{"id":21373,"date":"2019-01-22T21:12:43","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T21:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=21373"},"modified":"2019-01-22T21:12:43","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T21:12:43","slug":"2019-and-presidential-debates-what-do-nigerians-really-want-by-nath-omame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=21373","title":{"rendered":"2019 and Presidential Debates:  What do Nigerians Really Want? by Nath Omame"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p>There have been so much hoopla and furore over the absence of President Mohammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples&#8217; Democratic Party (PDP) at the live-television presidential debate, so- called. Both politicians are, CLEARLY, the two leading candidates for the February 16, 2019, presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking introspectively, I scarcely respond to political posts; or, even engage in open-faced political discourse; to avoid the Spontaneous Eruption of passion; emotional alignments and the aggressive fallouts that are concomitant to such otherwise harmless public discourse.<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=17745&amp;ad_type=81&amp;rl=180\" width=\"336\" height=\"280\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<p>I have been directly involved in the media coverage of Nigerian electioneering campaigns and general elections since 1982. Strangely, the Internal Dynamics that DECIDE the winners are not the Hired Crowd; the Existential Record of Successes or Failures while in Office; or even the Ability, Capacity and Capability to offer Effective Leadership. No! Oratorical skills? No! An appreciable understanding of the nation&#8217;s multifarious problems and ways to solve them? No!<\/p>\n<p>The internal dynamics that determine who mounts the saddle of leadership in Nigeria are VERY, VERY COMPLEX, indeed. Undoubtedly, I have not discountenance the rabble-rousing role of the modern-day Social Media. But even at that, the Internal Dynamics that DETERMINE the CIRCUITOUS and TORTUROUS course of Nigerian politics is Top-Heavy and Subterranean, to say the least! Does it bother me: Yes, indeed!<\/p>\n<p>Now, let me say this: the presidential debate, so-called, will play no role on who emerges as president in 2019. Hold the debate 11 more times, it&#8217;s outcome will be thoroughly irrelevant to the outcome of the February 16, presidential election. And many Nigerians know this. So, why pretend? Even those who put the DEBATE together know this. Frankly Speaking, Yes, they do!<\/p>\n<p>Speaking introspectively, to MOVE FORWARD Nigerians must be TRUE to their CONSCIENCE. Seeking for elective positions in Nigeria requires a lot of money. Sadly, those who genuinely appreciate that Leadership entails Service and Sacrifice cannot venture into the Slippy Terrain and Bramble-Bush of Nigerian Politics. Sadly, This is where we have found ourselves. And that is Why our Electoral Choices are getting increasingly Limited. Straight-forward analogy! All the haughty verbal remonstrations about presidential debates will remain sheer exercise in grammatical pyrotechnics for some decades to come. After which, things may begin to take shape. Hopefully!<\/p>\n<p>Even the Generational Crusade, so-called, will amount to nothing. Young upwardly mobile Nigerian business men and women were also deviously entangled in the petroleum importation subsidy scam. Young Nigerians in government are also involved in financial impropriety. USD16 billion was released to get NEPA working. It FAILED. Millions of Dollars were released to SET UP an indigenous air line. It FAILED. Yahoo Plus Boys are on Frenetic Rampage to fork out monies, criminally, in what ever currency from their unfortunate victims. Even those who came from the academia to serve in government or politics have also been known to have salted away monies from the nation&#8217;s coffers. The catchphrase among Nigerian youths is: CHOPPINGS! Meaning Government Largesse in whatever guise!<br \/>\nSo, what is the difference? Why are we being so UNTRUTHFUL to OURSELVES?<br \/>\nPresidential Debates, Indeed!<br \/>\nNigeria We Hail Thee!<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There have been so much hoopla and furore over the absence of President Mohammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples&#8217; Democratic Party (PDP) at the live-television presidential debate, so- called. Both politicians are, CLEARLY, the two leading candidates for the February 16, 2019, presidential [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/debate.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-5yJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21375,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21373\/revisions\/21375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}