2015: DEFINING MOMENT FOR NIGERIA By Our Reporter on January 26, 2015 Opinion BY JAMES FEBEBEBO In the country’s forthcoming general elections, there is already a gale of political forces at play, each trying to outmanoeuvre the other. In the already charged political campaigns, either the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) or the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to be more noticeable among parties gunning for the country’s president in the upcoming general elections. As it stands, either the candidate of the ruling PDP, President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan or the APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will clinch the victory but either way, it’s time that will tell as Nigerians go to the polls on February 14, 2015 to choose their next President. With their campaign trains criss-crossing the country, both the PDP and the APC hope to strongly appeal to most Nigerians for their ballots that come February 14 most Nigerians would vote for their party’s presidential candidate – either Jonathan or Buhari. And while President Jonathan seeks re-election bid, Gen. Buhari seeks to be elected President having himself been Nigeria’s former military head of state. So, on each side of the divide are campaign promises here and there ranging from combating poverty and corruption in Nigeria among others to arresting the insecurity especially in Northern Nigeria where the Boko Haram sect has repeatedly orchestrated massacres on innocent Nigerians which insurgency, the current administration fights tooth and nail to contain. While the campaigns last, Nigerians will be at vantage positions to assess and interpret the modus operandi of politicians and their political campaigns especially in relation to other political parties and use information within their reach to shape and govern their choice of a presidential candidate when filing out on election day to vote. This is because who we are and what we are capable of doing can largely be unveiled by our utterances, mannerism and action such that it would be left for the masses of voters across the country to decide whom they would vote for. Historically, elections in Nigeria have been hard fought and won with even sad memories of post-election violence that claimed several lives but this time, we strongly hope such fate would not visit innocent Nigerians expecting that those who win would win gallantly and those to lose election victory would also accept defeat gallantly and even be willing to shake hands with the victorious candidate in the task of nation building. Whatever happened in the past, we must avoid and march on in the true development of our country’s democracy. So, peace should precede the country’s forthcoming general elections and remain so throughout the period as we must agree that innocent Nigerians should not become political lambs for slaughter on the altar of the country’s elections. So, whether APC wins and PDP loses or vice versa, the result should be acceptable to both winner and loser and those involved should gallantly accept their electoral fortune or misfortune, so to say and stop making so much fuss out of it. In this sense, supporters of either President Jonathan or Gen. Buhari should even before the elections prepare their minds to accept whatever outcome that would be delivered to each presidential candidate by the votes of Nigerians. That way, whatever unpleasant consequences that greeted previous elections would not recur and Nigerians will rejoice at the victory and emergence of another President according to the country’s electoral calendar, being managed by the country’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which currently is headed by Prof. Attahiru Jega. But on their achievements, President Jonathan has a good scorecard just as the APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Buhari has his own merit whilst in office as the country’s former military head of state, Buhari actually courted attention and approval and became popular for most of his policies especially on his stance against corruption which made corruption in Nigeria at the time a most punishable offence. Widely seen as incorruptible, Nigerians expect that if elected, Gen. Buhari would bring about renewed vigour in the fight against corruption and profligacy. Also noted for discipline, most Nigerians would recall Buhari’s days in office where discipline through the popular War Against Indiscipline (WAI) programme was much pronounced across the country. On his incorruptibility, even former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently publicly spoke about Gen. Buhari’s incorruptible lifestyle, recalling that the country had nothing incriminating against him for the time he headed the country’s Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF). But critics believe that Gen. Buhari if elected to power may re-introduce dictatorial tendencies in office having notoriously been a dictator as Nigeria’s former military head of state as they point accusing fingers at his likely divisive tendencies in the country based on religion, fearing that he might also whittle down on people’s rights and privileges. President Jonathan however has been credited with transforming most sectors of the Nigerian economy including the country’s agricultural and transportation sectors where in transportation, he is said to have both revived and revolutionized the country’s train system and brought back to Nigerians memories of the good old days where Nigerians travelled by train across state boundaries, conveying goods as well in the process. Also, Jonathan is credited with transforming the country’s aviation sector and repaired and reconstructed some federal roads across the country including the Benin-Ore road and ongoing work on Niger Delta’s East-West road among others. Still in agriculture, the Jonathan administration has made possible substantial increase in food production for both local consumption and for export. Above all, President Jonathan seems to have won the hearts of most Nigerians who see him as not just humble despite his position but also very peaceful. That being the case for both presidential candidates, the choice now lies with Nigerian voters to make an informed choice during the country’s presidential poll. .Febebebo writes from Port Harcourt\ THE SUN JANUARY 26, 2015 ===================================================================================== +The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s), and are not those of COMMUNITY OF INTEREST NIGERIA (COIN). COIN is not responsible for the content of any external Internet sites linked to this page. All comments posted are the responsibility of the posters. COIN does not endorse any opinions expressed. https://facebook/pages/Community-Of-Interest-Nigeria/128004004036775 =====================================================================================
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 05:14:07 +0000
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