By Iyke Nwambie
The political discourse at this time considering the outcomes of the Buhari presidency should not be "who will win?" but "who should win?
Nigerians who currently support the idea that PMB will win the next Presidential elections because of his political stature and structure are not making a progressive argument. That type of argument is easy enough considering the modus operandi of election results in Nigeria.
You don't need any political analyst to tell you that Buhari is set to use every state apparatus at his disposal to crush any dissident political view. For example, PMB has sidelined the likes of Tinubu and Atiku who helped him to power. He has disappointed many of those who voted for him on the quasi-platform of "integrity" and the one-line cliche of "I will fight corruption."
President Buhari's political decisions in office have not helped to situate him as a national leader. For example, here is a President whose chief method of managing crisis like he recently did in the recent Benue bloodbath is to:
1. Sit in his office.
2. Keep mute and elusive while everybody is busy talking and crying.
3. Refrain from visiting the affected areas.
4. Receive a taciturn delegate from the affected regions in the comfy of his office.
5. Give the delegates a veiled admonition to "deal with the situation" by accommodating the Heardsmen willy-nilly.
6. Then recoils back to his office to await the next mayhem.
So, talking about his political stature is like singing "twinkle twinkle little star." The so-called political stature is a mirage that has been well etched in the mindset of his loyal supporters whose primary interest is to win the argument that PMB is working. Analysing his political structure is like building on a structure whose only operational channel is "a rigging machinery" that is ready to unleash a predetermined verdict on Nigerians.
So, instead of getting into the political arena to tell Nigerians that the political stature and structure of PMB are his major qualifications for re-election, his supporters should do well to tell Nigerians what the outcomes of his current stewardship have been.
For example, fiery Lagos-based preacher, Pastor Tunde Bakare, of the Latter Rain Assembly, Ogba, Lagos, an ardent supporter of PMB and a former vice-presidential candidate to PMB while analyzing the current stewardship of PMB in his most recent address to the nation, threw caution to the winds when he stated that PMB had failed to deliver on his core campaign promises to Nigerians. Pastor Bakare, inadvertently decided to refocus the mindset of the Buhari loyalists to learn how to separate blind loyalty, from objective loyalty.
An incumbent does not engage the electorate in a whimsical, eye-popping, eldorado-prone theatrics of telling them about what he would do when he gets to the glory land, an incumbent sells himself or herself on the platform of what he or she had already executed.
The ardent supporters of PMB should either refrain from annoying Nigerians with the idea of trying to re-sell a product that has not delivered on a set of promises. They should do well to wait till we get to see the other contenders who might want to take a shot at the office of the Presidency should APC decide to elect PMB to represent them again.
What progressive thought-molders should be canvassing for at this time in Nigeria should be a system that will make money-politics irrelevant in Nigeria, a system where the electorates will be empowered with the right value system in such a way that they would vote and make their votes to count despite any inducements, a system that will neutralize godfatherism in Nigerian politics, a movement that will encourage regional inclusiveness and not the current segregation that holds true.
If Nigerians continue to re=cycle the same set of politicians who only think of themselves, their friends, their families, and their bellies, Nigerians should not blame President Donald Trump if he comes up with a more disparaging name-tag to describe Nigeria and the Nigerian leadership after 2019.
A word is enough for the wise. May God bless Nigeria. What do you think?
Dr. Iyke Nwambie is a leadership consultant and coach.
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