By Suleiman
Those who thinks that the 2023, general elections, which kick starts with the Presidential and National Assembly , on Saturday, February 25, 2023, would be one of those elections in Nigeria where the loser becomes the winner would be disappointed.
Mhmood Yakubu, a Professor and Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, who met with the Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities, ahead of the elections recently, had pleaded with them ‘’to do a proper background check to avoid enlisting staff affiliated to Political parties or having history of partisanship before submitting their names to the Commission for assistance in the elections’’.
The Vice Chancellors may also have to watch it as the Commission had said that it will also embark on its own investigation of the names that may be forwarded to the Electoral umpire by the Universities for the purpose of the polls.
Prof. Yakubu, who has given his words to the Federal Universities Vice Chancellors that the elections would hold as scheduled notwithstanding the naira swap and fuel scarcity problems in the country had said that ‘’it would be the best ever’’. The INEC Chairman was said to have assured the Vice Chancellors who are scared of recommending any name to the Commission to serve as Returning officer during the elections were said to have been told that there was no cause for alarm.
He was said o have told them that a Comprehensive security plans have been mapped out for the safety of all staff, media, Youth Corp members, and everyone who comes out to vote’’. He had said that there are 93 million registered voters for the 2023, general elections for the polls, the largest in the African Continent.
As a prelude to ensure that students of the tertiary institutions participate in the elections to vote for the Candidates of their choice, the National Universities Commission, NUC, was said to have ordered the closure of all Universities across the country .
In a letter that was said to have been addressed to the Vice Chancellors, both at the state and Federal levels, and Directors of Inter-Universities centres, the NUC, was said to have told the Vice Chancellors and the Directors of the Inter-Universities centres that the directive was based on the instruction of Adamu Adamu, the minister of Education. The Commission noted that the decision to close down all Universities and Inter-Universities centres across the country between February 22 and March 14, 2023, was taken following extensive consultations with the relevant security agencies ‘’to enable the students to vote during the 2023 elections’’.
The 18 political parties jostling to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari after the 2023, general elections, may have known that the INEC, has made rigging or vote buying during the elections difficult with the use of the Permanent Voters Card, PVC, and the decision to gather to gather all collected PVCs and deposit them at the Vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, until after the general elections, to step up their Campaigns.
Take for instance at Soko state, where Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, popular, Jagaban,, a former governor of Lagos state and APC, Pesidential Candidate for the 2023, polls, accompanied by the Katsina state born Nigerian toPresident and other Chieftains of the party, on Thusday, February, 9, 2023, the former Lagos state governor had told Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan and the people of the state that he will want win the upcoming Preidential election. ‘’ ‘’I want to win the election’’, he was said to have repeatedly said.
The APC Candidate, was said to have asked the revered Sultan and Spiritual Leader of all Muslims in Nigeria, who many believe have a soft spot for one of the party Candidate but not Tinubu, ‘’Is there a way you will decline the request of the Nigerian President’’ not to support me.
Buhari was said to have told the Monarch that his wish is for him’’ to support and give his blessing to APC Flag bearer’’. He was emphatic :We want to win. He has narrated the qualities of the APC Candidate, including their ‘’common belief and commitment to the unity and progress of every part of the country ‘’.He had said that that he had associated with Tinubu, the APC, Presidential Candidate for more than 20 years and did not have any reservations in supporting him as the party Candidate.
He noted that the Jagaban greatest strength was in his effective governance of Lagos state, a business hub and home of many Nigerians and foreigners for two two terms, his commitment to democracy as well as his role as a Senator of federal Republic of Nigeria.
His message to the people of the north western state under the siege of the Bandits Group, and Nigerians, in general is that they should trust Tinubu with power ‘’to succeed him because the APC, Candidate , supported by by Kshim Shettima, a former governor of the north eastern Borno state , under the siege of the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, BokoHaram and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, ‘’will build on the success of his Administration’’.
