Bold transition: Obi, Atiku and Tinubu (Shettima) at the NBA Conference 2022

This was perhaps an informal Presidential debate for the 2023 Presidential Elections facilitated by the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA).

The stage was before an audience of largely very well-informed and educated people, most of whom are well-accomplished individuals and others can fit into the scale of emerging leaders having gone through the crucibles of law school and enrolled as the solicitors to the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In my estimation, the NBA didn’t just invite the Presidential Candidates to come and contribute knowledge to the theme of the conference- ‘Bold Transitions’ and offer solutions to the problems of the country. But for them to also sell their candidacy to one of the most enlightened groups in the Nigerian space. If I say that the NBA is a microcosm of the Nigerian state in terms of configuration, form and shape, I would be very correct.

Premised on the above background, I would go forward to make brief but dispassionate observations on the presentations made by the three Presidential candidates that spoke.

First, H.E Atiku Abubakar (PDP), I commend his boldness in stepping forward in person to speak at the conference despite his age. He came across as someone who is willing and fighting for a place to prove that his experience could serve the purpose of bringing Nigeria out of the woods. He spoke about Unity and espoused his Unity-Seed philosophy to tackle disunity, insecurity, economy etc. He purposely came to connect with the people and strategically sell himself as the candidate for the job. However, when he mentioned that what Nigeria needs now is the experience of what he did in their time, there was an absolute disquiet in the hall, a sign of disagreement by the audience. He did well but struggled to connect his rich experience with the future rather than clinging to the past which is a subject of public debate on many fronts. His strategy and messaging must be to export his rich experience to be relevant to dealing with issues that define the future of the country.

Sen. Kashim Shettima(APC), I also commend him for stepping forward to represent his boss (Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu) who was absent for obvious reasons. I chose to salute Sen. Shettima’s boldness because at a time when the whole country is scoring low in most sectors of our national life, being the flag bearer of the party in power accused of leading the country to the dungeon is a difficult situation to be in. And stepping out to speak on solutions to the problem of the country as well as soliciting votes to continue in power is an even worse dilemma to deal with. To his presentation, no doubt Sen Shettima is a very brilliant man but he was not himself today he struggled to cogitate old stories and old lines of thought. Part of his challenges was functioning in a representative capacity where he has to try to sell to his boss in a place where other competitor bosses were present to sell themselves and speak to their vision directly. In his efforts to first create imagery of his boss for the audience and transit from this theoretical imagery to practical solutions on the subject of discussion, he could not reconcile himself. Overall, the APC Presidential candidate got it wrong in sending a representative rather than coming himself to speak. Even though he has health challenges, our laws still allow physically challenged people to compete under lawful special conditions and win. The event of today is not for representatives no matter how good they might be. The candidate presents a suggestive scenario that he might be a figurehead President who is afraid of the big stage and who is playing the old game (Machiavellian-like), looking backwards instead of forward for the future of the country. I suggest the APC candidate step out boldly and offer a policy departure from what has failed, and throw up a consolidation pathway for what is working now.

H. E Peter Obi (Labour Party), the Labour Party candidate was himself, a simple demeanour, exuding a unique brilliance and accompanied by spontaneous public acceptance and ever-increasing social capital. The rapturous ovation and community applause the mere mention of his name received/receives sends shock waves to the political establishment. In the presentation, Mr Peter Obi showed he was prepared for the task and that he is accustomed to the dynamics and characteristics of the big stage. Mr Peter Obi was very analytical, precise and forthcoming. Laid bare the problem of the country using a definitive paradigm with verifiable statistics to back what he was saying. This was a very good sign of preparedness. He then proceeded to offer a clear philosophical underpinning of what bold transition would mean and brilliantly connected it with the transition from unemployment to employment, insecurity to a secured country and from a chronically consuming nation to a productive country etc. His landing was also superb when he mentioned that next year’s election shouldn’t be about religion, ethnicity, and connections but about competence, integrity, character and capacity. Mr Obi’s line that is creating confusion was when he said that “Nigeria needs a well-articulated” economic blueprint to pull it out of the woods. I understand that the Smart Atikulated group has gone to the market with that line from Obi’s statement. That Obi said articulated and not Atikulated didn’t matter because both words share the same morphology. Yes! Mr Peter Obi, no doubt carried the day at the informal debate because he came across as someone that will be on-the-go President, hands-on, not a figurehead or administrative President but a President that would be up and running dealing with issues based on facts. My take is that Mr Obi should duel less on problems of the country as that took a lot of his time. He should run away from the use of the word “Articulate” because his opponents would reconstruct it as “Atikulate” and go to market with it.

My commendations and congratulations go to the NBA leadership and members for a well-organised opening ceremony and I wish them the very best. All other professional groups should endeavour to create a public forum to engage the Presidential candidates and also participate in voting during the elections to help deepen our democracy and the quality of our elections.

Amb. Chibuzor Okereke, MLS, writes from Abuja, Nigeria