WHO SHOULD BE NIGERIA’S NEXT PRESIDENT?

The next general election in Nigeria is less than one year from now. Who will occupy the exalted position of the President and Commander-In-Cheif, will be decided by the votes of millions of Nigerians.

May 29, 2023 handover is sacrosanct for our democracy, and it’s been that same way since our return to democracy in 1999. From then till now, we have had four presidents and vice presidents who have given their best.

Despite their best, the demands and expectations of citizens keep growing, and it appears like the more they do, the more is expected they do, and not being able to do more gets citizens frustrated.

One thing, however, peculiar to this election is that whoever will become President has never held such office before, whether as a military officer or civilian; the closest to that position is maybe the Vice President role or executive governorship role.

With this in mind, I put together these 12 Generic Talking Points Every Nigerian Should Be Concerned About In The Aspirants Aiming For Aso Rock in the 2023 General Elections while accessing who to vote for during the general elections.

1. Track Record in a similar position

If anyone aspires to govern a country of over 120 million people, with a GDP of above 440.00 USD Billion, it’s only fair to ask whether such a person has had a similar experience before.

If none has, which could likely be the case in the next election. Nigerians can further ask if they ever had the opportunity to govern a significant fraction of that number or superintend over a fraction of that GDP at any point in their career or life.

The more successful they were when they had such an opportunity in the past, the challenges they faced while at it, and how they resolved it would hint at their likelihood of success or failure if they eventually became the presidential election winner.

2. Track Record with similar people

Beyond Nigeria’s large and expanding population, we operate a highly heterogeneous society with varying cultural, religious, and social beliefs.

These variations didn’t just start now; they are deeply seated in the consciousness of most, some extreme and outrightly dangerous that, if not handled well, could affect the relative peace we enjoy coexisting together as a people.

An average Nigerian makes every matter of National importance about ethnicity or religion — that may not be ideal, but that is our reality, and the elites who should know better usually exploit it.

Whoever must be president must have successfully handled such conflicts in the past or is very clear on how to handle them when they arise.

So, I would want to know from the candidates who have had experience handling such extremism in the past. Also, how they intend to handle such if it arises when he becomes President.

3. Track Record with Appointments

I know how the issue of who gets appointed became a national issue in the past few years.

While I agree that whoever becomes President should appoint people he can work with based on merit, I also believe every region of the country has enough technocrats, eggheads, and politicians that would merit any position or role handed to them.

So, I am looking out for the track record of the presidential aspirants based on their past appointments in whatever role they have functioned. I want to know the pedigree, spread, and results of such appointments.

The first factor I am considering here is the pedigree of his previous appointments — Who are the people they have appointed in the past, what are the things they brought to the table, and what were their results? Who were they before they were appointed, and who have they become after leaving the office they once occupied?

The second factor is the spread of the appointments. An average Nigerian thinks the more ministers or the head of parastatals from their region or religions, the more advantage their region or faith has. While this may not be exactly correct, that is the reality of the Nigerian populace — and before such a mindset can be changed, evenly spread appointment is one way any new government would need to build trust.

Spread could be across religion, ethnicity, professional background, etc.

The third is the result. A president could appoint the best men and not be able to get the best out of them. He could also appoint someone, and the appointee performs below average yet keeps them on board.

On this, I am looking for the presidential candidates whose tolerant capacity for ineptitude is zero, and I can be sure of the pedigree and even spread of his appointments. Any existing record that could give me a glimpse of this about the candidates will be what I will be looking for and asking about.

4. Strategic Decision Maker

A country with a potpourri of challenges like Nigeria needs a strategic decision-maker as a leader. I need a president who can look at all the options available and decide what the next move should be and what the next 30 moves after should be like.

He must understand the general laws of executive leadership and appreciate the peculiarity of the Nigerian society enough to know what to do when applying the powers of the chief executive officer of the country.

He can’t afford to be narrow-minded in his approach to solving critical and non-critical issues. He must understand the process of charting a course based on short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals with a longer-term vision in mind.

All these, he must prove he has done in the past and was successful at it. When the campaign starts, he must be able to articulate what his short, mid, and long terms decisions would be for the future if voted to lead Nigeria.

This strategic decision-making ability must be limited to him; it must be the general trait of the people that parade themselves around him during this election period.

5. Kind Of People Consistently In His corner

As a young child, I grew up with this understanding that corrupt communication corrupts good manners — and I don’t believe that sound advice ever lost its value.

To many, this could be another cliche phrase; in my opinion, it isn’t, especially in an election period when most politicians will put on the chameleonic wears — whatever native wisdom I can use to decipher who is who” among the aspirants, I will deploy.

The wisdom in that old proverb is that there is no way someone stays close with you or consistently in your company that you won’t share in their values, or fragments of their thoughts and imagination won’t settle on your mind.

So, I am bothered about who and who is consistently in the corner of the next President because most of them will end up as advisors, whether officially or unofficially.

I want to know the pedigree of such people, their antecedents, and their loyalty to the Nigerian cause. Thankfully, I don’t need much digging to get these details; by just watching the news on television, reading the newspapers, or just surfing the internet, I can get my answers.

