My Vote Is Available

For me, those who will get my votes come April 2011 must meet certain conditions. Of the plethora of presidential aspirants who wish to rule us, I am yet to decide who I’ll vote for between two candidates, but I certainly know those I will not vote for.

I will not vote for Buhari principally because I see him rightly or wrongly as a very divisive figure. I sincerely believe that leadership is not only about moral rectitude and personal honesty but it is also a lot more about being able to reach out across the board and find acceptance and credibility on the global stage. Buhari sadly remains and indeed gives the impression of being a regional grand master. A look at his political party the CPC tells the story better. It is almost completely staffed, headed and peopled by a particular ethnic and religious group. The party like its leader lacks global spread both in organisation and population. Certainly Buhari does not expect to win the 2011 election like this.  People are watching and critiquing.

I have interrogated many of the social and political zealots that unquestionably support Buhari and their constant refrain is that Buhari is honest. Their concept of honesty is itself ambiguous. Buhari’ management of the Petroleum Trust Fund, a quasi-government that engaged in infrastructure development from petroleum receipts, remains highly questionable and dismissive in some parts of the country. No doubt some parts of the country benefited immensely from Buhari’ headship of the PTF while other parts including the source of the revenues benefited even less. As usual Buhari’s supporters do not like to hear this. They do not like hearing of the fifty-three suitcases of monies illegally allowed into the country without the usual customs formalities under orders from above in 1984. They do not like hearing that a large number of Nigerians rightly or wrongly see Buhari more as a regional leader than a pan-national one.

I will not vote for Atiku Abubakar because I want a leader with credibility and ability. Atiku lacks both. He is seen as a desperado who just wants power without knowing what to do with it. I watched his declaration speech a couple of months ago and was utterly unimpressed. It dripped of high sounding shibboleths, lot of sounds and fury signifying nothing.  

I will certainly not vote for General Ibrahim Babangida, the erstwhile Military President cum dictator. I will not vote for him because I am sick of him. I will not vote for Babangida because I do not want this country I love so much to go back to the days of state sponsored assassinations and judicial murder of innocent Nigerians, which Babangida and his regime engaged in. I will not vote for Babangida because I want our national treasury to be in surplus always and used for the development of the country and not to build fifty-two room mansions, buy private jets as well as gobble up blue chip shares across the globe. More importantly, I will not vote for Babangida, because I know that he has absolutely nothing to offer this country except sorrows, tears and pains, a trinity of ills that we have had enough of.

Whoever wants my vote must believe in and promise to promote free market, reduce government influence in the economy, deregulate the petroleum industry so that the market can determine prices across the board, invest heavily in health and education especially in primary and tertiary healthcare and education, invest in the defence and security of the country through a comprehensive overhaul and upgrade of the security services, expansion of and increased funding and training of the armed forces and engage in a foreign policy that is proactive and on the offensive always.

The person I’ll vote for must be prepared to see Nigeria as his constituency and hence ensure a total and complete sense of belonging by all Nigerians. He must stand firm against the raging western social movements and liberal governments promoting repugnant policies and threatening developing countries that reject these abhorrent beliefs. 

Above all, the chap who wants my vote must accept that GOVERNMENT IS AN ANATHEMA to economic development and thus must incentivised the private sector to direct and manage the process of growth and development. He must centralize less, regulate less and increasingly detach the government from the economy. He must not be intimidated by the labour movements like Yar’adua was nor give in to their archaic, outdated and growth negating tendencies. I will not vote for any candidate that does not commit to selling off NEPA or is it PHCN to individuals and institutions that can better run it nor will I cast my vote for any candidate that still intends to hold on to that old, feeble leviathan called NNPC instead of privatizing its operations. 

I like what was said about Nuhu Ribadu, “a trained lawyer who went into the police. He worked in the economic and strategy team in this country and has consulted for various front-ranking international organizations. It is not a hidden fact that the EFCC, which he built from the scratch, became a well-respected and internationally-recognized crime fighting institution in the world. He was in public service for 25 years as a policeman and prosecutor. What more experience do you want? His vast global experience, nourished by more recent experiences acquired via fellowships at the world’s best universities like Harvard and Oxford, and even the Centre for Global Development in the US no doubt makes him most suited for the position… As pioneer chairman of the EFCC, he not only recovered over $5billion and also rejected a $15 dollar bribe that was offered him by a former governor.  That is the kind of leader we need; a man of integrity and character; someone that, if given the chance, will not be carried away and consumed by the trappings of power”. I like Ribadu’s message that A NEW NIGERIA IS POSSIBLE

Goodluck Jonathan is calm, calculated and collected. He has constantly articulated his vision of Nigeria in the next five years. A Nigeria where corruption is well ameliorated A Nigeria producing, transmitting and distributing over ten thousand megawatts of electricity and thus triggering increased investments, increased production, increased spending, increased GDP and increased per capita income. I like Jonathan’ management of the Independence Day bombing. He showed he has “mojo” real strong balls, refusing to be intimidated by the politically inspired aftermath and successfully rallied the Nation as one against the bombers and their political leaders. More importantly I like Jonathan because he is not like his former boss who was only interested in renationalizing privatized entities without appreciating the impact of such a decision and action on the economy and image of the country. Jonathan has good economic sense 

I am still interrogating the views, promises and statements of Nuhu Ribadu and Goodluck Jonathan. Either one of them will get my vote. I am yet to decide which of them though. They are both relatively honest. They are both nationalistic and believe strongly in Nigeria and the Nigerian spirit. They are not thieving like some aspirants, but above all they believe that governance can be made right, made good and government made to work for the governed. I am not looking for an experienced leader or a leader that verbalizes ideology because both are overrated. I do not believe in experience nor do I believe in ideology, I believe in passion, courage and patriotism, these are enough ideology for me

My vote is available! Who would it go to?

Nosa Igbinadolor can be reached at [email protected]

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