The highly anticipated general election is here with 49 days remaining, public affairs analyst speaking on TVC’s Politics Tonight described the atmosphere as typical of the transition period
He said over the last three months since the lifting of the ban on the evectional electoral activities, there have been a lot of excitement around town, and a lot of connectors that usually characterises the election period.
He said this is a good time to be a Nigerian as this is truly a manifestation of what democracy is all about.
Speaking on INEC’s preparation for the elections, he said there is a feel of confidence more than in 1999 across the political divide as the country is going into this election with optimism that vote will count and optimism that vote will be credible.
Talking about key factors that have shaped the campaigns so far, he said it is rather disappointing because he would have expected the the factors that would determine the campaign be issue based because that is what Nigerians want to hear.
“I have seen less of that and I have seen more breakfast and I think we should elevate beyond that so that at every point in time, the average Nigerian would understand the issues.
Sharing his opinion on former Nigeria’s president Olusegun’s endorsement of Labour Party’s Presidential candidate Peter Obi, Mr Akinsoji said as a Nigerian he believes the former President is within his right to profess to declare his preference as an ordinary Nigerian, however, he is not an ordinary Nigeria as he has been a two-time head of state of the country to the extent that he has a place of managing the country.
He added that the former president also has a class of former head of states in this Nigeria that has also taken a neutral objective position by sitting back and enjoying the courtesies of engagement by all political parties as it were.
Mr Akinsoji said the former President is supposed to be seen as an elder stateman and as an elder Statesman, he is supposed to be seen as neutral who is supposed to embrace all dimensions and branches of the political class.
“What I see is that there is a deficiency in that he now tried to position himself as a major achiever and, consequently, an icon more or less in the Nigerian political firmament to determine the kind characterisation of leadership that he assumed he fulfills in terms of the polity and the extent of capability a leader and a presidential candidate should have,” he said.
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