WHY 2023 IS NOT THE NEXT TALKING POINT
Word on the street right now is that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is scheming for Nigeria’s top job in 2023. Some of the sponsors of this rumour reflect that with his success in getting his preferred candidates to hold the fort at the national assembly he has already paved his way to the APC presidential ticket in 2023. The reasoning is that the former Lagos governor is a political genius who plans far into the future. With his backing of Lawan and Gbajabiamila, it would only be fair for these legislators to repay him with their support at the appointed hour. But acquiring the APC ticket is not enough to make anyone president; is it not a conferment of godly powers on one man to claim that he made an entire institution choose his candidates rather than what it indeed is — a party decision. There is need for a word on party supremacy — the collective over the individual — but not here.
The talk of one man’s obsession with becoming president is rather premature and diversionary. There are existential matters that ought to be in the national discourse. We have only just sworn in winners of the 2019 elections. The debate for 2023 should be postponed.
One would expect politics commentators to set agenda for elected officials on matters as electoral reforms, discipline, and internal democracy within parties, internal security, education, health care, environmental degradation, ease of doing business and so on. These subjects are difficult to address and are conveniently relegated to the background of public commentary. It is easier to lampoon RUGA settlements without proposing alternatives, it is easier to champion restructuring without stating concrete deliverables, it is easier to whip up sentiments than get to brass tacks. The rhetoric of which tribe gets what juicy ministries or which religion gets DG positions is sweeter and easier than the evaluation of the power sector privatization, the abandonment of UBEC or a review of the NHIS.
Of course, we cannot get anything to work until we get our politics to work, but politics itself is not only about elections or individuals; politics is also governance, politics is problem-solving, politics is ideas and ideologies, and politics is consensus-building. We must not remain stuck at the election stage, nor must it only be about who becomes president; the process is vital — we must bother about how to elect good men, who are problem solvers and not problems themselves. The political parties never educate the electorate about the process which is also a part of their functions, they are remiss at their political recruitment duties, and their post-election charge to file-in audited elections spending is never fulfilled. There is too much laxity in the process.
As obsessed as we are with elections, though, we seem to be doing a bad job. As things stand, the only ones who are ever satisfied with any elections are the winners. That is why it is almost impossible for the defeated to not challenge the victor at the tribunals all the way to the Appeal or Supreme Courts as the case may be. It says a lot about our electoral process. So instead of prattling about one man’s ambition, we should devote the next two and a half years to some of the details of that process.
We need to revisit the frequency of our elections and ensure legal disputes are resolved before newly elected officials resume. Four years is such a short time that given the twistedness of our political culture, there’s barely time to get much done. It could take six months to get used to the system and by the end of the second year, you begin to get bogged by curious people who want to know your intentions for the impending election season. This is excluding the time you have to wait for the Appeal court or Supreme Court to affirm your victory — a time of tentative governance.
Four years might be fine for America, but for a distraught country that is Nigeria, we must begin to reevaluate our present condition to forge a path for better days. Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan had given us cause to consider term limits in the past. While the former’s third term agenda was unhealthy, Jonathan’s proposal for tenure extension was met with distrust. That debate is necessary again. A single term of 6 years for the executive and a different tenure for the legislature would not be out of place, 5 years for every office or midterm elections for legislators are all options that exist and should be debated by the parliament and a definite resolution arrived at. The current system is too expensive, too short, and not exactly efficient. I am very certain that what a governor achieved in 8 years can actually be achieved in 6 years of intense focus on governance, and not part-time governance, and part-time politics of re-election and succession. Certainly, there are upsides and downsides to every argument. This is why we have to discuss and condense ideas — a constitutional amendment is imperative.
And while we are at it, as part of the very urgent need for electoral reform we must address the proliferation of political parties. INEC has hinted that there could be up to 200 political parties before 2023. That’s discomforting to hear. The liberty of freedom (of association) granted by the constitution has been abused for pecuniary purposes by political merchants. A 2–5 party limit written into the constitution is necessary with clear guidelines on how to join and exit a party, not the current situation where all you need to leave a party is to sow discord and create a faction.
In 20 years, the PDP, APC [ACN, ANPP & CPC], APGA, AD, Accord, Labour party have won legislative and executive elections. That is enough criterion to cut off the pretender parties, the backup parties, and the just-for-the-fun-of-it parties. Only a few of Nigeria’s politicians understand that politics is about solving problems, while at it you deserve a modest compensation for your service. It is not first of all an avenue to plunder. INEC had attempted some pruning in the past, it should happen again with legislative backing. Electoral reforms are necessary.
Reforms require a reformist mindset which is a lot to ask from our current crop of political leaders. Unfortunately, if we don’t get our politics right, we can only wander about on how to fix our economy, solve insecurity, create jobs, protect our environment, and give every citizen a basic standard of living that confers on them the status of dignified human beings. In a country where our diversity seems to be an albatross than a blessing, a four-year, two-term cycle with 100 -150 political parties will not take us anywhere; it is a poison pill that must be neutralized.
