Browsing: Viewpoint

One of the major issues begging for consideration as Nigeria and other stakeholders review the aftermath of the country’s 2023 General elections would definitely be the health of Nigeria’s political party system. It is a matter of fact that by the 90s, in an attempt to stem the tide of communism, one party states, and dictatorships around the world, the West recommended and supported multi-party democracy as the way forward, to ensure participation, inclusion, and fairness. This was packaged as a pill to address the menace of one-party states and authoritarianism and indeed many African countries, including Nigeria bought into it, and even went a step further to fashion our democracy after the American model.

Intrigues, mischief, blackmail, and internal crisis are some of the characteristics of any ruling party in Nigeria. This is what has become of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in recent times. The party is constantly facing multidimensional crises, and getting a good party man to stabilize it is becoming an impossible and herculean task.

Before and during his campaign days, the President of Nigeria, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu told everyone that becoming the country’s president was a lifelong ambition. He boasted of his agenda of readiness and competence to take Nigerians out of the woods, the backstage of suffering. At a point, he told Nigerians that he would build on Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements. Don’t forget that Nigerians were already suffering and building on that is “a killer.”

A mirror verse in one of the holy books averred that “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Philosophically, in life endings are better than beginnings, and sticking to a noble course is better than standing out. This is the best description of Barrister Boss Mustapha CFR, the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Nigeria who had a good ending to his tenure.

New and continuing governments of 2023 are over one month old across Nigeria. At all levels, first term and continuing administrations ought to have begun bracing up for the task of delivering on their mandate to their people. ElectedElected officers, particularly those in their first term, will soon realize, if they have not already, that pre-inauguration impressions of leadership are nothing compared to the realities of governance on the ground.