Bamigboye: Between rational arguments and personal attacks

“Insults are the arguments by those who are in the wrong” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau; French Philosopher, 1712 – 1778)

NIGERIANS have followed the on-going political campaign for the 2015 General Elections characterised by lack of any significant discussions about issues affecting their welfare. It was obvious from the start that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not interested in issues but character assassinations, personal attacks and abuses. After 16 years in power, one expects PDP to lay out their achievements with fanfare and allow the Nigerian populace to award President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan another four years of sojourn in Aso Rock. With the level of support for Mr. President in 2010/2011, the 2015 elections should be a no-contest. He should be riding on the tide of his performance. He shouldn’t need the Tompolos, Asari Dokubos, Papa Clarks, etc to intimidate Nigerians. This writer was one of the millions of Nigerians who queued up behind the then frightened-looking Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as he struggled for power against the cabal after the death of President Musa Yar’ Adua. His childhood shoeless story resonated well with most Nigerians who were hoodwinked by his gentle demeanour. Little did we know that about six years down the line, there will be more shoeless kids, more orphans, more hungry and more deprived Nigerians than ever.

  In the on-going electoral campaign, some notable Nigerians have tried to raise the level of political debates from pedestrian to something more challenging in an attempt to rouse the rather docile electorate. In a sane clime, people would applaud such intervention coming from Nigerians who were involved in managing Nigerian economy or in the know about Nigerian governance for a considerable period of time. In trying to raise the stakes, such knowledgeable people have accused the two main parties – the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) – of conducting a campaign that sidesteps issues while going for the mundane. Of course, the PDP  being the party in power since our current democratic dispensation have borne the brunt of harsh questioning about their handling of the Nigerian economy and other issues such as security, employment, manpower development, electricity generation and distribution. However, APC needs to tell us why we should see them as a government-in-waiting. When asked, the APC took on the challenge and laid out well-marshalled arguments through one of its prominent leaders, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi. You could pick holes in Dr. Fayemi’s reply but at least he didn’t savage the character of the interrogator. Fayemi seemed courteous and robust in his reply.   This was in contrast with PDP, which ended up demonising such individuals. The worst of the diatribes came from Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; a highly-respected African Princess who resorted to offensive language by attacking the person and patriotism of other well-meaning Nigerians who dared to question her handling of our Commonwealth. 

    The American Meteorologist and Blog Editor, Anthony Watts said, “when you resort to name calling, then you have lost the argument.” From the very beginning of the election campaign, PDP has retreated behind name calling, character assassination and abuses. There is no hold bar when the Presidential attack dogs are on the prowl. Nobody is spared even when their criticism of President Jonathan is objective and justified. Vitriolic abuses had been reined on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the one who made Jonathan what he is today. Then it was the turn of former Governor of Central Bank; now Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi.  Without any iota of shame, both Obasanjo and Sanusi had been visited by Jonathan and his campaign troops in solicitation of electoral support ahead of the February polls.

   The person of the APC Presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari has been suffering the worst of attacks. The fact that Buhari fought in the civil war and he is a former Head of State mean nothing to these people. The issues of security, economy, joblessness, lack of electricity, poor manpower development, corruption, the suffering of Nigerians under the mismanagement of PDP-controlled Federal Government etc, are non-issues as far as PDP is concerned. We are being daily treated to Buhari’s lost Cambridge West African School Ordinary Level certificate as if it is the worst of crises afflicting Nigerians. About 300 young girls abducted from their Chibok hostels are still in captivity, subjected to all sorts of unthinkable treatments by their  Boko Haram captors. Buhari’s age of 72 has become their potent issue, even when Tunisia has just elected and sworn into office on the 31st of December 2014, an 88-year old veteran Beji Caid Sebsi as her President! Mr. Robert Mugabe is still there presiding over the affairs of Zimbabwe at his young age of 90. The clownish PDP Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, in a newspaper advertorial, even went as far as suggesting that Buhari will die in office if elected. How ridiculous can we carry things? Ruben Abati and Doyin Okupe can claim to be doing their jobs, however, dirty. For Fayose and Fani-Kayode, self-preservation is the name of the game; they both have cases to answer, courtesy of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). A man who risks going to jail if Buhari were to be elected would cling to the only hope of staying out of jail, which is the re-election of Jonathan as President. For Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, motivation is about keeping her plum job.

     One of the fundamental attributes of democracy is freedom of speech. Every Nigerian must enjoy the right to hold opinion, voice and judge those who have been elected to govern us without being savaged by presidential attack dogs employed and paid with tax payers’ money. The French Author Voltaire once said “I do not agree with what you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. Equally a former Nigerian Minister and former World Bank Vice President, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili said “No democracy that stands in enviable heights ever rose on the back of acquiescing, lethargic and kowtowing citizens. Every voice counts. It must never worry us that some swear by us, and others cannot stand the thought of us. That’s the way it will always be, and it is healthy. The spirit of true democracy resides in the willingness of leaders to debate and not war.” If the Nigerian democracy is to grow and prosper, the voice of dissent must not be stifled; if anything it must be encouraged. One hopes the President and his handlers are listening.

 • Dr. Vincent Bamigboye, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, lives in the United Kingdom.