Friday 1 April 2011

MY THOUGHTS ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN NIGERIA.


Join me as I’ll be sharing my OWN opinion as regarding the upcoming April 2011 elections based on happenings around the nation. I’ll be starting with the presidential polls.

Before we proceed, please know that my thoughts are not there to support a particular party or candidate, all am interested (and you should be interested in) is getting the right man to power. Getting the candidate we solely believe can bring about the much needed transformation. Have observed the major contenders closely i.e. Ribadu,Buhari,Jonathan,Shekarau…the others I believe are just joking,lol. 

Ribadu to me is simply lacking an action plan for this massive office, have read through his manifesto, and I simply can’t see any real-time vision for the nation, his PR team has done a good job though and they are trying to capitalize on sentiments such as we need a youth for a change,e.t.c . During a youth town hall meeting with him which I was privilege to attend, when faced with basic questions on how he intends to tackle the diverse problems of the nation, all he kept on repeating his that he is coming with his pedigree of fighting corruption (as former EFCC chairman) in bringing about solution to the sectors of our economy…I agree corruption contributes a great deal to our problems as a country, but that is not all of it! If a presidential candidate is asked about the power problems in Nigeria, he should be able to state basics such as the short and long term energy needs of Nigeria e.g. We are in need of 10,000 watts over the next 10 years and this is expected to increase to 15,000 watts in the next decade and half, our dams have the capacity to presently generate a meager 1,200 watts. Hence, we would need to diversify attention to other means of generating power such as Solar Energy which if we install so and so is expected to produce 2000 watts, we need to get more thermal stations working etc Most people canvassing for Ribadu are doing so based on sentiments and good PR.

Buhari is a professional politician in my books, he’s in the same class with the likes of Atiku…even if he loose this election, he’ll still run come 2015,2019(am not saying perseverance aint good o, at least we had the likes of Abraham Lincoln in the USA who showed his unwavering  determination to  achieve his ambitions). My problem with Buhari is almost like that of Ribadu, lack of solid plans for the nation. Despite being a former military General, he looks not only feeble in the eye but also in his brains.

Shekarau on the other hand was someone I was only familiar with as governor of Kano state, am not to sure if he did perform during his stints there, he also over-shadowed other contestants in the NN24 Presidential debate and he was able to show that he as a better understanding of the other problems of the country than other contestants. He over-performed at the debates, he was hitherto seen as an under-dog.

Jonathan is the sitting president and flag bearer of the PDP (a party that has occupied the presidential seat for 12 years). Not attending the presidential debate is a big minus to him, that singular act has arrogance wrapped over it. I must confess, I have not really gone through his manifesto (I’ll be doing that soon), but however, GEJ would be running under the umblerra(Dame Jonathan version) of the PDP a party boasting of the political artillery  of the likes of Baba iyabo(OBJ),Bode George(celebrated Ex-Convict),Tony Anenih,Atiku Abibakar,IBB, moneybags such as Dangote,Otedola,Adenuga.

All other parties also have some notable politicians in their ranks, but they simply are not going to match that of the PDP, most of the top peeps in other parties are former politicians who because of one disagreement or the other left the PDP. Most of the opposition parties were not formed a solid political structure whatsoever; they came into existence as a result of one grudge or the other with their erstwhile colleagues in the PDP.
The present situation favors’ the PDP a lot because the 3 credible contenders to Jonathan’s emergence are all northerners (majority of the votes would be coming from this region). So the votes there would be shared between the 3.

So where we do we go from here?
1. A short-term solution would have been a UNITED opposition, i.e. this means everyone is tired of the PDP led government and we all come out en-masse to vote a singular opposition candidate/party.
2. In the Long term, I would suggest us calling a TRULY sovereign national conference where we discuss critical issues such as if we really still want to co-exist as a nation, if yes, should we practice true federalism? Etc from the proceeds of the meeting, we can then call for all political parties to be dis-bounded and Nationalist to spear-head the formation of political parties with their indigenous and guiding philosophies.
Without this, I do believe we won’t be making much progress as a nation; the USA which practices one of the oldest and best democracies till date is run on the philosophy of the party the president belongs to. e.g. The Republican are well noted for their ever-ready approach to do battle in war, the Democrats are known for their approach to playing the Fatherly role to all nations of the world especially African nations and developing countries.

All I have stated above are my OWN personal opinion about the state of the nation and the way forward. Am a realist and this plays a huge role in the way I see things. Am very open to your meaningful contributions and constructive criticism.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surprisingly i read this to the end ...... nice one, keep 'em coming

Anonymous said...

Hey sir!
Sorry my comment is late. I do hope you would keep blogging too. Honestly.

This is good, actually sensible stuff.
AfroSays So!

VersatileDavid said...

Whao! See my ogas ...I would keep sharing my thoughts by God's grace...#WeMustBeHeard!