As political fireworks for the 2023 general elections begin, Nigerians shouldn’t be blinded by strong ‘personality cults’ as they elect the next president.
Hon. Shina Peller, an APC member of the House of Representatives, said Nigerians should rather pick their next president on the basis of strong institution rather than personality.
Peller called on Nigerians to put in place a strong institution now, from which the country’s leader would be picked rather than relying on personalities.
While reacting to Asiwau Tinubu’s aspiration during an Instagram interview, Peller said, “We need to build an institution now, we do not need to take any single person and be saying we want to now rally round that person. Let us form an institution, let us identify the criteria and let us see who meets up with the criteria.
“There is no institution that has set up the criteria yet. If the criteria says the next president should be Christian, is Asiwaju a Christian?
He noted that relying on personalities to save Nigeria was a mistake, adding that the next president should be elected through institutions capable of ensuring the competency of the individuals.
“We have made the mistake two times. There was a time in Nigeria when President Obasanjo was brought from prison and everybody was saying he is the best person that could do this and we started to run around him. The same thing happened to President Buhari. Everybody was saying Muhammadu Buhari is a saint, he is not corrupt and then everyone starts to run around him, I believe this must stop,” Peller said.
Two major political personalities seem to be on the lips of Nigerians – Bola Tinubu, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and ex- Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
Atiku started vying for the presidency right from the days of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in which, the late MKO Abiola defeated him to emerge as the presidential candidate and eventual winner in 1992, but the election was annulled. He was to emerge the vice president to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Also, Tinubu, known for his human capacity development and political sagacity is believed to be the best candidate to succeed Buhari in 2023. Tinubu’s political tutelage has produced people like former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola who is the current Minister of Works and Housing; Tunde Fowler, former boss of the Federal Inland Revenue Services, FIRS, and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, among others. In some quarters, it’s believed that Buhari won’t have emerged as president if not for the influence of “Asiwaju.”
