As campaigns begin, issues, not insults, please!

This week, the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, the election umpire, will blow the whistle on campaigns by political parties for the 2023 general elections to usher in a new government after the eight year-two terms leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to INEC, the commencement of campaigns is the 9th item in its 14-item agenda for implementation toward the 2023 elections, which marks an almost irreversible process for the ultimate objective of a smooth and seamless transition.

As much as we commend INEC for a good job done so far, and remaining resolute in keeping to the terms and rules of engagement for the elections, we are not carried away or over-optimistic and certain about the eventual outcome given the negative tendencies and malevolence of our politicians driven by inordinate and over-consuming desire for power, motivated by the appetite for primitive accumulation of wealth, which further entrenches them in the political space.

Although, we are encouraged by the changes already introduced in the electoral process, which had yielded positive dividends in outcomes, as they seemed to reduce such electoral malfeasance that used to characterise previous elections, in Anambra, Edo, Ondo and Osun states, and allowed people votes to count, we remain guardedly cautious and skeptical, guided by the fact that the stakes are tremendously higher in a presidential contest, and therefore, the requirements for success are much more challenging.

Already, the signs of a turbulent and acrimonious campaigns are so evident that everyone of good will should worry. This may have necessitated the stand of the Peace Committee led by former head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, to require the political parties and their presidential candidates to sign two peace agreements, unlike in previous elections, one for peaceful and rancour free campaigns, and the other for the polls proper.

At present, two major parties are in disarray, undermined and bogged down by their own complicity and inordinate ambitions for power with scant considerations for corporate unity and coexistence of the country; and everything about election so far revolves around mundane and personal issues that have little or nothing to do with the corporate interest of Nigerians, and issues affecting their lives.

Spokespersons of the candidates, particularly, PDP and APC, have been engaged in verbal war and campaigns of calumny against each other’s principal in the most uncivil and indecorous manner that portends serious danger for the elections. It is escapist and irresponsible for the parties to be focused on trivia when there are more cogent and compelling issues demanding urgent attention.

The fear is that some of these crises, such as the division in PDP, the same- faith albatross in APC, and the age and certificate controversies surrounding the candidates may dominate the campaign train, rather than important issues of unity, security and development, which may morph into bigger and threatening tendencies that inevitably pose far- reaching repercussions antithetical to the peaceful conduct of the polls.

So, as campaigns begin, we call for an issue-based one that are targeted at addressing the problems bedeviling the Nigerian society today and affect the daily survival of average people; and these problems are many, persistent, and presently intractable. Talking about these problems in the campaigns will help both the candidates understand the problems they will confront in real life in office, and also the electorate to make informed choices on how to vote.

The economy lies prostrate and on life support that we can talk about it for ages and still not get to the solution. Nigerians need to understand why the economy is in such a bad shape: Why do we have subsidy on fuel and power? Should we continue with subsidy, if not, why?

Oil is the main stay of our economy and major forex earner, but today we cannot meet our OPEC production quota of 2.3 million barrels per day, because of massive oil theft, which government has been unable to resolve. Why is that so, and what should be done?

What of insecurity, which has tortured the entire country from north, east, west and south with no solution in sight. The university system has been closed down since February 2022, and as we move into campaigns, they are still shutdown. What are the issues and what will they do differently given the challenge of funding in the country?

Nigeria has entered a debt crisis, which is capable of truncating the best of policies, because, at no other time in our history has the country owed so much in foreign and domestic debt stock that is taking up all of government revenue. How will they manage this new challenge?

These are only few of the issues that must be addressed in the campaigns, and Nigerians want concrete answers and solutions to them. This must be like the previous elections, where people voted on sentiments, rather than knowledge. We wish the candidates the best and let the best win!