.
More excuses. One dollar rose from about N150 to above N550. More and more excuses. Misplaced priority. More excuses.
The press is gagged, attempt to stamp the internet to government’s choice of size was so visible. More excuses with hate speech.
Hate speech from politicians who stole the flames of divisions with cultural differences, class and creed.
Having tasted and confirmed that Nigerian has one political party, APC-PDP, or PDP-APC, it is imperative to avoid the avoidable ahead of 2023.
A folklores told of how a sheep asked her 7th child, how many times he’d be hurt before he learns a lesson. The 7th son replied seven times. The last one told the mother, unlike others, he’d learn lessons from other peoples’ experiences. It is where a child with a father is being taught that a child without a father learns. There’s no need repeating same mistakes especially this one we made in 2015.
One disadvantage of democracy is the danger of few persons influencing the majority, and the majority made to believe that ‘this’ popular opinion is the best.
But who controls the media? Who has the wherewithal to reach and convince people? How many of the members of this majority can discern facts objectively? This is the first red flag.
Secondly, age and experience are very much important in leadership. Buhari accepted that his old age affected his ability as the leader. If he knew this, what about you. Britain has a 47-year-old leader. France has a president in his early forties. These two countries are part of the most powerful five in the world. Should we then settle for ’emi olekan?’
Thirdly, we don’t need leaders who hired spokespersons that cannot even defend the source of their principals’ wealth. We need leaders who have human face. We deserve leaders who can talk to the citizens. We deserve leaders who can sit one-on-one and engage other world leaders.
Again, avoid politicians who pay you to campaign for them. They are coming in to recoup all the money they and their circles are spending on you. It’s a business for them. Forget the sugarcoatings. How much can they give you that would last for the next 4 years?
Definitely, for you to exercise your rights as human being, you need someone who understands and obey the tenets of democracy; a leader who obeys court orders, allows free gathering and dissemination of information, respects others’ opinions, one who is not petty.
Editor’s note: Watch out for part two of the article on Saturday.
