By Wale Ajao
The fire that is burning now in Nigeria is so wild that Nigerians need extraordinary caution so that they do not get consumed by the raging fire.
All the ingredients of self immolation are in place .
Just two days to go. Saturday February 25 2023 is a date with destiny for Nigerians. The mileu in which election is holding is nothing to write home about.
Unemployment is around ,33 0/0 illiteracy is around 40 0/0 poverty level is about 42 0/0 Rising population amidst rising poverty and rising corruption has made Nigeria a shadow of it’s image of the oil boom era.
Boko Haram terrorists have killed not less than ten thousand Nigerians in the last one decade.
President Buhari has been grossly unfair in the way he has handled the menace of kidnap for ransom by the bandits.
Up till now president Buhari has refused to deploy the military to go into the forests to flush out of the bandits Yet he has quickly sent troop into the forests of Eastern Nigeria to wipe out IPOB boys.
The herdsmen have been treated with kid gloves whereas real fire and brimstone had been rained on IPOB.
Sunday Igboho was annihilated in his home just for organizing peaceful rallies calling for Yoruba nation.
And now just a week to the election the president decided to put petrol on the burning fire of anger and frustration all over the land by glaringly poor implementation of the naira redesign policy a situation that has led to anarchy and claimed the lives of three youths engaged in a demonstration.
Inability to get small amounts of money for small transactions have made life harrowing for our people in the last two weeks.
Generally Nigerians are going to the polls amidst the highest form of tension since independence.
Even the electioneering campaigns have been characterised by bitterness rancour and acrimony.
Our political class simply diverted themselves into unnecessary
To the extent that most of the electorate going to vote on Saturday have not seen or read party manifestos of the political parties.
So all that will make the consuming fire of destruction to glow are in place. All that remains for the fire to be ignited is for our people to forget about the rule of law and allow themselves to be misled into unwarranted violence.
All the major presidential candidates are qualified to lead Nigeria now They all share the same ideology.
Their religion or ethnic group should not count against any of them because our constitution has not mentioned ethnicity or religion among the criteria for determine who qualifies to be president.
If two Muslims lead us it makes no difference if they follow the law of the land. In America the two topmost leaders are christians and no big deal about it.
Leadership in a democracy is not a according to religion or gender or race.
It is about competence and experience and integrity and patriotism
Moreso in Nigeria religion was not a big issue in our political arrangement in the first and second Republic.
Late chief Awolowo chose chief Phillip Umeadi as his running mate and there was no big controversy. Late Chief Mko Abiola and Alhaji Tofa paired up and won the June 12 1993 presidential election and no big issue.
Unfortunately the June 12 1993 election widely recognized as free and fair by local and international observers was annulled by military President Ibrahim Babangida.
One other thing being said against Tinubu is that he used his position as Lagos State governor to award to his Alpha Beta company the revenue collection contract and he is collecting a certain percentage of the collected revenue .
This is intended to be a moral deficit by his opponents though he has argued that the internally generated revenue of Lagos improved.
As far as democracy is concerned he can only be condemned by a competent court of law And since non of his opponents have been wise enough to sue him and he has not been found guilty by a law court he is a qualified candidate.
The issue of age has also been raised Again this is not a major issue in a democracy especially when the constitution did not specify upper age limit for a candidate .
The constitution did not say anyone above seventy cannot be president so the age of Tinubu or that of ATIKU should not be a hindrance to both of them.
And since nobody has taken the issue of Tinubu health before a court of law and no court has declared him unfit on medical grounds all the insinuations amount to nothing.
The constitution is the supreme law in a democracy and once a candidate has not been proven in a court as having gone against the constitution all other verbal jabs are mere exercise in futility.
As for Atiku people have been saying he mismanaged the privatisation exercise put under his care when he was Vice president.
Former president Obasanjo even said in his book titled MY WATCH that he could not vouch for the integrity of his Vice president.
But as far as democracy is concerned Obasanjo merely expressed his personal opinion Atiku has not been proven guilty in a law court .
But as things are now Atiku qualifies to be President like all other candidates because he has not been tried and found guilty of corruption in a competent court of law .
As long as a court has not convicted Tinubu for certificate forgery no one can convict him orally.
The same thing applies to the ethnic background of Atiku. People are saying a Fulani cannot succeed Buhari who is a Fulani. Again the constitution has not specify the ethnic identity of whoever wants to be president.
Our people should know that the natural tendency is for the stronger specie to dominate the weaker species because nature is based on the law of survival of the fittest.
A Fulani can succeed a Fulani if he wins a free and fair election. In other words if Atiku wins a free and fair election Nigerians should accept it because our constitution has not specified the ethnic identity of who can become president.
It has been said that he has integrity especially because as Governor for eight years he was not found guilty of corruption and he has done well in his family and business life.
All YORUBAS who still see Igbos in terms of the past should move forward in their reasoning and learn to accept each Nigerian on the basis of his personal credibility.
Britain had to negotiate it’s constitution before United kingdom became a reality America had to negotiate it’s constitution and came out with a Federal constitution which eventually created a level playing field for everyone including the Amerindians.
Nigeria must renegotiate it’s constitution to achieve proper federalism and restructuring and eliminate ethnic and religious politics so as to achieve genuine national unity which is the first condition for progress growth and development as a house divided against itself cannot stand.
As Nigerians go to the polls on Saturday they must know that unity and peace are vital if we want to quench the fire this time. If we have a free and fair election whoever wins should be accepted irrespective of his religion or ethnic group or age.
Nigerians should not forget that our external enemies who we have been forced by circumstances to accept as our friends over the years will sell weapons to us if we decide to start another civil war.
Even if our currency is loosing value even if there is high inflation and unemployment at least we have a home.
What if we set our fatherland on fire and we render ourselves homeless who will pity us.
Even if there is rigging of the election our people should go to court and fight it legally . No need to fuel the first fire this time.
No need to set our country ablaze . This election is just a phase of our history.It should pass peacefully.
