APC Presidential primary: Delegates to vote candidate capable of solving power, economy, security, other challenges
Abimbola Abatta, Joel Oladele, Seth Akande, and Ridwan Adekunle
Stakeholders and National delegates amid rising speculations on who succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari, have revealed the qualities they envisage in the next president of Nigeria.
On the list of expectations are commitment and dedication to improved security, improved economy, and enhanced power and education sectors.
Speaking with Nigerian NewsDirect in separate interviews, delegates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential primary election, maintained that the number one citizen must be capable of solving the numerous challenges bedevilling the nation.
The immediate past National Vice Chairman, All Progressive Congress (APC), Hon. Wale Oluwajana, said the next president of Nigeria, among many other qualities, must be vast in the knowledge of economy.
Oluwajana added that he must be a man of integrity who will not be caught in the web of vote buying during the primary elections.
According to Oluwajana, any politician who indulges in vote buying has nothing good to offer the country and such act should be seriously frowned at.
His words, “My simple response to that is anybody that can solve the present problems of the country. Any common man on the street will quickly tell you one of such problems is insecurity, talk about the strength of naira against dollar that is falling everyday, which means we need to do something about the economy but for me, I probably think that the issues are far more fundamental than that. It looks simple when you just make reference to the economy. The strength of naira is not what anybody will just stand up and begin to fix the exchange rate. It’s determined by the strength of the economy. It is determined by the strength of your productivity. It’s determined by the amount of the goods you have to export.
“The issue of the economy for instance is not as simple as blaming Central Bank not fixing the right exchange rate. It is determined by the productivity of the economy and the truth of the matter is right now. Nigeria is not very productive, so we need someone that has a very good understanding of the economy. I mean someone who can make Nigeria an economically viable and productive. What determines the value of naira is the amount of product you are able to push into the international market that people are buying from you.
“Right now Nigeria is taking everything in, China is dumping everything in Nigeria, definitely there is no miracle that anybody can perform concerning the strength of the currency unless we do something about the economy and to do something about the economy is making the people productive.
“For instance, if you compare United States of America with United Kingdom, in United Kingdom, the railway system works, it’s like you can stay in London without owing a vehicle but in U.S., they have the ability to do that but they are not doing it, and do you know the reason? They know that if they do that, then Ford Motor will fold up and all those producing the spare part will fold up, and they have a huge population that needs to be kept busy, more people will be engaged by those companies and more people will buy from them. And then, a simple vehicle has so many components and you have to get manufacturers to produce them, that is why even as a Nigerian when you go there, even without papers you are able to get one job or the other to do but in Nigeria, even the people that have graduated are jobless, everybody is following politicians all around the place that is why people like me are having a problem coping with them.
“Take Ondo State where I came from, for instance, you have able bodied guys just following you doing nothing. You can’t get that in U.S., and those boys are doing that because they don’t have a job to do. Let me be honest, I’m a politician, yes, but I get bothered about the quality of the people that we have at hand, do they really understand what these problems are? So, we need someone that can tackle economy problem by making the country more productive and consecutively solve the problem of unemployment.
“Unfortunately, people are just looking for anybody that will give them free money even as politicians now, people are talking about aspirants buying delegates. Look at what happened during PDP presidential primary election and the man who bought delegates with money wants to be president. You go and visit someone who wants to be president, the first thing that comes to your mind is he should bring money and give you. Such people will get to power but won’t make any progress so we need someone that is well detached from such practice, so those are the issues.”
Oluwajana went further to express his concern about the fall in the standard of education in the country and said it is of utmost importance to have a president with the will power to improve on the education system.
“Another thing is education, the standard of education is going down. We need someone that is well educated and when I’m talking about education, it’s not just university degree, right now we have a lot of people with certificates but university never passed through them.
“A well educated person who is a graduate, the size of your vehicle will not matter to him. The clothes you wear will not matter to him. That’s why you can see a whole Mark Zuckerberg putting on a simple T-shirt and jean trousers but when you are not well educated, you think your vehicle or wears determine how important you are and then you begin to buy expensive shoes. So we need proper education but the problem now is that the quality of education has really gone down in Nigeria.
“To start somewhere, we need someone that has the full understanding of all these. I know it can’t happen overnight but let’s start from somewhere. Amongst all these candidates, how many of them really qualified to be in that position, that’s why someone like me is not attached to anyone. I’ve made noise again and again, politically it should be South West and all of that but the truth of the matter is, I wish we can have somebody that cuts across the barrier, then let’s start building from somewhere,” Oluwajana added.
