It is but one week to Nigeria’s Presidential Election. This is one in which there is a guarantee of Regime Change, since the current Presidential Partnership of Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo has run two full terms.
Under the terms of the Nigerian Constitution, it is not possible for Muhammadu Buhari, The President, to (lawfully) continue as President beyond the agreed point of inauguration of the next President, post elections which happen on 25 February.
Following my brand, ‘9ja Cosmos’ launching the first ever Web 3 Country TLD (Top Level Domain) in the world, for Nigeria (with .9jacom) on 13 September 2022, it has been customary for the 9ja Cosmos Logo and Corporate Slogan to appear in the Feature Image of my posts.
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If the article flowed through Tekedia Institute as part of my continuous commitment to help grow the Institutes’ content library, then there would also be a strong pivot mention of Tekedia, particularly in the articles’ introduction on platforms.
Today, none of these things will happen.
Today I am not that person and I wear neither of these hats.
Today I am just the father of Nigerian children, the husband of a Nigerian wife, and an in-law or friend to many Nigerians.
I write now, in the interests of the road to a better Nigeria for all of us.
I am, in this issue, the least of all of you, but bespeak, please, I humbly implore you hear this my still small voice.
We have seen many challenges and much suffering. We have seen banks burn, currency and fuel shortage, runaway inflation, the Naira devaluing with no end in sight. Some of us see things as merit of the retiring regime. More can see things to demerit it. None of these things are now important.
The important thing is the road ahead to a light at the end of a tunnel.
Up to and including the Election:
Many of you by now have heard the vocal claims of Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai. While I would not want to comment on motivation, pretext and other things, I take his claim that there is a real chance of February 25 not producing a President at all – very very seriously indeed.
In this regard I beseech…
Before, up to and during this election is no time for spontaneous public gatherings, group public expressions of discontent, demonstrating, rioting, attacking of properties or people.
Give all Presidential Candidates fair quarter
Don’t obstruct, heckle, disrupt or intimidate at candidate’s gatherings and events.
Nobody can own your vote, regardless of what they spray or which local powerful politicians and other leaders promise block votes. The die is almost cast. What these big men have to say is little more than background noise. The bigger the men…. the littler! This is the time of last shall be first and first shall be last.
Ignore such distractions. Cast your vote with whatever is in your heart.
Do not heckle or otherwise interfere with or intimidate other voters.
Do not participate in the disruption of any INEC process.
Do not do anything that risks helping the fears of Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai to come to pass.
After the Election.
First a story.
Ever since a lad in Trinidad, I was fond of trekking. I would trek, starting at William Street, San Juan, cross the Croisee, do like I am heading for Laventille, pass through Febeau Village, and end up eventually coming down some pedestrian steps at a bend on the bottom of Belmont Circular, Port of Spain. I only ever touched the Eastern Main Road once, (which is the normal route to PoS).
I would trek at any excuse. I always learnt Appian Ways that could save time. There were a few times (not always) I had an assigned car with a job in Nigeria. If it was weekend and I could trek where I needed to be, I would just leave drivers off.
I became especially fond of trekking in the Ikeja area, centred in Ikeja Underbridge. I knew every inch of Appian Way to GRA, Ogba, Ojodu, beyond Opebi roundabout… pretty much any direction.
One place I was particularly fond of trekking through was Ipodo Street. It was a dead end at the Obafemi Awolowo Way end, but by going through a series of Apian Ways close to the market, a trekker can break out into it.
On the left side of the road, over the doorway of an unremarkable single story terraced building was a sign that said ‘DOUBLE CHIEF’ Over a period of time trekking this way, I got to know the man quite well.
In August last year, I trekked there – the first time in over five years. Alas, the Chief was late, but I met his eldest son. In the late chiefs’ time, there used to be an old man sitting on a plastic chair outside the property.
He wore an Ankara native, made of poor-quality material. It had marks having been hung to dry on the barbed wire at the top of the back wall following been washed by hand.
