Presidency: Who Deserves The Crown?
It may seem like a bit of hyperbole but it remains true that the presidency of Nigeria is one of the most important political offices in the world.The country occupies a pivotal position in Africa.One in four black persons in the world is a Nigerian.The country plays a key role in keeping the peace in Africa and beyond.Our natural resources and manpower have kept the wheels of industry going around the world.
More importantly, there are the expectations of Nigerians about their country and their government.Quite simply, Nigerians want a better country, a land where they can fulfill their individual dreams of self-fulfillment and which is an expression of their collective dreams of a nation of much consequence in the world.
At this important conjunction in the nation’s history who of the main presidential candidates - President Goodluck Jonathan,Gen Muhammadu Buhari,Malam Nuhu Ribadu and Malam Ibrahim Shekarau can best deliver on the dreams of Nigerians?In other words who of Jonathan,Buhari,Ribadu and Shekarau is best positioned to lead Nigeria at this point in time? Of the four only Jonathan and Buhari have had the necessary experience at the topmost level of governance.Ribadu’s claim to fame was as head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) where he led a rather controversial pursuit of allegedly corrupt elements especially state governors.Other than that, he has had no experience managing an institution or a large body of men.This showed very clearly when he was left with mouthing empty platitudes during a recent presidential debate
Shekarau has been governor of Kano State for eight years.What does he have to show for those eight years?Is Kano a better place than he met it, using major development indices?What did he achieve in Kano to qualify him for promotion to a much bigger office? If governance is about the pursuit of the people’s happiness brought about by sustained development, then Shekarau fails to pass muster.
At the end of the day,the contest actually boils down to one between Jonathan and Buhari.The latter is a former military ruler whose period in office was marked by rather draconian rule when a pervading climate of fear was forced on large sections of the society notably the press and civil society.A segment of the populace does have a positive perception about his integrity and seriousness of purpose even if not enamored of his authoritarian impulses.He can lay claim to helping to rehabilitate the country’s infrastructure especially when he was chairman of the PTF under the dark -goggled dictator, Gen Sani Abacha.But some have argued that even here, Buhari was not a hands-on leader,preferring to hand the management of the PTF to the Africonsortium under the late Salihidjo.This rather aloof approach to management which was a characteristic of his time as military ruler with his deputy the late Gen Tunde Idiagbon doing all the heavy lifting has to be deemed inadequate at a time the country needs a hands-on leader to lead it into a glorious, democratic future.
Here, Buhari with his unapologetic authoritarian and unbending streak cannot but give cause for concern. Will Buhari be good for our democracy and for our development? And are Nigerians willing to take that risk?
With Goodluck however Nigerians would appear to have a safe pair of hands.Calm, quiet and deliberative, he is a seeker and nurturer of the consensus approach to governance which a large and complex country like Nigeria needs. He has committed the next four years,if he is elected,to the rapid transformation of the country.He has already shown the way by what he is doing in the power sector and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country’s decayed infrastructure and social services.
While Goodluck’s commitment to the transformation of the country’s infrastructure is quite evident in the steps he has taken so far, perhaps his greatest contribution to the nation’s democracy is his pursuit of due process.He has allowed the various institutions of government space to perform their roles and without breathing heavily on their necks.Thus, the legislature and judiciary have basked in a new atmosphere of freedom.They may have sometimes exercised this in controversial, even messy ways but that is the way democracy develops.Our systems and institutions must grow and be nurtured in autonomous ways to enable them play their appropriate roles.
This is a significant but as yet unheralded contribution,Goodluck has made to the practice of our democracy. Youthful but full of experience and straddling two generations,firm but fair, Goodluck would appear the man for these times.
Sully Abu is a seasoned Journalist based in Abuja.