Party ticket of Obi and Baba-Ahmed could yield far more dividends of democracy to Northern Nigeria, contends Paul Obi 

“Democracygives us citizens a measure of political power. That political power comes with a responsibility to foster a culture that makes it possible to work well and together, for the well-being of all.”

– Diane Kalen-Sukra 

The 2023 presidential election is just around the corner amid permutations of different shades. The presidential race is critical given the degradation brought upon Nigeria by the All Progressives Congress (APC). In the midst of this quagmire in governance in the last eight years, Northern Nigeria that supported APC across board has faced more consequences than Southern region. Under APC, insecurity in Northern Nigeria has quadrupled, raging like wildfire. Maternal mortality has worsened. The number of out- of – school children in the North is astronomical. Agriculture, the mainstay of Northern Nigeria has been suspended ad infinitum due to fear, raging insecurity, Boko Haram insurgency and banditry. Under these precarious conditions, APC has turned Nigeria into a basket – case economy. Yet, APC has also failed woefully to provide solutions to these myriad of problems confronting the North, and Nigeria in general. 

With these tainted governance credentials, it will be suicidal should APC find its way back to power in May, 2023. That will also depend on how the North responds to APC’s self-inflicted crisis and national quagmire. With its geopolitical strength – both in population and electoral value, the North also shares most of the consequences should power from the top falters. The faltering of presidential power from top to bottom, in Buhari’s own words, in the last eight years under APC has been monumental – in terms of the burden and brunt. How did the North fare?  How then does Northern Nigeria, and the rest of the country navigates her path away from the tortuous and nerve-racking experiences under APC? 

In interrogating the available electoral remedies that Nigeria can proffer as escape route from the APC’s misrule, many have argued vehemently that tribe and religion may remain a determinant on how Northern votes would swing the pendulum to any of the major presidential candidates. Does sentiments matter in competitive electoral democracy? For instance, this writer beyond the similarity of my surname with the Labour Party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, I do not share any tribal connection or linkages to him. The distance from Boki in Cross River State and Agulu in Anambra State is huge. Even the legendary Oji Ukwu Eje Aba cannot contemplate trekking that distance. My unquenchable support for Peter Obi stemmed from the existential threats Nigeria faces at the moment. My natural human instinct is first to seek the best therapy and medication, but not to bow to primordial sentiments and tendencies. In 2019, I supported Atiku Abubakar and PDP with all my heart. The direction of the PDP at the moment is more rooted in state capture and insensitivity of its ruling elites than its capable of rescuing Nigeria from the precipice. The reckless ego-centric politics of its elites that sank the party in 2015, has not been vanquished yet. Rather, its prebendal politics is still on the prowl. 

It is in the light of the above that President Buhari’s speech in Yola, Adamawa State on Monday, 9th January, 2023 is very instructive on how Northern Nigeria respond to and appraise the presidential candidates. President Buhari’s concluding words require broader interrogation. In his concluding remarks, Buhari chose to forewarn Northern Nigeria about the consequences of their electoral choices in the 2023 presidential election. President Buhari urged voters “to go their constituencies and choose responsible people. Don’t allow fraudulent people to come and dominate you in your locality,” he said. The last time I checked, Peter Obi of Labour Party and Rabui Kwankwaso of New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) have not been tagged with any ‘fraudulent,’ corrupt and nefarious allegations. Peter Obi for instance saved millions of dollars for Anambra State, only to be wasted and pilfered by the administration of his predecessor.  

So, who could President Buhari be referring to in this election season as “fraudulent people”? Thus, will the North heed the advice of Mai Dogo, Dan Daura? Will they listen to President Buhari’s candid counselling to stay away from deal-makers who will trade off the North but build estates in Dubai, Paris and London? Overall, what the North needs is a sincere candidate with the requisite experience and expertise on how to build wealth, turn around moribund and basket-case economy. Warts and all, any presidential candidate worth his salt will definitely take Northern Nigeria as the focal point in addressing the collapse of the Nigerian state and governance that now permeates a broad spectrum of society. The Obi-Datti presidential ticket is the most fitting deal breaker, and steep in moving the North from consumption and waste of its agricultural potential to production. The LP presidential ticket will work assiduously for the uplift of the Talakawas – with industrialization and job creation as cardinal points. 

It is in the light of the foregoing that Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed recently gave Northern Nigeria their template on how to put the North in front and centre in governance if they are elected. According to Obi, “when I was a governor, I brought so much industries, I built industrial estates, I supported Innoson, amongst others. When I become president, I will do it in Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Kogi and all over the nation. We will return Borno as a fishing centre. Every part of Nigeria will turn to productive centre. Nigeria will produce food and we will not be hungry again, because we have farm land in the North. We will cultivate all those farm land in the North. I will open up a road from Anambra to Abuja that will make the trip for just three hours. If I am president, the North will celebrate me because I will fight poverty in the North. I will fight out of school children in the North,” he maintained. Labour Party’s Vice Presidential Candidate, Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed in a pan-Nigerian submission also added that “Nigeria is ready for South East, the North is ready for you and let me see anybody from South East who doesn’t want power to come to your zone,” Baba-Ahmed stressed. 

Beyond the dialectical understanding of democracy and elections campaign, which Obi-Datti presidential ticket seems to align with, the very essence of shared – power within the current Nigerian nation-state will definitely be in the overall interest of Northern Nigeria. For instance, W. Arthur Lewis, the first black man to win a Noble Laureate in Economics argued in his classical book, Politics in West Africa (1965) that the configuration of West African states and the resultant vertical and horizontal divisions based on class society and political tribes was at the root causes of democratic crisis and underdevelopment in the sub-region. Lewis went on to recommend the ideology of shared – power as the best remedy. Arendt Lijphart also in 2007 and Brighid Brooke Kelly in 2019 argued in support of the consociational theory; with power – sharing as the best democratic principle in culturally incompatible democratic and multicultural societies. Thus, will Northern Nigeria embrace the Obi-Datti presidential ticket that roots for the region’s industrialization and revamping of its agricultural lands to production epicentres? Or will the North go for other presidential tickets with political clientelism and wastefulness as a symbol of their political parties’ collective amnesia? The North has tested APC and PDP with political power. Now is the time to test others – LP with credible and trustworthy credentials. 

Obi is a journalist, researcher and media scholar interested in media, elections, politics and democracy based in Abuja