He seemed to be over 90 years of age but nobody really knew how old he was. This building was where the Chief held ‘surgery’ for his people. This man had been security, PA, usher, many things for the Chief. Retirement day came. He just never stopped turning up.
But every agbero, tout, aboki or bad boy that ever graced Ipodo Street would lower their posture in a semi-bow as they walked past, and looking his way, would say ‘Oga’, or ‘Chairman’.
The point of this story is that in Nigeria, everyone no matter how big has an Oga, and everybody, no matter how small, is an Oga to someone else.
Expectations of a Nigerian President in This Our Time.
From the story, understand that a President genuinely fit for purpose has over 200 Million Ogas – The Nigerian People. So we need to look for behaviours that acknowledge this from candidates.
A candidate that understands this, will not exhibit any sense of entitlement. They will not use language that indicates they think it is ‘their turn’…. that they are ‘anointed’ , that they have ‘right of passage’… that they have lined up the people in Nigeria that are ‘big men’ who are ‘Kingmakers’ who can deliver block votes.
That the individual voting decisions of the 200+ million voters don’t matter.
This sort of narcissistic arrogance is not what Nigeria needs for the next 8 years.
Yes, Nigeria has come of age. An age where a Servant Leader is important.
It is up to the electorate to decide which individual best meets these characteristics.
It is up to the new President, when elected, to understand who his Ogas are, and how to best be of Service to a citizenry with complex and sometimes conflicting needs.
Expectations of the Nigerian Citizenry moving forward.
Nigeria is a Federal Republic. It is a Democracy. How the world at large views Nigeria depends on its own ability to respect due process and the rule of law. This is especially true of political decision processes and constitutional integrity.
In a regime change, a new Presidential Regime cannot simply wipe the slate clean as if everything the previous regime enacted does not matter.
Regardless of who becomes the new President, for a lot of the first term at least, the complexion of the leadership will exhibit properties of the Buhari/Osinbajo regime.
Evolution to the political ‘personality’ of the new regime is a gradual process.
Why is this important?
Well, when foreign governments, and global actors cannot rely on successive regimes willingness to respect what has been enacted by predecessors, it has huge negative impacts for a country.
Ease of doing business global ranking falls off a cliff.
Global perspective will be that citizenry japa potential has risen, so visa conditions will harden, and passport ranking will also fall off a cliff.
The three horsemen of the Apocalypse, S&P Global Ratings, Moody’s, and Fitch Group will destroy the countries credit rating, driving up cost of repayments on government borrowing, sending the currency into freefall, and creating rampant inflation.
Therefore, a new Presidency MUST show restraint when dealing with things that have been legally embedded, and therefore the citizenry also need to exercise some patience with the new regime, whosoever they are, at least over the first two years.
About the imagery of the Feature Image.
Yes, I know Wakanda Forever is a fictious film. Why did I pick it?
I know – Nobody walks around Nigeria dressed like Wakandans !
Firstly, if I were to use real Nigerians, I may not get the tribal balance right. Nigeria has over 200 tribes, and many outside of ‘WAZOBIA’ that are still quite big.. such as Ibibio or Tiv (non exhaustive list). So if I don’t illustrate a good balance of tribal notoriety I may upset some people.
I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I’m probably prone to forget someone. Life is too short and the message of this article is too important to be side-tracked by getting someone upset.
More important, how fantastical the concept of Wakanda is doesn’t really matter. How bizarre the technical arguments behind some of the events in the film are doesn’t matter. The larger-than-life costumes don’t matter. That it bears no real resemblance to Nigeria doesn’t really matter.
What would you really agree to watch a second time? Wakanda Forever, or an episode of African Magic?
The thing about the film is that it represents an African HOPE.
And HOPE is a lot of what Nigeria needs right now.
Nigeria does not need any ‘vibranium’
There is a small piece of ‘vibranium’ notionally in all of you. Let’s get this done. Let’s get February 25 over the line.
WAZOBIA FOREVER. Amen. In sha’Allah
The content of this article are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of 9ja Cosmos or Tekedia Institute.