2023: Picking right candidates for leadership at parties’ primaries
Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, the political space has been a theatre of sorts for Nigerians every election year. The politicians with their antics try sometimes comically, to pique the interest of the people to win at the poll most times, diverting their attention from raising questions about competence and capabilities so that they would not face the real issues. But competence and capability are two key values that candidates must possess. Others are vision, hard work, knowledge, compassion, a deep love for the people and a determination to serve. Political parties owe the electorate the obligation of looking beyond the hype, the influence, wealth and connection to present the best candidates for Nigerians to choose from at the polls.
But many people in politics today are too interested in themselves and place their personal interests above all to care about the citizens.
With the kind of conversation going on in the political space and how all manners of people are coming out of the woodwork to announce their intentions to contest for the presidency, Nigeria is now up for grabs by those who can manipulate and scheme their way in the parties.
This is because going by the reasons they are adducing for wanting to run for the presidency, most of them are going in for purely selfish and self-securing motives. Some of them cited their past attempts and therefore are entitled, others have personal ambition, while some even see clinching the office as a sort of compensation for their efforts over the years. But very few of these individuals are saying they truly want to serve the country or develop it. Nobody has made any pronouncement to the fact that they are ready to sacrifice for the country to grow, and would take no offence if they lost out. But there is no way this attitude and frame of mind will produce competent and capable individuals to lead the nation. This raises the question whether the political parties are for Nigeria and Nigerians.
We are at that critical junction in the nation’s history where concerned stakeholders should meet, discuss critical situations, weigh the pros and cons, analyze people and agree on who is best to lead the country, even if he has not offered himself for presidency. This was done in 1999 and those who took action then, succeeded in getting one of the best of the pack, President Olusegun Obasanjo to emerge. Initially, he was not interested in the job. He didn’t offer himself, but people looked for him saying, “at this point in Nigeria history, you seem best suited for this job. You seem the kind of person that will assuage nerves, build bridges and help develop our economy.”In fairness, most of them probably weren’t thinking of somebody who will do a good job in building up Nigeria. They were thinking more about somebody who will calm nerves and satisfy various interests. They may have made the right call at the time because Obasanjo did a little better than calming nerves, he fought an aggressive war on the economy and tried to bring it back to shape. I wished that he had managed his transition in 2007 better and helped produce stronger leaders.
The 2023 election is already gearing up to be big as politicians from all walks of life are expressing interest in elective posts. The party primaries where they will pick their representatives are also fast approaching.
The onus, therefore, is on the various political parties to present Nigerians with competent, viable and capable candidates to choose from. The country needs the shift from the usual mediocre to competent hands at the helms of affairs. What leaders we pick in 2023 will have a far reaching effect on the country in the next four years and beyond.
