As the clouds of campaign thicken on the electoral horizon ahead of 2027, there has erupted, once again, a volley of verbal pyrotechnics between the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential flag-bearer of the African Democratic Congress (APC).
The last time this ugly scenario was witnessed was in the build-up to the 2023 general elections, where these self-same political actors regaled Nigerians with the spectacle of washing their dirty linens in public glare. Now, like then, they have thrown caution and statesmanlike conduct to the wind and trained their guns on each other’s jugular for a fight to the finish.
The contending issue at stake between these political gladiators is the cross-allegations that either has a criminal case to answer in the United States of America, and that, so long as that case has not been answered, such a person is a fugitive of justice and has been permanently on the run, afraid of setting foot in America.
In specific terms, Atiku has alleged that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has criminal cases in the US involving forgery and an asset forfeiture case to the tune of $460,000 linked to a narcotics investigation. In response, Tinubu has also alleged that Atiku and his former wife, Jennifer Douglas, were involved in the William Jefferson bribery scandal, which was the subject of a legislative investigation by the US Senate.
To undo and bolster each other’s electoral chances in the 2027 elections, both parties have taken their campaigns to the international political arena, especially to America, aggressively demarketing each other’s electoral value and political credentials in equal measure, and further calling for American intervention. By every conceivable parameter and measure, this political behaviour is not only awful, but also below the dignity, honour and integrity of these political actors, and leaves much to be desired. To whom much is given, much is expected.
Beyond the smear to their personalities, these brickbats have corrosive implications for Nigeria’s external image. Nigeria’s external image has been battered by a plethora of issues that have left negative scars on its psyche and corporate identity. Holders of the green passport are globally held in suspicion and derision. A period of presidential campaigns is an auspicious occasion for contestants to come up with blueprints on how to salvage Nigeria’s image crisis and lay out foreign policy strategies to restore her continental leadership in Africa and enhance her global respectability. Anything short of this is a distraction and should be discarded.
Besides, the internationalisation of our domestic issues and outright calls for external intervention and assistance, such a conduct gestures to a loss of sovereign agency and a hunger for imperial mentorship. It is a shorthand expression and of telling the world that Nigerians are incapable of governing themselves. For a country which is globally renowned for its historical contributions to anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, pan-Africanism, and whose people are celebrated for their sheer brilliance, intellectual capital and innovation, such an expression is damning in multiple proportions, to say the least.
We call on these presidential standard-bearers to be presidential in conduct and character as they mobilise Nigerians ahead of the 2027 elections. They should draw a rigid boundary between personal interests and national interests and always be guided that the latter supersedes the former in all material importance and gravity. They should know how to fight their political wars without destroying the fabric of Nigeria.
Nigeria is currently experiencing the pangs of a development crisis. It is bedraggled in her march to greatness by issues such as economic backwardness, agricultural decay, industrial stagnation, technological underdevelopment, corruption, poverty, social disorder, rural banditry and terrorism. These issues are weighty enough to preoccupy the intellectual exertion of any presidential candidate with the view of developing radically sustainable approaches and policy measures to address them. These development issues are worthwhile grist in the ideological and campaign mills of candidates and, as such, should be given profound, sober reflection and introspection rather than chasing after frivolities.
Elections period in any democracy are almost always the best of times for the citizens. They revalidate civic agency by giving citizens ample opportunities to sift and sieve through public policy frameworks and measures that, and on the basis of this, make informed choices that, if implemented, would enhance the organic health of the social contract. The forthcoming elections in Nigeria should be framed in this theoretical and philosophical trajectory. Citizens should be presented with manifestos on issues that touch on their objective material conditions and well-being. Anything short of promoting these ideals and values as we journey to 2027 is tantamount to shortchanging the citizenry, and should be outrightly rejected.
We at Daily Trust call on these key political actors in the 2027 elections to sheathe their swords. To set aside their personality differences and squabbles, allow national interests to take preeminence in their orientation and conduct, and above all else, concentrate their creative energies and resources towards the creation of an electoral ecology that is conducive for all citizens to actively participate in the democratic process without let or hindrance. This is the surest way to have a peaceful election in 2027, consolidate our democracy, and promote sustainable national development.