Tinubu, has left no one in doubt that if he wins the 2023, Presidential election, he will continue with the legacy of the Buhari’s Administration, which many had described as ‘’hardship and suffering due to naira swap policy and the withdrawal limit set by the CBN, including scarcity of fuel, leading to resurfacing of long queues at filling stations across the country.
The tail end of the Buhari’s Administration which had brought untold hardship to Nigerians, may have brought some APC , governors together to work against the Federal government like the trio of Nasiru el-Rufai, Belo Matawalle and Abubakar Bello, governors of Kaduna, Zamfara and Kogi states.
The trio had dragged the Federal government to the Supreme Court to force the CBN to extend the February 10, deadline, for the use of theN200, N500 and N1000 old naira Notes as legal tender in Nigeria. Emeka Etiaba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, had said that there was no basis for the crisis over the naira swap policy, noting that ‘’ the hardship was caused by its implementation process’’.
The Legal Luminary hat aid that ‘’it could be possible that the newly printed Notes are not reaching the people because banks stash them away in cahoots with the politicians’’. He had expected the CBN, to draw a dichotomy between the policy and the people who are implementing it but failed to do so.
While the APC,Candidate is cashing in on the popularity of Buhari, in the north western geopolitical region to win the people votes, may had expected him to stand on his feet and tell Nigerian what he will do if elected after the February 25, 2023 pools, like his Counterparts in other parties.
Atiku Abubakar, a former Nigerian Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, who was I Kano to campaign recently was said to have promised ‘’to empower the youths and women if elected the next President of Nigeria after the 2023 polls.
He has promised that his Administration will provide road infrastructure that link the ancient town of Kano to all the neighboring states of the Federation. He may have struck the right chord when he promised to make Kano state a leading commercial center in the country and revive agriculture in the state. He did not stop there. He had promised that that the PDP Administration at the Federal level will also ensure that that the state is secure for people to do their business without fear of attack of bandits. Recall that in Kebbi state, another north western state, he had promised to reopen the borders that was closed by the Nigerian President since August 2019, to the activities of smugglers to facilitate trade with neigbouring countries. .
Senator Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP, National Chairman, may have taken advantage of the hardship in the country to criticize the APC government, naira swap policy.
Hear him: they changed the currency.We did not tell them to change the currency but they did themselves, and thus brought a major problem into the country that is affecting he poor which they cannot solve. Atiku and his Campaign team, had told the crowd that had come to his political sermon at the Sani Abacha stadium that the PDP, which the APC, had accused of basterdising the Nigerian economy for 16 years, will come’’ to rescue Nigeria’’.
In Ogun, home state of Former President Olusegu obasanjo, where Pa Ayo Adebanjo, the 94 year-old PPresident of Afenifere, the Yoruba Socio political Group, had joined Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra state and Labor Party Candidate, for the 2023, elections, had told the crowd that had come out to listen to the LP Candidate in Abeokuta, the state state Capital recently that ‘’enormous suffering aaits Nigerian if Obi doesn’t win the February 25 Presidential pool’’.
The Octonagenarian and Femi Okunroounmu, another Cieftain of the Afenifere had urged the people ‘’to come out in mass on the day of the election and vote, saying’’ Don’t let them cheat us’’. Obi, the LP Candidate had told the Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory voters and Nigerians in general that ‘’his Presidential bid will give priority to Youths’’.
He may have won the heart of the Youths when he said: the youths of Nigeria are the ones contesting the 2023 general elections through them,in the LP. ‘’We are only representing you and wants things to change’’, he had told the Youths.
While lamenting the high level of unemployment in the country, the LP Candidate was said to have promised that the Administration will create enabling environment for Youths to thrive. ‘’Nigeria will be a great nation again by ensuring that Nigerians are productive ’’, the duo,Obi, and Senator Datti Ahmed, his running mate had said . The do, further stated that the LP government would fight insecurity to protect lives and properties in the country. This should serve as a good news to Nigerians who are worried over he high level of insecurity I the country, where life has become meaningless to the killer gangs in Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina, Borno , Yobe and south eastern Nigeria.
