Leonard Umunna is the founder of the Bible Life Church and a regular commentator on public affairs. He spoke to BusinessDay on the need for Nigerians to ‘shine their eyes’ as they go to the poll on February 25, 2023. He said that Nigerians have suffered so much to make another mistake this time around. Excerpts:
We are supposed to be in celebration period but Nigerians are lamenting. What is your reading of the times?
I like the word you used which is the clear thing we are seeing – lamenting instead of celebrating. God wants the people to learn their lesson. Look at what is happening. Everybody knows. Like I said the other time that Nigeria cannot stand another eight years of this kind of thing. From what is going on now; the thing may even go beyond another eight years. We have four political parties that are prominent out of the many, and three are being seen as fairly manageable, they are not fully tested horses at the national level; but there is every likelihood that their pronouncements and those around them, they want to bring in a new spirit. We saw what happened in an African country recently where where youth took over leadership and the old people failed to clinch the power. This could happen in Nigeria. It is clear now that our problem is leadership. Now, instead of the people to speak with one voice and say ‘this is what we have been crying for’, they are allowing themselves to be distracted. The advice I can give to Nigerians now is that – the handshake is getting to the elbow. It is now a fight. Two, they have to shine their eyes.
The Central Bank and others there are doing their best to see that there will be no money politics. Somebody at the top has seen that he has made mistakes for years and he is looking for how he can have a good name to close the chapter. Nothing more. Nigeria is gone. In the morning of 22nd December 2022, transport fare to the East was N30,000. Few days ago, it was less than N15,000. What’s the problem? Fuel; petrol isn’t it? Now, let’s talk about food; nobody is talking about that again; everything has gone bad. People no longer afford the basic things of life. It is now that those people who want to rule should have come to say ‘No let’s change this order.’ This is an opportunity, instead of them to utilise this opportunity, no; they are rather kicking against those who are saying that we must change the ugly situation; we must improve now; we must do something now. This is what to do to change the situation they say ,no,no ,no! It is painful. My conclusion on this is that Nigerians should watch it; let our Esthers go into fasting; our Mordecais are at the gate. They have done their lot. If there is anything about Aba Women Riot; it should be now. If there should be anything like #EndSARS, it must be now with our voters cards. All hands must be on deck. The way I see those who want to take over; they are not interested in the Eldorado they are talking about. If people are telling you that power must be taken by force; if they are saying that even if they win, Nigerians should not expect a change immediately; What does that tell you? They want the old order of suffering and punishment to continue, while they are busy recouping their campaign expenses. But what happens to those who promise they will hit the ground running as soon as they get to power? That’s why I said Nigerians must shine their eyes.
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The February 23 Presidential election holds a lot of hope for Nigeria, what is your message to the elecrorate; candidates, INEC and the security agencies?
I have no stronger word for the electorate than to say ‘You must never, never, never never, never’ allow them to win you this time around. Because, this is your last chance. Now that INEC has been able to remove their instruments of rigging to make sure you have a good election- their machine that can transmit the results- (they are insisting they must use it). Two the places they are burning; INEC is making sure they conduct election in those places; it should have been INEC that the powers that be should have held down; they changed the date and instrument that could have transmitted the thing; they could not use it; even when there was a court action; you can’t admit it for evidence; but now you can admit it; the chances of rigging are very, very little now. The only thing they can do is to make the electorate to be discouraged; not to come out to vote or resort to violence against them. That is to intimidate them so that they will not vote or to cause bandits to invade voting units and start causing unnecessary mayhem to scare people away from voting. They could do everything to disenfranchise the electorate. That’s why I advise that they must not allow themselves to be disenfranchised now that INEC is determined to make the people’s votes count by conducting it well. The tactic they are adopting now is to go after those they believe are strong opposition in other parties or they attack supporters of other candidates to intimidate them. But from what I can read from the way politicking is going this time around, it seems that the masses are determined to do a different thing at the election. It would also seem to me that God is at work having seen that Nigerians have suffered so much. I am also happy that many technocrats are now “sabotaging” the efforts of some of these politicians who want to win by all means. These technocrats seem to seek a new order for Nigeria. Look at the way people are being encouraged to go collect their PVCs. For those contesting, they should tone down on the kind of words they are using. Some of their words are inciting and are not in line with the urgent need for the country at the moment. Nigerians need someone that can bring a radical change as soon as he gets into power; not someone that will waste time trying to figure out what to do. What are they telling us in their manifestos and how are they going to implement what they are promising.Those are the nagging questions .
