“The presidency does not change who you are, but reveals who you are. And the same thing is true of a presidential campaign.

So if a candidate is erratic and threatening, if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fears, and lies on the trail, … if they disrespect their fellow citizens, including folks who make extra-ordinary sacrifices for our country… let me tell you, that is who they are. That is the kind of president they would be… The candidate is not going to change when he gets into office, rather it is the opposite. The minute that individual takes that oath… it will be too late”

With those words, Mitchel Obama, wife of the former president of the United States, sounded a warning to the country a couple of years ago, when America embarked on the election of its president. Those who called the bluff of Mrs. Obama would recall very easily the “un-presidential” and unprecedented manner Donald Trump debased the office of the President of the United States.

As Nigeria’s campaigns for the 2023 general elections get underway, the presidential candidates have never left anyone in doubt about their determination to persuade the electorate and win them to their side at every opportunity.

Nigerians expect candidates to, without ambiguity, identify the nation’s needs, itemize and elucidate their plans, programmes and policies to address them.

Hence, Kaduna, the heart of the North-West states, which lays claim to the majority of electorate in Nigeria and indeed the entire North, became the location of major electoral promises last the weekend.

The Arewa Joint Committee had an interactive session with the political candidates of the parties, where the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar was on hand to sell himself, his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was at the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KadInvest) largely for the same purpose.

But Atiku stirred the honest nest when he said North does not need Yoruba and Igbo, declaring that the northern region needs a pan-Nigerian leader, stressing that national inclusivity, and not ethnicity should be the criteria the North should examine in electing a new president for the country in the 2023 elections.

He said: “I have traversed the whole of this country; I know the whole of this country; I have built bridges across this country. I think what the average northerner needs is somebody who is from the North and who also understands other parts of Nigeria, and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country.

This is what the North needs. It doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs. So, I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.

“Irrespective of our political differences it should be our collective desire to see Northern Nigeria fulfill her potential in the not-so-distant future. We must build consensus on one goal: Northern Nigeria must have its prosperity restored. It must re-emerge as a vibrant, prosperous, and self-reliant economy, operating in a peaceful, secure, and disciplined environment. Anything other than this goal cannot be an option.”

He used the occasion to highlight his key five-point policy agenda like “Economic prosperity is an integral part of this agenda that has five elements: to restore Nigeria’s unity, strengthen national security, build a dynamic economy for prosperity, improve education delivery and restructure the polity.

Indeed, economic prosperity is the thread comthat runs through the other critical elements of the agenda. All five elements of our development agenda are closely linked and dynamically influence one another: the dream of building a prosperous economy will remain a mirage without unity, peace, and security.”

But Atiku’s statement which was regarded as divisive and thoughtless drew the air of other sections of the country, especially the APC, which called the former vice president to quit the race now.

The spokesperson of the Presidential Campaign Council, (PCC) of the APC, Festus Keyamo lashed out at the statement, saying “This is the height of desperation and daredevilry on the part of Atiku! This is so horrendous, so horrible and so thoughtless for Atiku Abubakar to use ethnicity to campaign, saying the North does not need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. My God! Atiku needs to quit the race today!” Keyamo tweeted from his verified Twitter handle.

Expectedly, PDP Presidential Campaign Council said its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was quoted out of context in the comment at the Arewa Consultative Forum in Kaduna. One of the PCC Spokesmen, Charles Aniagwu, said, Atiku has built bridges across the country hence could not have advocated such parochial view.

“Atiku is one person that has respect for everybody irrespective of class and that is what is needed to deal with the issues bedeviling our country,” Aniagwu, who also doubles as Commissioner of Information in Delta State said the statement by Atiku who has built bridges across the country was twisted by the APC.

But while the dust which greeted Atiku’s remarks was yet to settle, Asiwaju Tinubu shocked many Nigerians in the same Kaduna, when he stated that Governor Nasir El-Rufai has “turned a rotten situation he met on ground in Kaduna into a bad one”.

Penultimate week, while addressing his women support group, Tinubu had exhibited the same gaffe in an apparent response to critics of Buhari’s administration, when he said “If they say they want a change of government, just tell them, we will like to be polite, but shut up your mouth.”

Having been said to have become synonymous with expensive gaffes, Tinubu added another sacrilege last week when he entered the “how do you prevent a rat from eating poisoned Communion?’ a dimension which has been described as being religious sensitivity and ethnic composition is vital.

Though Tinubu’s spokespersons have made spirited efforts to interpret the statements, some informed Nigerians have argued that the remarks were at variance with democratic ethos of freedom of expression and right to holding a political view in a democracy.

A public commentator said: “Such language use, from a potential president besides being condescending, is uncouth and a deliberate attempt to intimidate Nigerians already impoverished by the APC government.” He stated that such remark amounts to muzzling the populace suffering from the economic and horrible security situation in the country, driving them to die in silence.

Some have also argued that the statements reflected the age, patriotism and health condition of the presidential candidates and their suitability for governance of the country at this critical time.

Speaking on the kind of president Nigeria deserves next year, Chief (Engr.) Martin Onovo, the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 elections, said that competence, patriotism, mental and physical fitness vital.

“The universal requirements for leadership remain relevant. First is ethical integrity. Second is vision, third is competence. Comprehensive, competence will require moral, mental and medical fitness, Therefore, the kind of president Nigeria needs must be a politician of high ethical integrity, clear and pragmatic vision, moral uprightness, mental strength and medical fitness.

“Mental and physical fitness are critical requirements for leadership and for work. The work of a Nigerian President is enormous and so it requires a mentally and physically fit person. According to Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, ‘… any candidate for the post of Nigeria’s President should not be more than 60 years old …. The President should not be a person who will be looking for medical treatment from hospital to hospital around the world. He must be so healthy that he should be able to work for a minimum of 14 hours a day. Also the retirement age in the Federal Civil Service is 60.’

“I agree with the highly respected Chief Babalola. So, using his standard, it is clear that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is unfit at 76 years old. Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu is even more unfit, at 86 years old as confirmed by his in-law Mr. Tee Mac.

“Alhaji Tinubu has also been frequently in the hospital recently and Prof. Wole Soyinka referred to Obatala, the Yoruba deity of the afflicted in the case of Alhaji Tinubu. Mr. Peter Obi is younger, stronger and cleaner, without corruption cases and has a better moral, mental and physical fitness profile.

“He has also come up first in all the credible polls so far both national and international. He is rightly the front-runner. Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, Barrister Adewale Adebayo is even younger, clean and brilliant, also without corruption cases. We propose that Alhaji Tinubu’s case be viewed in the light of Section 144 of the Nigerian Constitution, “Permanent Incapacity of President ….”

Observers believe that with the number of years ahead of the elections in 2023, Nigerians hope that the candidates will be more urbane, civil, factual and promote Nigeria’s plurality and cohesion as they sell themselves to the electorate, instead of widening the gulf that has been observed in recent times.

In conformity with the Electoral Act 2022, it is expected that INEC would call the candidates to order, to ensure compliance with the Act and promote the unity of the country, because of the dangerous impact such comments could have on national unity, beliefs and sentiments. (Sunday Telegraph: Text, excluding headline)

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