CSOs caution against electing Buhari’s sucessor on basis of integrity

The Coalition of Civil Society on Good Governance (CCGG), yesterday, cautioned Nigerians against voting for whoever will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari purely on the basis of personal integrity.

Convener of CCGG, Okpanachi Jacob, at a press conference in Abuja, urged Nigerians to go for a competent candidate, irrespective of political and religious leanings, to take the country out of the woods.

In a veiled reference to President Buhari, whom it said was voted into office on the basis of his integrity, the coalition lamented the multifaceted challenges plaguing the polity under his watch.

“Nigeria has been drawn back by bad leadership and economic quagmire which emanate from lack of capacity and knowledge of political and economic affairs.

“Insecurity has marred our progress, economic recession has become a recurring song, corruption has returned to centre stage of our living and our once flourishing tourist sites have become moribund monuments and shadows of their original forms,” the group lamented.

CCGG announced plan to launch a special programme on how to ensure emergence of a competent president in 2023 election. Jacob explained:

“What we intend to unveil soon is an agenda aimed at ensuring that the next president of Nigeria is someone that has knowledge of the economy and can ‘integrate our social strata from the citizens down to leadership.’ The next president must be somebody that understands communication.

“Our leaders should be able to get information from the citizens and get feedbacks that make the information workable. It is not for the citizens to clamour for a particular thing and the government will be doing a completely different thing.

“We are not going to have that kind of president in the next dispensation. We are looking out for a president with whom citizens can hold town hall meeting and the outcome will form part of government policies.”

CCGG, which claimed to be apolitical, said: “We are not interested in party A or B. We are going to reach out across party lines, regions and organisations, including faith- based and youth-based groups.

“We are not fronting for any individual, we are going to shop for people that have the qualities we are going to reel out in due course and it will be left for Nigerians to judge. We must deviate from the old order of doing things.”