As Political Parties Gear up for Campaigns

Ahead of the September 28, 2022 kick-off date for the 2023 presidential election campaign, incendiary cross-fire among the supporters of the leading political parties and other worrisome trends need to be checked, writes Louis Achi

Despite the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve the standards of elections in the country, politicians and their supporters have continued to deliberately frustrate these efforts.

Speaking during one of his serial stakeholders’ engagements ahead of the 2023 general election, Chairman of the INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, had restated the commission’s commitment to raising the bar of the standard set in previous elections.

But if the INEC boss was worried by the increasing mischievous disinformation being freely exchanged by the supporters of the major political parties before the campaign flag-off, he did not show it.

Beyond INEC’s statutory regulations that guide elections and the conduct of political parties, mischievous and  inflammable rhetoric by the supporters of these parties even before formal campaign kick-off sends worrying signals.  

Specifically, INEC has fixed Presidential and National Assembly elections for February 25, 2023, while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold on March 11, 2023. The electoral umpire’s schedules also indicate that by September 20, it will publish the final list of candidates for Presidential, Senate and House of Representatives seats ahead of the polls.

These outlines align with Section 32, 1, of the Electoral Act, 2022 and the Timetable and Schedule of Activities released by the commission and are largely seen as within the domain of the legal provisions.

More, INEC has also scheduled publication of the final list of candidates for state elections, Governorship and State Houses of Assembly on October 12.

The embargo on campaigns which is being observed in breach will then be lifted for candidates for various elections to unveil their agenda. Then political parties’ campaigns for the Presidential and National Assembly elections will commence on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 while campaigns for Governorship and State Assembly elections will commence Wednesday, October 12, 2022.

Parties are expected to halt campaigns for Presidential and National Assembly elections at midnight on Thursday, February 23, 2023 while campaign for Governorship and State Assembly elections will end at midnight on Thursday, March 9, 2023.

But despite these unambiguous guidelines, the unfolding confrontational scenario squarely puts voters on the spot to seek more clarity and carefully sift the facts and fictions concerning the positions of leading candidates on the issues that genuinely matter. This necessary footing will better position voters to identify the key issues on which every serious candidate must show that they have done some profound leadership meditation.

But unfortunately, politicians are already engaging in needless mud-slinging and provocative rhetoric that are merely diversionary. It is worth clarifying that political campaign fundamentally is an avenue to unveil and market agendas and externalise manifestos for the offices sought. They afford opportunity and time for debates among competing candidates of various parties for contested offices.

An example from the disconcerting quasi-interventions from diverse stakeholders ahead of the September 28 campaign kick-off date was last week’s allegation credited to a prominent personality from the South-West that a plot is afoot to get rid of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, if he wins the 2023 election and install his running mate, former Governor Kashim Shettima as president.

The prominent personality was ‘quoted’ to have also alleged that those behind the plot would take advantage of Tinubu’s medical condition and appealed to Yorubas to stop being sentimental and tribalistic about the three major candidates contesting for the office of the presidency.

But good a thing the allegation which raised hackles and provoked some anger and alarm was rebutted and properly disowned by the alleged source. Even if the messenger in this case is separated from the message, considerable and needless suspicion has been created within the ranks of the electorate, which could sway voter behaviour. And this maybe the actual intent of the incendiary, groundless misinformation.

Even before the foregoing strange theory, key spokesmen from the major parties – APC, PDP, LP and NNPP have all indulged in various disinformation stunts presumably to damage their perceived and real opponents and enhance their principals.

Perhaps, even more damaging is the fact that pre-campaign bluster and disinformation flowing into the campaign proper will or is already spooking foreign investors. Analysts at CardinalStone Partners Limited have stated that the build-up to the 2023 election will keep foreign investors at bay and throw up more financial account-related concerns.

The analysts, while commenting on the state of the nation in their 2022 Mid-Year Outlook themed: ‘Same Challenges, New Shocks’ argued that pre-election year concerns and fears of negative pass-through to inflation will likely limit the magnitude of currency adjustment made at the official market in the current year.

According to them, akin to the trend witnessed in emerging and frontier markets, Nigeria was also mostly unappealing to foreign capital providers in H1’22 – attributing these sentiment to geopolitical uncertainties and hawkish rendition from global central banks.

“In our view, the intensification of pre-election activities will likely keep foreign investors at bay and throw up more financial account-related concerns,” CardinalStone Partners Limited surmised.

According to Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, human rights activist, lawyer, professor and writer, “There will be two major candidates from the south, one from the north, and an unending supply of dog whistles. It will be a brave candidate who campaigns boldly on a message of coexistence. But maybe such is the kind of candidate that the country needs at this time. Every serious candidate needs to be pressed on this point.”

Against the backdrop of these provocative breaches of the rule of the game and without consequential pushback by INEC, many Nigerians who are being buffeted by myriad existential challenges are keeping their fingers crossed.

As the two days fixed for the commencement of political campaigns are fast approaching, Nigerians are looking forward to seeing issue-based campaigns. By issue-based, they mean they would rather have the spotlight redirected from the usual distractions and beamed on supposedly more serious issues of the economy, political reforms, education, healthcare, power generation, security and even anti-corruption matters.

So those potential leaders who will approach the electorate in the coming weeks, they are advised to demonstrate the value they attach to Nigerian lives and their commitment to improving it. The ultimate test for each candidate vying for power should be about how their policies have impacted lives and the demonstrated potential of every candidate to do even more. Without a comprehensive plan to improve the quality of life, they would only have confronted the symptoms of a complex problem.