By Michael Effiong

On Thursday, September 29, 2022, all the Presidential candidates for the 2023 election were invited to Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory by the National Peace Committee chaired by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (Retd.).

At that event, the Chairman had said and I quote “I call on politicians to address issues that are fundamental to Nigerians. We want to ensure that there is civility and decency in public discourse… Please avoid the spread of fake news and personal attacks”

Before I go on, I would like to appeal to the National Peace Committee to update its website. It is shocking an utterly embarrassing that what the Committee’s website shows as recent events are the events of 2018! That is not good enough for an organisation that is taking up such a critical national responsibility.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, it is within the statement made above by General Abdulsalami that I viewed what transpired on Channels TV’s Politics Today anchored by Seun Okinbaloye during the week.

The very popular programme has become a veritable platform for national discourse and agenda setting and has been playing this role so well in the last couple of years.

And of course, politicians who love the limelight like ants to sugar will milk such opportunity for the benefit of their parties and their candidates.

The first person to appear on the show was former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole. The former All Progressives Congress (APC ) Chairman, went well off the mark.

He barely spent the over 40 minutes provided to sell his candidate or his party. Each time the anchor tried to steer him to issues, like the failure of the present APC government, strength of his candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda, Oshiomhole who adorned a white shirt which he claimed represented a sign of victory and peace in his homestead, was bent on throwing stones. He was anything but peaceful.

He kept hitting at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

He began by saying that Atiku had no integrity because Governor Wike and four other governors have said he is not trust worthy; he called Atiku a betrayer and went on to discuss Atiku’s family life.

He noted that in 2019, Atiku used his wife Jennifer to campaign in the East, he went on and on, there was no boundary to the verbal punches he threw at the former Vice President during the programme.

According to Oshiomhole, Atiku had no right to go to Ondo to promise to better the education system in because there were many illiterates in his Adamawa State! He even queried why Atiku should own a University?

He called Atiku the weakest candidate and noted that Atiku is battle weary and has become stale.

He was so engrossed on this Atiku attack mode that he did not know when he took a pot shot at his own candidate by saying that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s decision to sponsor and back his wife, Oluremi, as Senator  in Lagos State was his candidate’s idea of selfless service. Of course, the social media had a field day tearing him apart on that one.

I could almost imagine the Atiku Presidential campaign fuming as they watched their principal being rubbed in the mud anyhow, I can bet they were on the phone immediately to the Producers of the show to register their angst and sure enough, the very next day, one of their own former Senator Dino Melaye had his own turn.

Like Oshiomhole, he came out gun blazing. He began by calling Oshiomhole names. He said the former governor was not only morally bankrupt but was a rabid womanizer who is the only known politician that has his genitals flying around via a leaked video on social media.

He did not stop there, he stated that all the women of easy virtue in Edo State know the former Governor and that too became a hit on social media (Oloshos know Oshiomhole). And how his former air hostess wife has left him etc.

He was not done, he went on to discuss Tinubu’s family how his children were from different mothers and how he could not attend his real mother’s burial and so on. It was so painful to watch really.

The too men by now should have been sanctioned not only by their parties but the peace committee. I believe this is not the kind of discourse that we should be watching on our TVs ahead of the elections.

These two men actually back two candidates who on several occasions have met each other in public and exchanged pleasantries. Like they say on the streets, wetin be their own sef?

Either we like it or not Atiku and Tinubu are the front runners in this election and they have both released their manifestoes so there are a thousand and one things that these surrogates could have discussed.

I will like for example to hear Atiku or his surrogates discuss the power problem and what was his role in the N16billion or so spent by the Obasanjo government on power. Senator Dino would have done well to expatiate on this.

He could also have discussed how Atiku intends to go about raising our GDP to $5000 by 2020, creating three million jobs, lifting 10 million poor Nigerians, increase funding for the police etc.

Even his plan to restructure the country, devolve more power to the state which will mean resource control, tax relief, private sector-led venture funds and expanding export opportunities which have been widely commended could have been a powerful foundation to score good points. So he need not have gone to the mundane.

For former Governor Oshiomhole, he could have cleared the air about Tinubu’s health which have raised cause for concern in recent weeks and the nagging issue of Chicago State University and which Bola Tinubu attended Richard Daley College since he was discussing integrity.

He could have delved into Tinubu’s 80-page policy document. How he intends to increase crude oil production to 2.6mbpd by 2027 and 4mbpd by 2030.

Why his candidate wants to construct gas pipelines without gas processing facilities and why fighting the monster called corruption was mentioned in passing in the document.

These are just matters from the top of my head that I have brought up, I am sure Nigerians have many serious challenges that they would have loved to get the views or solutions from the various candidates or their camps.

Issues such as the galloping inflation rate, the astonishing increase in the number of poverty-stricken Nigerians and the calamitous numbers of out-of-school children are there seeking answers. These are the big ticket issues that we want discussed.

Like was noted by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), we would not allow politicians and their surrogates to engage in any shadow boxing and name calling at the expense of our collective development, it is our duty as members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm to call them out and make them tow the right path when they are going astray.

I do hope that we have hit the lowest of the low with Former Governor Oshiomhole and Senator Melaye, henceforth let the discourse be about real issues. Let us keep it clean please!