BY VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO
 
victoriangozii@gmail.com 08033077519
 
Nigeria and Nigerians are entering election mode as campaigns  for the  January 2027 presidential/national assembly polls has officially commenced with those for governorship/state houses of assembly to follow suit.  Soon, our airwaves shall be filled with slogans and songs of the various contestants, giant billboards of candidates and their respective political parties shall spring up in our city centres, their posters shall abound on our streets, there shall be political advertorials in our national dailies and the internet. Political agents may even knock on our doors soliciting our votes for their principals and parties.  However, the question is: Will campaigns for the 2027 race be any different from that for the 2023 polls?
 
Campaigns for the latter were to say the least toxic. The whole environment was fouled by unmitigated filth arising from intemperate language, character assassination and the like which soon infected a large proportion of our populace .Under these rather foreboding atmosphere, it was somehow difficult to breathe freely so to speak. And so, many longed for the 2023 polls to come and end quickly so that we could inhale some fresh air in a calm atmosphere. Alas, this was only temporary, never permanent. For, to-date, deep seated hatred and bitterness still linger among some Nigerians over outcomes of those elections, not least the presidential result. Our nation remains divided.
 
Yet, politics is a game — you win some, lose some. Besides happenings in our country  show that  to be  Nigeria’s number one citizen is a long term project that requires patience, commitment and strategy, that a contestant rarely gets crowned at the first shot  as happened with a former president  who succeeded at the fourth attempt. Above all, being a national election, winning requires collaboration, handshakes across all divides, joining of hands between the northern and southern regions. In this regard all peoples, all zones should be esteemed, not denigrated covertly or overtly for whatever reason.
 
Each zone/region has its strong points as well as weaknesses. Each is blessed with certain resources which the other is not so endowed with and so each has its own comparative advantage over the other. Thus mutual exchange is necessary, in accordance with the law of giving and taking, to be able to derive maximum benefits for the good of all Nigerians. Therefore, all parts of Nigeria should be equally developed. Justice and love towards all constituent parts/zones/regions should be the watch word of any Nigerian leader.  That way our diversity becomes a strength for upward progressive development in harmonious relationships rather than a source for constant rumblings and disharmony…
 
As in the last race the principal contenders for 2027 elections are same, namely Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.   But the political environment is no longer similar. For one, Nigeria’s oldest party in this Republic, since return to civilian rule in 1999 (PDP) which had always performed creditably well in all elections since then, is no longer competitive. Secondly, both Atiku and Obi have left the platforms on which they contested last time and are now campaigning under hitherto, relatively unknown parties, viz, African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). More importantly, Candidate Tinubu in 2023 race is now President Tinubu. Candidate Tinubu in 2023 did not have complete control of his campaigns as such as the then ruling government under the then outgoing president constituted the presidential campaign structure.  Tinubu then set up his own Independent Campaign Council (ICC) to “complement” the APC/federal government’s own structure. As president, Tinubu shall now have absolute control of his campaigns and structures.
 
They are likely to be anchored on his administration’s Renewed Hope mantra. Already Renewed Hope Ambassadors have been launched in several states and at zonal levels led by a director and coordinator respectively. There is also the City Boy movement led by Seyi Tinubu, the president’s son.  It appears this movement targets the upwardly mobile youths to leverage on their capacity. And lately, the PBAT Door to Door movement was launched. Of course there would be  several quasi-official and voluntary support groups specifically for women, youths, the physically challenged and so on; not forgetting the all-encompassing Jagaban army, Asiwaju Mandate group, etc,. Overall, Tinubu’s campaign structure would be  a multi layered one comprising of  a Presidential Campaign Council headed by a director-general, Renewed Hope Ambassadors, City Boy movement, Door to Door movement and countless support groups set up by officials and private individuals, targeting different segments of society.
 
For Peter Obi, his new party, NDC, may  set up a Presidential Campaign Council in which it would have  a big input after consultations with its flag bearer and vice presidential candidate. His campaigns would be ably supported by the OK (Obi/Kwankwaso) movement and of course, the ubiquitous army of “Obidients”, both of which may have their own different structures of a director-general, directors and coordinators. Some of his ardent followers are also mooting a “Village Boy” movement.  Alhaji Atiku  Abubakar, Wazirin Adamawa, an experienced politician would definitely have a strong campaign organisation with good structures.
 
      Surrounded by these massive structures what will be the kernel of the contestants’/supporters’ campaign speeches/messages at various rallies, platforms and fora? Would they be issue-based, essentially telling teeming Nigerian masses how they would make the dividends of democracy trickle down to them; or would they be full of bile, personal attacks and insults on their opponents? As I stated earlier last general elections campaigns were combustible, toxic. Many Nigerians are hoping that those for the 2027 race would be decent. In this regard it may be necessary to establish a National Ombudsman Committee, made up of stakeholders, to set minimum standards, detailing words that are acceptable and those that are   not acceptable during these campaign periods across all channels of mass communication. The various contestants themselves could be made to commit themselves to jettison uncouth, divisive language and to demand same from their supporters/followers. It would be similar to the Peace accords that gubernatorial and presidential candidates sign  agreeing to uphold peace throughout the process. Such agreements are not wholly binding because we still witness pockets of violence during elections.
 
         In same vein I do not expect any commitment by our political actors to tone down their intemperate language during this campaign to curb such excesses 100 percent. This is understandable because here in this dense, heavy, coarse earth,  both the good and the bad co-exist; unlike other planes in creation where homogeneity prevails strictly, permitting of no mixing. So, some people fall to temptations from out of the darkness to step out of line and behave in ways that are in contrast to those of a true humanity…
 
         Before now, a precedent never seen in our country in the quest for political power unfolded. It is a dangerous, deeply troubling move that takes political contest to an unprecedented new level. This is an attempt to get a foreign country or rather to lobby a ‘super power’ to influence Nigeria’s elections, directly or indirectly. Specifically one of the presidential candidates reportedly hired a United States of America-based lobby company for a whopping $1.2 million to literally dig up dirt on Nigeria’s current president, lay this on President Donald Trump’s table and then get him to take decisive action against the president.  On this issue, former Rights activist and politician, Shehu Sani stated, “Engaging US lobby groups to criminalise the president and his administration and curry favour from the US government is unconscionable and unpatriotic”. The president’s lawyers maintain that he was “never arrested, indicted, arraigned or convicted of a drug offence in the United States”.
Victoria Ngozi Ikeano a former editor at old Daily Times wrote via victoriangozii@gmail.com
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