By Seyi Clement
The unpreparedness of APC for the job of governance is becoming more and more obvious as day goes by, but this is not unusual. History will recall that Buhari was also unprepared for governance in 2015, and it took him 7 months to form a government. Whilst he prevaricated, the nation was rudderless, and the economy went into freefall. Consequently, our GDP per capita fell from $3,990 to $2,176 in 2016. In effect, every Nigerian lost almost $2,000 in income whilst Mr Go Slow dithered. We have never recovered from this disastrous start, as our GDP per capita is now below even the 2016 level.
We face same apocalyptic scenario if we make the mistake of voting in this dithering bunch of inept peacocks led by Senator Emilokan. Here is a party in power for 8 years, which had 4 years to prepare of the election and was aware of the INEC timetable for more than 9 months, still it could not conduct its Presidential primaries on time and had to arm twist INEC to give it extra time. Even with the extra time, it still had a placeholder as VP. To date, it has no Presidential Campaign council, and no Manifesto. Is this how they will run the country?
The challenges facing our country are too monumental for us to vote in those who are unprepared for the task ahead. We have a country whose population is growing at 2.6% annually, but whose economy is growing at the rate of 0.87% per annum on average from 2016. No wonder we cannot address our poverty challenges. We have a country whose income cannot finance its budget. We have a country whose budget is less than 50% of the budget of the State of Connecticut, the 3rd smallest State in the USA. We have a country whose GDP per capita has fallen from $3,990 in 2014 to the current rate of $2,085. We have a country which ranks 168 out of 173 on the Human Capita Index, only better than Liberia, Mali, South Sudan, and Chad.
We do our country and generation of Nigerians to come tremendous disservice if we vote for a candidate who is ill-prepared for the challenges ahead, simply because he claims to be Yoruba, and it is his turn to be President. Please do not get me wrong, Senator Emilokan is prepared to win the election. He has been preparing for more than 7 years. He is prepared to win power, but ill prepared for governance. This is why Senator Emilokan’s answer to the country’s over 40% youth unemployment is to recruit 50,000,000 youth into the army and feed them agbado, cassava and garri. That is why Senator Emilokan’s answer to the issue of food security is to give farmers N100,000 grant to go back to farm. That is why his response to the challenges of climate change and global warming was a reference to church rat eating poisoned communion.
The truth is that Senator Emilokan is clueless about the challenges facing our country and how to address these challenges. By contrast, I am happy to say Atiku is well prepared for governance. He has demonstrated insight into the challenges that he will be facing in government and developed plans to address the challenges. He first enunciated his vision in his essay, “Making Good Things Happen, – The Atiku Abubakar Policy Document, Public Policy & Implementation” published has far back as 2011. He has improved on the plans over the years, and this vision gave birth to his 2015, 2019 and 2023 manifestos.
I am convinced of Atiku’s capacity and competence. He highlighted the need to privatise NNPC as far back as 2011. He saw the need for Government to address the issue of State monopolies and to create effective competitive business environment, when the likes of Senator Emilokan were still looking to create more State industries which are inefficient, and which have turned out to be colossal waste of our commonwealth. The business landscape is littered with carcasses of some of these State enterprises, including Nichemtex Industries Limited, National Salt Company Limited, Nigerian Newsprint MFG Company Limited, Super Phosphorous Fertilizer Company and many more.
Senator Emilokan has neither comprehension of the challenges facing Nigeria, nor the ability to address the challenges, which is why he has not taken part and will not take part in any debate. His handlers are saving him from more gaffs, but by so doing, they do the nation a great disservice.
Senator Emilokan is another clueless Buhari. Nigeria can survive one clueless ruler, two will be a bridge too far.
Seyi Clement is a Lawyer, Commentator and Convener – New Vision Group
