Let’s talk more about issues  

The political atmosphere is getting tensed especially as campaigns increase across the land. There have been rallies and more rallies in the nation that politics seems to be the only vocation currently. As a Lagos resident, it is very painful to see the city becoming an eyesore again with posters everywhere. But the campaigns have been short on issues. Mudslinging is no longer the exception but the rule as verbal missiles flow across the political divides.

The two major parties have demonstrated to us that we should not expect anything different from the same old system that led us to the pitiable state we are as a country.

Even though it was gratifying that 14 political parties gathered last week to sign an accord that they will run issue-based campaigns, particularly for the number one seat, their actions do not show that they believed that even before the ink dried up on the agreement. Two examples suffice along this line. The All Progressives Congress (APC) poster boy, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, on Wednesday at a rally in the city asked Lagosians not to vote for Jimi Agbaje, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate.

That’s normal; after all he must see that APC increases while PDP decreases. Except that the reason adduced by the Senior Advocate is juvenile to say the least. “You see, this job is a tough job. When I took this job, at the age of 44, I was counting the number of white hair on my head. Today, at 52, I am counting the number of black hair on my head.

“Akinwunmi (Ambode) is younger than me. You need youthfulness to do this job. That man (Mr. Agbaje) is already 60, he cannot cope with this job. If you call him at night he will not take your phone,” Fashola said at the rally. Interestingly, Agbaje is 57 while Akinwunmi Ambode, the APC candidate is 51 and his party’s candidate for the February 14 presidential election, General Muhammadu Buhari, is 72. Whether he forgot this fact or he decided to ignore it, only Mr. Fashola knows.

The second example is a purported medical report by Ahmadu Bello Hospital indicating that Buhari has prostate cancer. When I first saw it on Facebook, it was the haphazard nature of the so-called medical report that got me thinking. Instinctively, I knew it was a fake but that has not stopped PDP from making a show of the issue. Fine, we need to be concerned about the health of our leaders but stooping so low to forge a medical report is simply over the board. While it is not yet proven that PDP was responsible for the forgery, the fact that the party sought to profit from the sordid show says a lot about our politicians.

Having also watched closely the campaign rallies of the two major political parties, I can say that neither is addressing concretely the issues that are germane to our existence in 2015 and beyond. Our twin problems of economy and security in the face of a low intensity war currently ravaging the north east are the major issues the leader who takes over on May 29 will confront. Yet, apart from a newspaper report of an event attended by Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari’s running mate, where he said an APC government would provide steady power supply by installing Independent Power Projects in strategic parts of the country, neither PDP or APC has given us a roadmap on how to take Nigeria out of the woods.

We have heard promises upon promises with fanciful posters and colourful billboards asking us to vote for particular candidates, without a coherent plan backed with figures and data on how to put Nigeria on the path of progress. Worse off are some fanatical supporters of these parties who when asked what’s the programme of their candidates for the country, they resort to insults. Between ‘transformation’ and ‘change’ how do we get to the Promised Land? It has been press statements upon statements all designed and crafted to shield the candidates from closer scrutiny.

A better example to follow is that of Diocese of Lagos West, Anglican Communion that organised a debate for nine governorship candidates at Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral Anglican Church, Ikeja last week. Moderated by a professor of theology, Dapo Asaju, Lagosians saw the level of preparedness of each candidate. Citizens and professional groups must organise more of such debates and force the candidates to attend so that they can tell us what they plan to do in office. We need something better than what we have presently and only campaigns based on issues can help. Let’s have more of such, please.