A NEW NIGERIA IS AT HAND
Perhaps, the most exciting thing about the 2023 general elections which buildup has whipped Nigeria into a state of frenzy is that for the first time in many years, Nigerians would have available a full spectrum of choices to choose from.
Choice is a powerful thing indeed. When choice is available and possible, it is truly liberating. When people are not restricted to a single option but are able to choose between different alternatives, it has been shown that people can make far better choices. This is at the core of economics which is arguably the most important of the social sciences. When people are offered different alternatives with those alternatives allowed to compete among themselves for preference by communicating their best qualities, people often find the art of choice easier and attractive.
For years since the 2019 general elections came and went the way of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the predictions from experts have been that the 2023 general elections would be a straight fight between the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party which slumped to defeat at the 2019 election.
For long, it appeared that that prophecy was about to fulfill itself until May 2022 when Mr. Peter Obi who until then was a frontline candidate for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party left the party to pitch his tent with the Labour Party. His exit from the PDP to the Labour Party proved the wind in the sails of the Obidient movement which has since taken Nigerian politics by storm as the country prepares to go for crucial elections.
In Nigerian politics, noise is a currency. Mr. Peter Obi`s many supporters are neither short nor shy of this currency. Huge rallies across many states have since shaken the country, as have vigorous debates on various real and virtual social platforms with not a few of them degenerating into name calling.
Front the candidacy of the former Anambra State Governor are many young people who see in the gifted business man the seeds that can sprout the progress and prosperity that may just push poverty and insecurity out of Nigeria. The difference between Mr. Peter Obi and other candidates is like that which exists between light and darkness.
While Mr. Peter Obi has successfully mounted the dais on many occasions both within and outside the country to speak with a surfeit of evidence about his lofty dreams and aspirations for Nigeria, his main opponents in the elections are counting on egregious but tried and trusted tactics to see them through when the elections come around proper. But at the blast of the whistle in 2023, they may yet find out to their massive disappointment that those tactics, long odious have also become otiose.
Such has been the level of consciousness and awakening that has hit Nigerians in recent times. Nigerians are now able to look at the situation of the country, look at the options they have and decide what is best for them.
Many Nigerians have now come to the unequivocal realization that if the country continues to be run in the business-as-usual manner in which it is currently run, it will soon run out of steam.
Universally, purposeful and visionary leadership has always played a crucial role in helping countries make progress on the path of development. Nigeria has continued to languish in the doldrums of underdevelopment because it has continued to lag behind on this path.
Perhaps, in 2023, Nigeria may yet buck the trend.
• Kene Obiezu, @kenobiezu
