Africa, Politics
AS the 2023 polls are less than three months away, many Nigerians see the Chatham House charade as a distraction to the key national issues that should engage the attention of the presidential candidates. Obviously, Nigerians are bitter and wiser. They don’t want fake promises, they want a government that will change their lives for the better.
By Goddy Ikeh
WITH less than 70 days to the 2023 presidential and general elections, the reactions to the performance of the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, has apparently become a major distraction to the real issues in the ongoing campaigns by the political parties and their candidates for political offices.
Although Tinubu is not new and averse to controversies, the Chatham House charade may have added another “river to cross” in his quest to become Nigeria’s president in 2023.
Speaking on ‘Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: Security & Economic Development and Its Foreign Policy Imperatives’ at Chatham House, London, on Monday, December 5, 2022, Tinubu said that if elected president in 2023 he would revive the education sector, tackle insecurity, the economy and invest in technology.
In education, Tinubu said that he would provide student loans and reform the Almajiri educational system in northern Nigeria. He also promised to recruit and train more teachers to improve the education sector. Tinubu said that he would introduce technology hubs for youths to acquire digital skills that will equip them to play significant roles in governance.
Although Tinubu did not give enough details of his plans and programmes, the issues at the centre of the controversies that trailed his performance at Chatham House included the invitation of some members of his delegation to answer some of the questions directed at him by the journalists and guests and the issues bordering on his true identity, educational qualifications and his year of birth among others.
Answering some of the questions, Tinubu said that his birth, academic, work records are consistent and that his critics are only wasting their time and money. On the controversy over his date of birth and parentage, the former governor of Lagos State said that his detractors could request a DNA test to validate that he was indeed from the Tinubu family.
Tinubu added at the time of his birth, it was dated March 29, 1952. “I’ve had a very good exposure in life, my record is consistent in the school, in the university, they, critics, are now convinced that they wasted their money and their time. The record is there, the transcript is there showing March 1952,” he said, adding: ‘I’m Tinubu Proper.”
“Equally, it remains the same, Deloitte, Chicago State University where I graduated from has attested to that. Now, I can announce that I have received my original replacement degree certificate from them,” local media reports quoted Tinubu as saying.
Tinubu also delegated some of his allies, including serving governors and lawmakers to answer questions posed by participants at the world-leading policy institute and think-tank forum. Some of those who answered questions on Tinubu’s behalf include the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai and Dele Alake to answer some of the posed at him, claiming that he adopted the delegation method “to show the team and the capacity that we have”.
Unfortunately, these delegates are not specialists and have no capacities to answer the questions directed at them and this delegation method did not go down well with many Nigerians, especially members of the opposition parties, who berated Tinubu’s performance at Chatham House.
For instance, the spokesperson, Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation, Daniel Bwala, faulted Tinubu’s outing at the Chatham House in London, accusing him of not honouring press invitations in Nigeria.
Tinubu was in Chatham on Monday where he reeled out his plans for Nigeria and also cleared the air pertaining to his age, and qualifications. During the outing, the former Lagos governor delegated some of his associates to answer questions posed to him; a move Bwala says does not augur well.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, December 6, Bwala likened Tinubu’s inability to attend presidential town hall events and media briefings to adjudication of responsibility.
“About education, if they are asking you questions about individuals that are older than you after you have made the intervention, you can say, ‘I want ABC to add further.’
“What he is doing is that he is saying, ‘Nigerians, I want you to vote 5, 10 or 12 of us. And a man who does not have regard and respect for the freedom of the press – look at the constitution, the freedom of the press is as important as fundamental human rights.
“He has abdicated the responsibility of appearing before the Nigerian press, but he went to what he called the rest of the world to appear before them,” he said.
In addition, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism published series of tweets by some Nigerians in reaction to the Tinubu’s performance at Chatham House.
Reacting to the event, Shehu Gazali Sadiq, a Twitter user, wrote, “Tinubu cannot speak for himself. Show of shame.”
Another user, Bwala Daniel stated, “Chatham house show of shame. You want to be the president but avoiding answering questions, instead you are re-directing the answers to El-Rufai, Alake and co. Nigerians want to be governed by a person, not a robot who cannot exercise independent thought in answering questions.”
Frank Zephyr 1, as identified on Twitter, also wrote, “This is so weird and absurd. Why are other people answering the questions to Bola Tinubu? Why is @elrufai answering for BAT? Allow the actual candidate answer the question na.”
Kelechi Imo, another Twitter user, stated, “A vote for Bola Tinubu is an access to live in bondage. If after seeing the interview of him in Chatham House, you still feel he is the solution to Nigerians’ problems, then, you are the reason we are where we are today!”
Tinubu’s live press meeting coincided with multiple requests from Nigerians for him to attend town hall meetings and live debates in Nigeria with other presidential candidates. And when asked why he had declined speaking with Nigerians using local media, the presidential candidate said, “I see myself as a marketable individual. They want to use me to make money and I said no.”