On his part, one of the ruling APC presidential primary delegates, Hon. Idowu Otetubi, said Nigeria needs a president who can solve power problem bedevilling the country.
“We need a president that has competence and capacity to get us out of this insecurity, develop the economy, take Nigeria out of consumer driven economy to a productive economy, solve power problem and then stabilize the naira against dollar, so if any president can do that, that will be my candidate,” Otetubi said.
Mrs Omolade Bosede from Akure North said the fear of God is one major things Nigerians need to look out for in anyone vying to be the president in 2023.
“We need a president with the fear of God. I believe someone with the fear of God will do the right thing and have the interest of the masses at heart.
“On insecurity, honestly, it’s only God that can help. During Jonathan’s regime, we were shouting of Boko Haram insurgency. When Buhari came on board, we thought that would be the end on insecurity, only for herdsmen, bandits to add to the security challenges facing the nation. So I’ve given up on any man as far as the security of the nation is concerned,” Mrs Omolade said.
For Mrs Oloruntoba Ramota from Akoko North West, “We need a president that is qualified enough to tackle corruption. The level of corruption in the country presently is worrisome, so we need someone who can tackle that. Also as a party faithful, APC needs someone that can withstand the candidate from the opposition party.”
According to a delegate from Atisbo Local Government in Oyo State, Hon Teslim Ajimobi, “Politics is difficult. It is not easy to predict, but nevertheless we need someone with experience, someone with grassroots sprit and someone who is young to lead this country.”
For the delegate from Enugu north local government, Enugu state, Hon Onyeka Ejifor, “We need a young man, someone who will not destabilise the country. Someone who will take the issues of security and youth seriously and most especially God-fearing.”
Another delegate who is from Abakaliki local government in Ebonyi state, Chief Romanus Nwasom said, “Personally, I think we need a person first who can unite this country and second is security-wise. When you have unity there will be security in the country. A country without unity can not move forward. This is the only way peace can happen to Nigeria.”
Delegate from Afikpo North local government in Ebonyi State, Mrs Sarah Inya Ndukwe said “We need a person that is God-fearing, someone who is ready to help Nigeria, the youths. Someone who can make the country better than it was.”
A delegate from Kiru local government in Kano state, Eng Bello Bargoui, said, “We need someone who will bring sanity to Nigeria. All these problem like kidnapping, robbery, and what have you need to be stopped in this country.”
Bargoui added that “Stable power supply is needed. When you have power, you are able to do alot of things, industries are able to work. Also we need someone who can improve on education in this country. Things like strike do not need to be occurring. I am okay with a candidate from any region that possesses the capacity to do all these.”
Chief Robert Eze also from Enugu disclosed that APC has many credible candidates but lack integrity.
He said, “It is not about running throughout the country but what you have for Nigerians. I am still thinking about Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Ogbonanya Onuh, and Ahmed Lawan.”
For Chief Mrs Oby Nwofor, the next president should be from the South East.
In Amodu Abuh’s words, Nigeria needs the right candidate that can lead the country to the promised land, while noting that politics is dynamic.
On the part of Patrick Iyeoma Amodu, “The ideal candidate is from God. The candidate should be from the southern part of Nigeria since the sitting president is from the Northern part of the country.”
Delegate from Arochukwu Local Government in Abia State, Hon. Agoeli Okoro, said Nigeria needs a unifying factor.
In his words: “We need to decide not with tribal sentiment. We need someone who can build bridges, someone with the capacity to rule this country.”
Nigerian NewsDirect reports that no fewer than 25 aspirants in the ruling APC are jostling to take over the number one seat of the country from President Buhari whose second term is expected to end on May 29th, 2023.
The list of the presidential aspirants include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former governor of Lagos State, Sen. Bola Tinubu; former Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi; former Minister of Niger Delta Development, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, and former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.
Some of the aspirants also include Former Imo Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha; former Ogun Governor, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun; Pastor Tunde Bakare; Cross River Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, and his Ebonyi counterpart, Governor Dave Umahi.
Also in the presidential race are Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Ekiti Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; former President of the Senate, Sen. Ken Nnamani; Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi and Jigawa Governor, Mohammed Abubakar.
Others are President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan; former Zamfara State Governor, Sen. Ahmed Yerima; the only APC female aspirant, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohnenye; Pastor Nicholas Nwagbo and a former Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Dimeji Bankole.
