Vote Your Conscience In 2019, Tinubu Tells Nigerians | The Precision

National leader of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has urged Nigerians to resist all appeals to ”unthinking
passions and old prejudices” and instead follow their conscience in
picking their next crop of leaders in 2019.

At the annual Daily Trust Dialogue in Abuja today, he implored
Nigerians not to allow politics as usual to decide the 2019 election
season. His speech was read by a former commissioner for finance in
Lagos State, Olawale Edun.

“We must insist on the principle that elections do not return to
being games played by a well-heeled elite while the rest of the nation
is left to struggle and starve,” he said while addressing the
topic, ‘Nigeria and the Challenges of 2019, this is Not a Game’.

“The people must resist all appeals to unthinking passions and old
prejudices. We must adhere to what our conscience reveals as the best
path to good governance for all.”

Tinubu said while democratic politics inherently bears aspects of
competition and contest, it must never be reduced to a mere game.
According to him, the objective of a game is served by the mere playing
of it.

“Playing the game is an end in and of itself. However, this cannot be the case with politics and elections,” he said.

“Winning the political contest can never be an end in itself. The
proper outcome of electoral victory is not for the victor to revel at
his good fortune or his skill in electioneering.

“The inevitable sequel to an election is for the winner to assume the
sobering burden of governance. 

Elections are not the climax of an epic
book. They are merely the close of the book’s opening chapter.

“What comes afterwards – governance – is much more vital than politics, for governance determines how we shall live.”

He lamented that although the country is approaching 60 years of
nationhood, it has remained a complex yet incomplete work of art and a
project as much on the drawing board.

“They see the nation not as object of loyalty but as the most
available platform to realize their personal aims. In their minds,
Nigeria is lesser than their ever expanding ambitions; because they view
Nigeria as a game, their politics is but a game within a game.

“Rather than becoming a joyous nation, Nigeria has become a cruel
playground where the fears and concerns of the average person get
exploited but their interests never get promoted.”

He said it would require many years of outstanding governance to heal
the ills that have bedevilled Nigeria as a nation. He also urged the
Federal Government to solve the problem of fuel subsidy, which he said,
has caused more pains than solutions.

“As a progressive, I believe we must transform the nation by
embarking on deep and impactful reforms, by creating more jobs,
providing social policy initiatives and building an infrastructure
befitting a leading nation. Social services must become a reality close
at hand and not a vague dream lying in the distance.

“For example, we must reform the current fuel subsidy regime. At this
stage it causes more problems than it cures. Bottlenecks of long fuel
queues, erratic supply, resultant economic dislocations for consumers
from lack of fuel and the corrupt practices of trade insiders undermine
the good intentions upon which the subsidy is based.

“Currently, the subsidy does not benefit the average person. It
sweetly profits the elites who manipulate the programme to their own
advantage. We need to allow market forces to more directly determine
price. We need to open the now closed market to more suppliers. In this
way, we may better harmonise supply and demand, where they do the most
sustainable economic good.”

Tinubu’s speech also touched on the herdsmen-farmers crisis in the country.

In his view, the crisis has an economic origin and declared nomadic way of life as obsolete.

“The crux of the matter is that the nomadic way of life is fast
becoming obsolete. Large scale nomadic practice does not belong in this
day and age. This is reality and it is inescapable.

“Thus, herders have no right to cling to this way of life by killing
others. Government must stop their violence but also offer them a viable
new way of life by moving them toward more modern, non-nomadic cattle
rearing.

“As we commend these security measures, we must not lose sight of the
fact that the problem bears an economic origin. Thus, agro-economic
policy initiatives must help shape the lasting solution.

While he commended the deployment of law enforcement agents and the
military into the troubled areas as a way of stemming further loss of
lives, he also urged government to establish a “relief and
rehabilitation programme for those families and communities that have
been so grievously harmed”.

“In short, to resolve this lethal problem, government must implement a
multi-dimensional policy that encompasses security, agro-economic,
educational and emergency relief elements. This is the art and mastery
of governance that our nation and its complex problems require”, he
said. (NAN)