IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT LEADERS

 Josef Omorotionmwan argues that there is power in a good campaign

Government is about human needs, the satisfaction of which is the sole justification of government. Representative government recognizes that much as it would have been necessary for every citizen to be present at the seat of government, it is clearly impossible because of the burgeoning population.

 That is why the country is broken into small units, with each unit sending a representative to Abuja. These representatives are chosen for a given period in the process of an election.

 The Holy Book is replete with the fact that a fruit tree that does not produce fruits would be cut down and used as firewood; or it could be sawn into planks for the carpenter’s use. So it is that any representative that is not able to give a good account of his stewardship is withdrawn while a better representative is sent. 

The process of re-election or replacement comes in the form of a very serious campaign. It involves the candidates and their political parties travelling across their various constituencies, pleading with the electorate to give them their votes.

At the beginning of the campaigns for past elections, we told the candidates and their parties to be of good behaviour and to make their campaigns issue-based, devoid of mudslinging, character assassination, insinuations, inuendoes and all that. We are departing from that because it is really not our duty. 

Rather, as they do in other climes, it is the duty of anyone contesting an election to know the rules of engagement. In fact, if his campaigns are not issues-based, he simply loses the election. 

Secondly, if he chooses to toe the path of mudslinging, character assassination and the dirty politics of yester-years, there are sufficient laws in the books to take care of him such that instead of landing in office, he lands himself in prison! 

Again, there are things that are important in the advanced democracies but in Nigeria, they fritter into insignificance. Although debates are not constitutionally demanded at any election, they have become very important in other climes. In those places, elections are won and lost at the debates.

The debate is such an important issue that no candidate should have a choice as to whether to take part in it or not. The debate is more than the exchange of words. It easily takes the place of the medical test of the candidates that we have been asking for. It is the only opportunity the people have to see the man who will be representing them at the World stage. It is the only opportunity you have to see if he can stand up for 90 minutes, with a short break of about five minutes. If he is afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, that glass of water may fall from him in an attempt to have a sip. How many times does he sip from that water? In the debate, how you say something is even more important than what you say. So, it is not something that should be avoided. Look at it this way: It is free to the candidate. Somebody is paying and asking you to come and sell yourself free of charge. Why should you run away? No reason at all! In fact, if you cannot stand the smoke, you should get out of the kitchen! The Office of a country’s President or the Governor of a State is not for the weakling but for the strong. These characteristics show up in debates. 

In Nigeria, we have treated the debates with levity; thus making it look like there is an inverse relationship between partaking in the debate and winning the election. 

In 1999, Gen. Olushegun Obasanjo stoically avoided debating with Chief Olu Falae. Obasanjo won the election. In 2007, President Musa Yar ‘Adua was already too frail and too feeble to look at any debate. In the end, he won the election. In 2015 and 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari ran away from anything called debate. He won both elections; and those who took part in the debates lost at the elections. 

 Even if these elections went against the run of play, the importance of a debate cannot be overemphasised. This is perhaps one way of explaining the fact that over the years, we have only succeeded in dumping on ourselves Presidents who have been half-alive and half-dead — Presidents who would spend half of their tenure at home and the other half in Europe and Saudi Arabia, seeking medical attention. 

The campaign should not provide us with just the opportunity to exhibit our latest in “Babariga” and our latest dance steps. Serious candidates should do something new, instead of continuing to do the same old things and expecting different results. 

Our campaigns since pre-Independence till today have remained at the level of mud-slinging and nothing more. No innovations except in rigging techniques. 

Only two politicians have been innovative in their approaches. Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief M.K.O. Abiola. In the 1959 Elections, Chief Awolowo and his Action Group (AG) had been told they dare not come into Eastern Nigeria, a region dominated by the NCNC. They did not know they were dealing with a man with an iron determination. Awolowo transcended the borders of the Western Region; and penetrated the Eastern and Northern Regions.

 One fateful morning, at about 11 O’Clock, we were in the class in Onitsha. Suddenly, the skies became totally dark. Awolowo and his people were in their helicopters, hovering around the whole place; dropping heaps of campaign materials, exercise books, pencils, rulers, flyers spreading their proposed free education and free health, if elected and indeed the promise of LIBERTY FOR ALL AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANT.

All schools, markets and offices in Onitsha burst loose! Everywhere was scattered! The same thing was happening simultaneously in major cities in the East. Needless to say, the NCNC campaign was destabilised.

 Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and his NCNC who had started their campaign from Onitsha, speaking big grammar, were forced to come back at a later date to do damage repair and begin to make fresh promises. That’s an innovation! M.K.O. brought modern advertising techniques into political campaigns. He gave meaning to campaigns. Anyone doing anything in this area is a copycat. Do something original!

 In the current campaigns, politicians are still behaving the same old way – pouring out into the campaign arenas like zombies, thereby ignoring the most critical aspects of modern campaigns. Only one group has been able to move its campaigns to the dimension of a revolution. 

 The Siamese twins are already fighting themselves dirty in the marketplace. These self-acclaimed elephants will be fighting; the ground and the grass will be suffering; and the obedient ones will be carefully sending out their clear messages until they sail smoothly into government. 

 That’s the power of a good campaign!

Omorotionmwan writes from Canada