In 2012, during the US presidential elections, some Nigerians, along with millions of people around the world, followed the debates and discussions closely. We watched as both candidates and most Americans had intellectual conversations around ISSUES; The economy, long-term federal budget spending, unemployment and job creation strategies, Health Care reforms, foreign policy, amongst others. We even joined in although there was a slim chance of us ever benefitting from the outcomes of the elections. A few people laughed at our “misguided interests”. What’s your business with America? Are you usually this excited about YOUR elections? Do you think you’ll gain anything from the US? They jeered.

The truth is that American policies and leadership tend to affect most parts of the world – it’s just what it is. However, our involvement, albeit distant, wasn’t motivated by thoughts of potential gains. No. For countries like ours, it was because we longed for such conversations in our own elections and indeed general governance. We wished analysis and discussion of REAL ISSUES would be the key determining factors of the people’s choices of leadership, and not propaganda, lies, ethnic/religious sentiments or clearly outlandish promises. Yes, the US presidential elections (or that of most advanced democracies for that matter) are not devoid of propaganda (Birth certificates, negative ads etc) but they are largely DOMINATED by real issues. We saw how Important the presidential debates were. How the opinion polls tilted a bit in Romney’s favour after Obama’s abysmal performance in the first debate. President Obama could have lost the elections if he had done that poorly in the remaining two. No, let that sink in again. The President could have lost the election because of the debates.

Fast forward 3 years and we have our very own elections in Nigeria. The incumbent, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) is up against the main opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB). It has become evident why some of us were excited 3 years ago. Rather than the issues we should be talking about, the pre-election “conversations” have been dominated by propaganda. To be fair, it would be asking too much to expect the same depth of discussions; advancement in democracy and literacy level make both countries poles apart. Regardless, what has occurred so far has left a lot to be desired, to put it subtly.

The incumbent government has had a few decent achievements but has largely failed at ensuring that they are out there at the frontline of the conversations. Instead, they have spent millions of naira on death wish adverts, “school and health certificate sagas”, (age, ethnic and religious propaganda) and a host of other unbelievable tactics to simply discredit GMB. The opposition (and their supporters), while making an effort to not be distracted, has inevitably had to spend considerable time and resources defending these allegations. Perhaps, not to be outdone, they have also come up with their propaganda backed by the usual suspects. With the scale and magnitude of brazen, shameless lies in the very public, national space, it won’t come as a surprise if, in the rural areas, the candidates are been described as one-eyed, atheist unicorns! The opposition accuses the incumbent of underperformance (naturally) but hasn’t stated CLEARLY how it intends to perform better in terms of – eradicating corruption, the Boko Haram insurgency, the economy etc.

Clearly, the reason these politicians keep at the deceit, propaganda and lies over and over is because it works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they must think. That is the most depressing part – that a considerable proportion of the populace just swallows these things, hook, line and sinker or are too blinded by shallow sentiments to see through them objectively. I would argue that our low literacy level is the culprit, but when otherwise smart and rational people believe that one man is going to “islamise” the South and simultaneously “Christianise” the North, in an extraordinary agenda of religion swap, it makes you scratch your head quite a bit.

Thankfully, a few good men and women have tried to force the conversation back to one of issues – the record of the incumbent and the strategy and vision of the opposition. But they are often promptly silenced and accused of having ulterior motives or attempting to “distract us from the real ISSUES: #ShowYourCertificate or #WhereisYourThesis. More frequently though, they are accused of partisanship, regardless of whether or not their criticisms and suggestions have been directed towards both parties. Yes, in Nigeria everyone is assumed to be partisan. Especially if you criticise the government – then regardless of what part of the world you come from, you surely are affiliated to the opposition someway.

So here is the thing – this one is gone. The elections come up in a short while. We have wasted this opportunity and the damage can’t be undone. We have not asked GMB how EXACTLY he intends to eradicate Boko Haram. We have not made that trend on social media. There is nothing to hold him to if he becomes president. We have not sought from GEJ what SPECIFICALLY he intends to do differently in the fight against corruption? So if he gets a second term, he can pardon whoever he wants. But, we can take note of this lost opportunity and decide to do differently next time. Debates perhaps should be made compulsory in some way (maybe a constitutional requirement or something, but we simply need to hear both candidates side by side, talk about their vision to help us make our choice) and we absolutely need to have a body (or bodies) that will organise them without being accused of bias. This should be basic! Debates are also not pre-prepared speeches and so it’s a chance to know who really is fully in synch with their strategy. Secondly, we are in dire need of FACT-CHECKERS. The Nigerian media need to step up in this regard. We let too many lies slide by, repeated over and over again until they “become” the truth. Very importantly, we simply have to learn to discern and ignore propaganda. Perhaps that way they won’t trend so much and overshadow the real issues. President Obama ignored the “Birth certificate” folks for a pretty long time and eventually yielded, presenting his detailed birth certificate, noting that “We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do. We’ve got big problems to solve. . . We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers”.

In Nigeria, we have way too many sideshows and carnival barkers, enough to make up thousands of circuses. It simply has to stop! We need to focus on what matters!

Source: http://www.orinocopulse.com/nigerian-elections-here-we-go-again/

Hmmmm. Good read.

When do we focus on the real issues?