Be an informed voter -By Segun Sokunbi

The pre-election atmosphere in Ni­geria is so tense now that you can almost cut through it with a knife. We have the incumbent president, Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan, who is running on the platform of the PDP; ‘the biggest political party in Africa’ and General Muhammadu Buhari, who is running on the platform of the APC, a party I would like to refer to as the Big Opposition, as the two leading presiden­tial candidates.

Both candidates are strategically suited for victory, depending on how well they play their cards. President Goodluck Jonathan, better known as GEJ, holds the power of incumbency. Therefore, he can manipulate relevant elements to make sure things work in his favour. He has already shown this by making the presidential election come be­fore the governorship and National Assem­bly elections, which gives him the benefit of being able to influence other elections if he wins. Then, we have General Muhammadu Buhari, a staunch advocate of the fight against corruption. Although he is running for the of­fice of president for the fourth consecutive time. 2015 is likely going to be a different ball game because of his great followership and the synergy of parties that make up the APC. I, for one do not believe that GMB, as he is popularly known, is a sinless saint as we have been made to believe. An ex-president who claims he had to borrow money to pay for his nomination form is a strange proposition. In Nigeria, past Heads of State earn the same salary as the incumbent.

An incumbent office holder should ordi­narily campaign with a resume and the op­position with a bucket of promises. But, ironi­cally, the reverse is almost the case. Instead of an incumbent reeling out his achievements and simply asking for time to complete the good work he started, we have an incumbent lambast­ing and insulting the opposition, and promising to do exactly the same things he promised to do before he was elected four years ago.

If you take a list of the promises GEJ made in 2011, you cannot point to one that he has sat­isfactorily fulfilled. Yes, he did start some. Ni­gerians must not take that away from him. For instance, governorship elections that held under his administration have been considerably free and fair. We had the passing of the FOI Bill, a boost in the automotive industry, the building of new universities, construction of some federal roads, privatisation of PHCN and the revival of the agricultural sector. But, despite these achievements, he neglected corruption and handled security with kid gloves. If it is true that corruption has been eradicated from the agricultural sector and the distribution process of fertilisers has been improved via e-wallet, why hasn’t the price of agricultural pro­duce gone down? Even though the PHCN has been disbanded and handed over to private in­vestors, why is there no improvement in the sec­tor?

He is now saying that he has plans to curb corruption, after spending six years in the of­fice. All he has are plans? He said he would fight corruption but he won’t arrest anybody. That is more like saying, “fellow Nigerians, I will fight corruption’, on one hand, and on the other, ‘cor­rupt leaders, don’t worry, I won’t arrest you”

Is it the security issue? Remember that Mr. President went before the House to ask for one billion dollars to fight insurgents, claiming that the Nigerian Army lacked weapons to fight. But in the 2011-2014 budgets, security took about one trillion naira of the yearly budgets. Where did all the money go? Where are the Chibok girls? NNPC missing money, fuel subsidy scam, pension scam, Stella’s scam, kerosene subsidy scam and a whole host of others? Insurgents have managed to carry out attacks in Yobe, Abuja, Bor­no, Adamawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Kano, Gombe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Jigawa, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Benue. How long before they reach down south? May God help and save us!

Now, anyone who thinks GMB yields a magic wand that will end corruption and end our woes as a nation has probably been watching too many movies. It may be true that the man has little toler­ance for corruption and believes that every act of corruption must be dealt with, but the platform on which he stands his ‘endemically’ corrupt’. After all, the APC is just an angry branch of the PDP that left. Like Obasanjo stated, GMB is a strong leader, but would not be a good economic man­ager. GMB does not strike me as the Messiah we have been waiting for, but I have a feeling he is the John the Baptist sent to prepare a way for he who is to come. The name, Buhari, alone commands fear and caution, and public office holders will think twice before diverting government’s money to their personal bank accounts under his admin­stration.

There is a section of the populace that is behind GMB but is worried that the war he would wage against corruption would be sectional and not touch the APC leaders. Well, when Nigeria gets to that bridge, if we do get to that bridge, we will cross it. As long as GMB is in charge, you can be sure the nation will have fewer thieves to worry about. As for managing the economy, there are professionals that can be appointed or hired to run the various arms of the economy.

After all, Jonathan himself has not proven a good manager of the economy. PDP has ruled this nation for 16 years, and has not been able to resolve power issue or­build refineries. I think it is high time we tried another party. It was Albert Einstein who said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 16 years is a long time. Whatever you cannot achieve in 16 years, you cannot achieve even if given 160 years.

I think it is high we passed the baton to some­one else, someone from the opposition party. Someone once said ‘the opposition’s great­est weapon is its achievements when given a chance to rule. The opposition will want to make a statement. I am rooting for the opposi­tion, not its candidate. I think having a man that has a history of chaining the arms of corrup­tion is a plus, because that is the nation’s great­est woe. In conclusion, I will like to end with a statement I read somewhere earlier today. ‘We must vote you out, not because there is a bet­ter alternative but so that incompetent leaders will know and fear the people’s ability to elect, select and deselect. Why should we endure an­other four years simply because we fear the un­known? If the unknown comes in and performs at the same level or worse, we vote them out as well. And so shall we continue until our leaders start to lead’.