A lonely walk
By kingsley Omose
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| Opposition:Ribadu, Momodu, Shekarau |
We also now know that we do not have opposition parties with the maturity, internal capacities, discipline and resources to win the April elections.
We can deduce therefore that there is no basis for opposition party’s strategy to work towards ensuring that PDP cannot win at the first ballot and to take it on at a runoff election.
Going into an election with a strategy to prevent another candidate from winning is a failed strategy especially when that other candidate is determined and has the means to mobilize and win.
With the withdrawal of the only candidate genuinely interested in building a formidable coalition to take on PDP does anyone still think that the huge egos on display in the opposition camp can result in an upset in these coming elections?
While GEJ is crisscrossing Nigeria to reconcile warring members of his party, things are falling apart in the opposition camps to the extent that people full of pride are each attempting to paddle their individual canoes upstream and against strong currents.
The same pride was evident in the decision of the opposition parties to boycott the NDEG/BON Presidential debates simply because they wanted to teach GEJ a lesson for not attending their preferred debates.
At this critical point of our history, 50 years after independence, we have had enough of ego trippers occupying our highest office, people who have personal agendas for insisting that it is either their way or the highway.
Much as I respect Dr. Utomi's right to stand down from the presidential race and to endorse Mr. Shekarau, I do not agree with his call for a return to the constitution that existed during the Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo era.
The challenge we face going forward in the next 50 years is in forging a true national identity that address the Jos crises in Plateau state, the Ezzala and Ezillo crises in Ebonyi state, and many other such crises otherwise known as settler and indigene wahala.
It is about amending our constitution to allow access to political rights to be based on residency and not on state of origin and local government of origin just as access to economic opportunities are based on residency.
How else could a Sani Dangote emerge as the 51st richest man in the world if he were not residing in the commercial capital of Nigeria, Lagos, yet he is a second class Nigerian because he cannot contest for elective positions from Lagos State as he is from Kano state.
What this means is that we have to continue to suffer fools gladly in the political arena because of their state of origin even if we have better candidates residing in that state even for decades because they have another state of origin.
When we stop having a mass of second class citizens who can vote but cannot be voted for simply because they reside outside their state or local government of origin then we will stop seeing public service as one's turn to eat.
We are headed in that direction with GEJ's candidacy and what his victory implies for nationhood and who has the right to vote and be voted for in Nigeria.
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