Count down to 2023 Poll: Nigerian Presidential election and the impact of the Chatham House Visit

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Count down to 2023 Poll :Nigerian Presidential election and the impact of the Chatham House Visit
Count down to 2023 Poll :Nigerian Presidential election and the impact of the Chatham House Visit

Abba Hamisu Sani

Africa-Press – Nigeria. It is a new norm for Presidential Candidates in Nigeria to visit Chatham House in London United Kingdom and present a Speech.

As different Candidates especially from the four major Political Parties visited the prestigious institute.

The recent Visitors are Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party and Peter Obi of Labour Party beside the the ruling APC candidate Bola Tinubu who was also there.

Is there any thing to benefit Nigerians from the visit?

Chatham House as Popularly known is the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and also independent policy institute based in London England.

Some Nigerians consider it as waste of resources, time and energy to go to Chatham House and deliver unrealistic presentations as it will not make any impact to the Nigerians.

Dr. Reuben Abati who is the former spoke Person to President Goodluck Jonathan and renown Political analyst described the train as part of Nigerians mentality of patronising anything foreign.

He stated this in an articled recently published by an online medium Premium Times titled ” The Chatham House effect.”

The analyst said what is shocking now is how our politicians have turned an opportunity to speak at Chatham House into a badge of honour. One state governor had to make so much noise about making a speech at Chatham House, you would think he had been knighted at the time by the Queen! When a sitting government gets wind of information that an opposition member is about to speak at Chatham, it is standard practice to send “our own people there” to “state our own side of the story There seems to be a scramble, a rush, by Nigerian politicians and political candidates, for appearance or association with Chatham House in London, the policy think tank established by the British Institute of International Affairs, which for more than a century has served as a forum for the exchange of ideas and open expression, research and knowledge.

Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute for International Affairs, has hosted a broad spectrum of speakers and world leaders, from different continents of the world.

As far back as April 1931, Mahatma Ghandi, the Indian nationalist, was at Chatham House, which by the way is also famous for the Chatham House Rule, established in the English vocabulary as a principle of non-attribution in reporting a particular proceeding or engagement. Many Nigerians have, of course, appeared at Chatham House, but it is noteworthy that when Nigerian politicians do so, there is forever a tinge of self advertisement and narcissism in their presentations, and this being the case, their opponents are quick to turn such forum into an occasion for combat and pugilism.

” This time around, as Nigeria begins the countdown to the 2023 elections, Chatham House has become part of the general conversation. On 5th December, 2022, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was at Chatham House; an outing that was attended by rather exciting drama as a result of his resort to what he called team ship in responding to questions and comments raised by his audience.

The drama overshadowed the subject of his presentation: “Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: Security, Economic and Foreign Policy Imperatives”. He was heavily criticised by commentators at home and abroad”.

Also on 16th January it was the turn of Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, who addressed the subject: “Nigeria’s 2023 Election: A Vision for Policy Change and Institutional Reforms.”

On the same vein on January 18 Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, spoke with a particular focus on his policy ideas for Nigeria.

However the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has not yet shown up at Chatham House this time, although he had been there before on two different occasions – 2007 and 2018. Alex Vines, director of the Africa Programme at the Institute, has however confirmed that Atiku has been invited but he is yet to respond to the invitation.

He probably would do so before the elections too, so he and his aides are not left out of the Chatham House jamboree. When Waziri Atiku Abubakar went to the UK recently, however, it was gleefully reported that he met with some UK officials. No one should be surprised if some other key players in the 2023 electoral process also find their ways to Chatham House, or ask to be invited if only to fulfil the ritual of shaking the hands of one English member of Parliament and to parade this as an achievement!

” Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised one of these days, with the way things are going, if a Nigerian politician shows up at Chatham House with his entourage all garbed up in the kind of party attire that Nigerians call “aso ebi!” Dr. Abati said.

The commentator added that Nigeria have a similar body called the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), which is Nigeria’s top think tank on public affairs, established in 1961, and since then has proven to be a major centre for research and analysis.

There is one more point: the idea of Chatham House as a tourist centre by our political leaders and their aides is most unfortunate. For more than 100 years, it has been seen as a centre for rigorous thinking, and yet Nigerian leaders go there to say mundane things and their aides make a song and dance out of that. Let us stop disgracing ourselves and keep our mundane chatter among ourselves. Nobody gets a certificate or extra votes for going to Chatham House.

It is ironic that the same politicians that do not want to attend debates at home are ever ready to be seen in foreign capitals. They can only have that global recognition that they seek when after winning the election, they then put up such performance that would recommend them for global acclaim.

Dr. Hakim Baba Ahmad is the spoke person of the Northern Nigeria Elders Forum .

He said is a waste of huge resources to go to Chatham house by Presidential Candidates. Instead of concentrating of how to solve Nigerian problems of unemployment, insecurity and Power generation they went out of the country making unnecessary speeches that will not help in any way. Ahmad state this in an interview with channels TV recently.

” There is no business of going out the country to impress us impress us here” Dr. Hakim said.

The Northern elders Forum spoke Man added that the politicians should also take their time to make plan on how to tackle the issue of over fifty million out of school children to save the future of Nigeria.

Baba Ahmad also stated that British and other foreign countries that Nigerian Politicians want to impress have less interest in Nigeria’s election.

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