Gabriel Dunsworth, a Twitter user, stated, “Tinubu ran away from Nigerian media houses to Chatham House in London to still delegate questions directed at him to Ben Ayade, El-Rufai and co to answer for him. This is an embarrassment to a presidential candidate of any serious country. This fraud needs to be dumped”
“Why can’t Mr Tinubu answer very important questions himself? Why delegate his proxies to answer these questions? Why would a noble organization like yours allow this kind of charade? Is Tinubu going to rule Nigeria with proxies if elected? This is bizarre, to say the least. Shameful,” Hafsatu Danladi noted.
Another user, who identifies as Prettycachy, also wrote, “Why is BAT not answering the questions himself? Why do we have APC members asking these questions?
“This is an absolute waste of time & data. Imagine the presidential candidate asking ‘team members’ to answer questions thrown. The only sensible question was from a lady that told him she wanted him to answer himself. Will he delegate speech at the UN or other larger events?” Abiodun asked.
In response to the event, Wuyi Oyetunde also wrote, “This is a shame. Why invite a candidate only for proxies to answer questions on his behalf?”
The general atmosphere following the press interview seems to be disappointment. Nonetheless, there are also outliers who have expressed optimism and delight with the candidate’s performance.
Raji Sodiq, as identified on Twitter, stated, “He is ‘Asiwaju’ for a reason. I don’t understand why people have a problem with his style of allowing members of his team to answer some of the questions. With Lagos, he already showed he’s a leader that listens to his team.That’s the type of leader we need, as no one knows it all.”
Cerdeeq, as identified on Twitter, also stated, “That was one impressive conversation @officialABAT and his elite team had at @ChathamHouse with other Nigerians in Diaspora.”
Another user, Jafaru Okunchi Hadi, noted that this was “the best of all interactions so far”. ” Jagaban come 2023 In Sha Allah,” he added.
Tinubu associates have also responded to the reactions to his performance at Chatham House. According to them, the other top contenders like Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) have gaffed too like their candidate.
“No human being is immune to gaffes. That does not translate to one’s capacity to rule,” a member of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Alake, said hours after the London event.
“Just a few days ago, Datti Ahmed, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party committed a great gaffe.
“Atiku committed a gaffe in Kaduna when he said they should vote for him because he is a northerner…If it was Tinubu that made that, all heavens would have come down.
“In fact, Obi is noted for false statistics, anybody knows that…So, there is really nothing to clear about that. Asiwaju is a human being like every other person,” Alake said.
But the Chatham House charade, Tinubu has a big task of convincing Nigerians that he will perform better than the poor scorecards of the APC-led federal government in the last seven years and more of which is the acclaimed national leader. Millions of Nigerians have been literally asking to be taken back to 2015 when Nigeria worked for Nigerians and the economy and other development indicators, including security issues were doing better that what the APC government have bequeathed to Nigerians.
Another contentious issue that is hanging over Tinubu’s candidature is his Muslim-Muslim ticket strategy, which has been seen as insensitive to the nation’s unity and stability. Speaking on the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, a former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Mukhtar Shagari, stated that the APC has failed Nigerians “The Christians in this country, especially in the North felt slighted, they felt insulted when APC decided to go with Muslim-Muslim ticket,” he said.
Speaking during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme recently, Shagari, a former Minister of Water Resources and member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said if APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu has a Christian wife, Oluremi, it is only okay for him to choose a Christian running mate and not a fellow Muslim in the person of former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
He described as an insult, the same-faith ticket of the APC, adding that Nigerians and Christians will reject the ruling party in the forthcoming presidential election.
“The APC has failed Nigerians in every aspect you can think of. In every aspect you can think of, APC has failed Nigerians, particularly in the North where people are now kidnapped and ransoms have to be paid and people are now being killed. Lack of employment all over the country and so on.
“They simply think that both the Christians and the Muslims in this country are stupid. So, they decided to come out with the Muslim-Muslim ticket, thinking if they do that, everybody in the North-West, in the North-East and the rest of Nigeria will jump at it but Nigerian people are wiser, they know what they want: they want a government that will change their lives for the better,” Shagari said.
On Tinubu’s outing at Chatham House, Shagari described it as disappointing and that Nigerians want a leader who can relate with them, answer their questions and clear their doubts and not one who delegates his allies to respond to questions directed at him.
Although Tinubu remains an enigma to millions of his supporters since he claims that he has never lost any election in his life. But the 2023 presidential and general elections can be described as unique and will be devoid of the usual electoral malpractices. And above all Nigerians, especially the youths are determined to rescue and take back their country from the old order, which Tinubu and his party represent.
A.I
Tags: Ben Ayade Daniel Bwala Dele Alake Femi Gbajabiamila Gabriel Dunsworth Nasir el-Rufai Shehu Gazali Sadiq the Chatham House charade
