We Need A Strong Nationalist As President – Prof Hagher

What are your expectations as the presidential campaigns begin in earnest?

I believe the three major contestants – AtikuAbubakar, Peter Obi and Bola Tinubu – did not wait for the whistle to blow before they started. To win supporters, they have traversed the country and participated in state elections and held mega-rallies, like in Osun State. They met with traditional rulers and attended birthdays, installations and wedding ceremonies all to gain visibility.

But now that the campaigns have begun, I expect to see each candidate present their manifestos and tell Nigerians what contract they plan to execute for the Nigerian public. Nigerians have suffered greatly for 23 years since post-military democracy. They have expectations and need urgent answers to several existential problems. The candidate that provides the greatest hope for all Nigerians will deserve to be elected.

Prior to the campaigns, we saw the campaign spokespersons engage in tangles. What should be the focus of the campaigns?

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The topmost issues that the campaigns should focus on are ‘who can best unite and secure Nigeria?’ This is the existential need and most pressing agenda. Our lives and properties are circumscribed by imminent terror. Our country is ruined by virulent tribalism such as has never been experienced. Ethnic and religious wars have polarised the people. Diversity has been sidelined by exclusion and nepotism. We expect all the campaigns to focus on how we can engage in nation-building. We need to have a country first, even before we secure its borders and build the institutions of state to secure people, properties and guarantee freedoms.

How do you think the presidential candidates should approach these issues?

All the three candidates have the misfortune of being defined by ethnic affiliations, geography and religion. They must prove to us that we are stronger together and not collapse like the 1964 elections that led to the 1966 military coup, by putting aside their ethnic leanings and propagating Pan-Nigerianism. We need a strong nationalist as president.

Atiku Abubakar must prove that he is a different Fulani man from Buhari and win the confidence in being a Nigerian (Fulani) President like ShehuShagari and Yar’Adua and most certainly not like Muhammadu Buhari who did not know, nor care that he became a Fulani rather than Nigeria’s President.

Peter Obi must prove to Nigerians that he was not just another Igbo great hope, to be President and capture Nigeria for Biafra. His constant reference as Igbo candidate robs him of his national credentials.

In the same way, Bola Tinubu’s campaign must be free from the caves of Oduduwa, and Islamic fundamentalism. He needs to try harder to win the confidence of nationalists who desire religious tolerance and plurality. His muslim-muslim ticket is an albatross and aberration from the traditional norm. He and his running mate are at pains to prove that like the time of Abiola, religion does not matter while they are all the time playing religious politics. The duo must understand that 2023 is a referendum on the seven years of APC-broken promises and misrule. They must navigate the maze of insecurity, corruption, and brazen ethnic racism.

Generally, a presidential candidate’s health should be a trivial pursuit of the campaign. In this campaign, however, the  health condition of Tinubu is visible. It has brought the issue of the candidate’s health to the front-burner.  The experience of the late Yar’Adua’sill-health and death in Aso Villa and President Buhari’s near death scare, have made a presidential candidate’s health a critical campaign issue. We need a president who can work long hours and be available for Nigerians. Such a physically robust president will be expected to rise to all occasions to address the needs of Nigerians.

PDP is still unsettled as there is a gulf between the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike. Don’t you think it may affect the opposition party that had dreamt of taking over from APC?

In 2015, some PDP governors and senators demanded that President Jonathan drop the party’s secretary as a condition for them to remain in the PDP. Jonathan rejected their demand, and they promptly left the PDP and swelled the APC votes which won a landslide in 2015. Today, Governor Wike and his supporters are making similar demands as condition for supporting Atiku Abubakar’scampaign. It is much more worrisome now that the ruling party, the APC, looks like the likely beneficiary again.

However, I believe that 2023 is slightly different. In 2015, the break-away faction of the PDP that helped the APC to victory was not acknowledged nor recognised by President Buhari and the APC. The case of former Senate President Bukola Saraki is an excellent example of APC ingratitude, and how this PDP faction equally deserted the ruling party and came back to the PDP.

Wike and his group are better in the PDP if they hope to be relevant in the future. History does not clone nor repeat itself precisely. Wike is gambling. The Wike saga is also a challenge to Atiku and a test of his ability to build a united PDP as pre-condition to building a united Nigeria.

Wike’s camp is insisting that the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu must vacate office for a southerner for peace to reign. What’s your opinion on this?