August 30, 2026
Immediately after the 2023 general elections, many politicians began illegal electioneering campaigns for the next set of elections scheduled for 2027. All efforts to remind them that they were abandoning governance which is the real essence of democracy and which should naturally follow elections failed. The truth however is that those cosmetic gestures across the nation made up of political alignments and defections which are essentially self-seeking do not constitute proper campaigns. Politicians with great ideas of how to improve the living standards of the people ought to be better disposed. They ought not to jump the gun by engaging in premature campaigns just as whatever campaigns they choose to participate in at the appropriate time should be detailed enough to aptly enlighten the people to make informed choices. Now that campaigns have rightly begun, politicians must not be allowed to be sleepy, instead they are obliged to educate us all on their manifestoes and election promises. It is against this backdrop that we call on all politicians to embrace issue-based campaigns and also to put an end to the practice of taking our citizens for granted.
In the last one week, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC appears to have gained some traction even without supplying us with all the details concerning the political messages he has fired. First, Atiku says if elected, he would restore fuel subsidy. The loud applause which greeted the promise does not mean that people understood how the maker intends to fulfil the promise. Ordinarily, considering the high level of corruption which surrounded subsidy since 1999 when the same Atiku was the nation’s vice president, a persuasive analysis of how he intends to accomplish the goal is what should deserve an applause but many people are excited because the candidate’s message suits the emotions of the moment. Atiku and his principal, Olusegun Obasanjo were in power from 1999 to 2007; they could not defeat the oil thieves that were described as a cartel by government. From then till 2023, successive governments established beyond reasonable doubt that the cartel was invincible. If Atiku is elected in 2027 and he restores subsidy, the cartel and fuel scarcity may return but at this point only a few would bother about that because it concerns the future.