6. People Who Want Him And Those Who Don’t

Another native wisdom says: “Show me your friend, I will tell you who you are,” and though it sounds cliche too, I will still apply it to who my choice will be to occupy the office of the President, executive governor of my state and legislators representing my constituency both in Federal and State House of Assembly.

Once party primaries are over, I expect all party members to align with their party candidates- that is, party loyalty. But beyond party members, there are some people who, for various reasons either empathetic toward certain candidates over another. I would love to know those who do and those who don’t. It’s nothing- it’s just me checking to see whether there are certain patterns I can spot — call me apprehensive, well you are right- e reach makes I be so.

If any such people share common interests or pedigree, I would want to investigate such interests and see where that is coming from to have a fair idea of their motive and where that could lead the country if their candidate wins.

7. General Educational Background

The educational background of who becomes the President is important to me, not just because it assures me that whoever leads the country is educated and can make informed decisions. Much more than that, it gives me a fair idea of what his decision could look like.

For instance, if a lawyer becomes President, I expect there would be a bit more thoroughness in contract agreements signed on behalf of the country. I would expect a super sound attorney general and minister of justice and a lot more of obeying and sticking with court orders, among other things.

If it turns out it’s an economist that becomes President, for instance, I would expect that issues that have to do with figures and numbers and how it affects the economy would be given double attention- I would expect a super sound minister of finance who knows the President is also interested in what happens in that ministry and all.

While this may not always be the case, I can only work with what I have of the aspirants, and their educational background would have certain qualities it adds to them, and that would reflect in their approach and decision-making.

8. Network Within And Outside The Country

No doubt, the office of the most populous black nation in the world guarantees you instant friends and network in the country and around the globe for altruistic and also for selfish reasons.

But I expect the next President to have his own network already, a network of friends, former colleagues, and people he can easily trust. And those must be spread across the length and breadth of the country and around the world.

They could range from present or former traditional rulers, community leaders, LGA Chairmen, firm directors, business moguls, party chieftains from all parties, diplomats, and county Presidents.

The value of this kind of network will come in handy in a heterogeneous society like ours when issues that require conflict resolution, high-end negotiations, and the rest come up.

9. Familiarity With The Challenges We Face

While I agree there are challenges that every country in the world is facing one way or the other, I need to be sure who will be the next President understands these challenges and understands how the challenges directly affect Nigeria.

It is not enough to know the challenges facing Nigeria or how long the issues have been. I want to see how the presidential aspirants have resolved such challenges in the past and how they intend to solve the present ones we face.

There are economic challenges, security challenges, and the rest we already face as a country. I need a president who can begin to speak to these challenges and develop home-grown solutions that can tackle them headlong.

10. Empathize with every stratum of the society

Nigeria needs an empathetic yet strong leader to lead her; come 2023. By all possible means within the law, we must find and vote for such a man or woman.

Empathy is the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling- and that is precisely what we need. We have too many leaders whose reality seems distanced from what every stratum of society feels.

I am not talking about a weak leader here. Being empathetic doesn’t equate in any way to being vulnerable. It just means being aware of the general feelings of the people you lead, whether it’s those we refer to as the upper class, middle class, and the lower class of the society.

These traits must also be evident in all those who he chooses to work with him. With equally empathetic subordinates in every ministry, department, and agency of the state, the President can be sure he will get the good feedback from the people he leads, which brings me back to his kind of recruitment and the people he carries around him all the time; his close associates.

11. Communicate effectively with them

The next President must have a clear, consistent, and unadulterated communication channel with the people he leads- the Nigerians.

When there is a vacuum in the information space on certain government decisions, fake news merchants will have a filled day.

When they do, whatever trust people have left in the government led by the President will keep eroding until it gets to a point where trust is broken between the President and the people he leads.

When that happens, every other move after that will be perceived with suspicion, leading to misunderstandings that, in turn, fuel agitations. Recent history has shown when such happens; it could lead to the breakdown of law and order.

Whoever wants to be Nigeria’s next President should avoid this by being prompt in response to the yearnings of Nigerians from the lowest strata to the upper class.

12. Courageous Decision Executor

I have heard the word “political will” thrown around a lot in the past twenty years, and usually, what I hear is “this President or that governor lacks political will. What I want now is a leader that has the much-talked-about political will.

What political will means to me is the courage to make a decision and stick by it till the set-out result is achieved irrespective of whose toes have to be stepped on or whose ego has to be bruised. I see it as the ability to take the difficult informed, and far-reaching decisions for the same of the country at the expense of personal or selfish interest.

While my definition may not fully capture what political will means, this is the basic I expect from the person aspiring to be President of Nigeria.

With this in mind, I would lookout for a man who has demonstrated courage in the past and is committed to things he believes in. I will look for a man who has nothing to lose and has more men to please him than he has to please men. A man whose bold stand has yielded promising results in the past and still making bold moves now — that’s the only reason I can be sure he continues such moves when he becomes President.

My question now is who among the presidential aspirant has a proven track record of being this courageous.

Having mentioned these 12 Generic Questions, do I think the aspirants will have all? Maybe not- but I think it is worth considering for all Nigerians, and possibly it could be a rating guide to rate all the candidates in order to make voting decisions easy for the 2023 elections.

What are your thoughts on these points?