I am not in any way discounting the importance of an excellent leader in causing a change in his country. A leader is only as good as his followers. For any new president to succeed post-Buhari era in Nigeria, he must receive the backing of all, especially the majority of the people including the special interest groups.
The rush of many Nigerians to back Peter Obi I presume is because the two mainstream parties that have ruled Nigeria since 1999 have failed the people of the nation miserably and the people are desperately in need of change. Buhari promised so much 8 years ago, but he delivered HELL instead and he is unapologetic about it. Buhari believes he has done well with the pain of Nigerians which include his kinsmen in Katsina and Kano that stoned him lately - he is a grossly incompetent president that refused to engage in the process of governance and uses de factos with selfish interest to lead. The bottom is almost caving under him and he is not bothered one bit. He refused to identify with the suffering of the people and he failed on every single promise he made to Nigerians.
Many who backed Buhari in the name of HOPE of a better Nigeria are the ones backing Peter Obi today. That tells me Nigerian politics is maturing it remains for the political class to deliver and reward the people for trusting them irrespective of what part of the country they are from and their religion.
If Peter Obi wins (I am not saying he would nor am I endorsing him or any candidate - Nigerians should vote their conscience) and he fails to deliver, it will be the greatest fraud in the history of Nigeria because he has promised so much and in my opinion, he has overpromised, and the likelihood of Nigeria improving in his first four years if he is elected remains unlikely. BECAUSE there are too many mountains he would contend with and he will have to be politically sagacious like OBJ to deliver. I do not see that in Obi:
1. Peter Obi's presidency, if it comes to fruition, will inherit one of the worst routine systems in the history of Nigeria. Corruption was the main bane to growth pre-1999, others like insecurity - kidnapping, banditry, yahoo-yahoo, upscaled corruption, indiscipline, and many vested interested groups who profit from the woes of the nation are what he would contend with.
2. The likelihood that both houses, House of Rep and Senate, will be controlled by the opposition is high (not minding many that will port to LP to gain favor). There will be a constant threat to Obi's agenda if it threatens any largesse of these powerful political parties. The threat of impeachment will hang constantly around his neck.
3. Foreign interest groups - the Chinese government and their toxic loans, foreign mining companies who are fueling insecurity to shadow their nefarious activities, foreign companies engaged in illegal oil bunkering, etc. These are very powerful people/groups that will kill or start a war if you stand in their way.. Obi will have these interest groups to contend with and he would need both local and international support to defeat them.
4. There are so many powerful special interest groups that Obi (or any honest) will contend with to curb the monumental corruption around petroleum product subsidy payment. The fraudulent subsidy payment takes close to one-third of our annual budget, and most of it is paid to people who have not imported a single liter of petrol or diesel. The contractors importing petroleum products and the powerful union-controlled PPMC (Petroleum Products Marketing Compan). There is a need to disband PPMC and replace it with a more transparent organization.
5. The Nigerian people from the bottom up need to change their behavior. Most of the corruption within government in Nigeria's Federal, State, and Local government agencies is perpetrated by ordinary Nigerians, civil servants who will the power of the pen. The rest of us must be ready to lead the change we want. We should not expect a government that delivers on promises and we ourselves daily cheat our fellow countrymen and women in small and big business transactions and dealing with the government. It is impossible to get a Nigerian International Passport today without paying an additional 100% of the government rate - it is worse abroad, you pay like x2 or x3. Many Nigerians in the diaspora cannot invest in open businesses in the country because up to 95% of the time they are swindled of their hard-earned resources. If Nigerians are not ready to join the bandwagon of change, they should not expect anything good from any president, Obi, or whoever will fail miserably.
Comments
Post a Comment