The political space or, more appropriately, politicking environment in Nigeria is unsurprisingly filled with activities that are already topics of discussion at all levels across the country. Since the commencement of campaigns by candidates of various political parties several weeks ago a lot of developments which have pointed to diverse possibilities have unfolded.
The release of campaign schedules by the parties, expression of readiness for the contest by the candidates and engagement of the contestants by the various segments of the electorate, which have clearly resulted in the declaration of support in one way or another, are all manifestations of political activism that has become most apparent and widespread. It is always one story or another about either crises within the parties which are always the reason for defection by members, inter-party conflict that gives away some of the parties as more groupings of desperate power-seekers than platforms for contest by patriotic Nigerian politicians and display of disgraceful attitudes by the largely un-informed supporters.
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Having come this far in the journey towards the 2023 General Elections, the country has begun to suffer from the tendencies of the parties, candidates and even the supporters for the violation of the established rules of the game, which amounts to the subversion of the tenets of democracy. In the name of politicking, a lot of the contestants and the respective platforms they represent as well as the various categories of their supporters have fully indulged in acts that are inimical to the political and electoral processes.
The high visibility and weight of the key contenders for the presidency—Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Engineer Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as well as, perhaps, a few others—have made all issues about them particularly interesting and extremely engaging. All the discussion sessions to which they were either individually or collectively invited were opportunities that each one of them utilized to simultaneously promote himself and demote the others in terms of capacity and readiness to serve Nigerians.
Everything about the personalities and styles of the presidential candidates are matters of utmost concern to all Nigerians to which maximum attention must, therefore, be fully paid. It is on the basis of this undeniable fact that their pronouncements and actions either as attacks or counter-attacks on one another are justifiably subjected to various forms of analysis.
Political campaigns have evidently reached their peak with each of the candidates incessantly throwing devastating blows at the other (s). The campaign team of each of the parties is applying every measure it considers useful to discredit the opponents to the extent that a lot of them have already, at point or another, derailed from the normal course.
The call, for example, by the APC’s Tinubu and some key members of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council on the anti-graft agencies in the country to prosecute the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar over a revelation made by his former aide, Emmanuel Achimugu, about an alleged fraud is a clear manifestation of desperation of one party to discredit the other. It was even in furtherance of this bid that one of the spokespersons of Tinubu and serving minister who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Festus Keyamo, in a suit he filed, demanded a court to compel the agencies to move against the PDP candidate.
On its part, the PDP has consistently been hammering on the school certificate fraud, drug scandal as well as the poor health status with which the APC’s candidate is continuously associated as its own campaign strategy. The same-faith ticket adopted by the APC is another factor that, according to the PDP, should be rejected by Nigerians.
The ceaseless crossfire between the ruling APC and the biggest opposition party, PDP, is a fundamental source of delight for the other ones, some of which have admonished the Nigerian voters to do away with both during elections. Such parties have dismissed the candidates of the big two as unqualified to rule the country considering the weighty allegations being made against them.
Meanwhile, it is the combination of the on-going hot battle between the APC and PDP and the reactions of the other ones like the LP, NNPP and even the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to it that boldly defines the character, scope and contents of the current politicking. Every conclusion on any of the happenings on the political scene must have been drawn from the varying campaign methods of, especially, the key parties.
All these happenings are a strong evidence that politicians and many other concerned groups of Nigerians are fully at work and therefore a re-enforcement to the belief that the political space is sufficiently alive and active. The obvious ability of the political class to show defiance against such challenges as insecurity, noticeable public apathy and the disturbing deficiency of some of the stakeholders has continued to somehow raise the level of people’s confidence in the system.
Yet, there are many of the observers and participants in the process who have believed that the space or atmosphere is still dull. The failure of the parties and their respective candidates to strictly carry out issue-based campaigns, as a result of which matters of tremendous importance have remained largely unaddressed, worries most people.
The opinion that the campaigns are dry is continuously informed by the unimpressive approach of the candidates to issues that required enough elucidation. It just appears that the lead contestants are armed with only old solutions to even the newest problems and can, therefore, not convince majority of the citizens about their capabilities and intentions to deliver the required services.
What further erodes public confidence in the parties is the spate of defections by even some of their key members at various levels. At a time that the parties are expected to attach absolute priority to confidence-building as a strategy for effective consolidation and realization of electoral victory, the defections are a setback to those that are so affected.
The 2023 elections are vital national events to which the whole country looks forward with the valid hope that the entire exercise will be a game-changer in the lives of the citizens. It is a hope that is quite realizable, unless if the voters fail to take advantage of certain positive developments such as the measures against rigging adopted by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the sensitization being carried out by several institutions and groups.
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