By Ishaya Ibrahim
There are five vice presidential candidates up for the debate this evening by 7 pm.
Two of them, Professor Yemi Osinbajo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Peter Obi, flying the flag of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are the stars to watch.
The other vice presidential candidates for the debate are;Umma Getso of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Ganiyu Galadima of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), and Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN).
Could these new generation of politicians pull an upset in this contest of ideas since many Nigerians will be seeing and hearing from them for the first time?
Their principals, Kingsley Moghalu (YPP), Oby Ezekwesili (ACPN) and Fela Durotoye (ANN) are known orators with deep knowledge of Nigeria’s problems.
Mrs. Getso is a 37 year old who hails from Kano State. According to a statement from her principal, Moghalu, she is a political activist and business entrepreneur who previously co-founded the National Progressive Movement (NPM).
Ganiyu, who is the running mate to Ezekwesili, is the national chairman of the ACPN. He hails from Kwara State.
He contested the 2015 presidential election, where he garnered 40,311 votes to clinch the fourth position.
His principal, Ezekwesili, said her preference for the man is because he has the grassroots touch. “ I have a rugged grassroot fighter as the person who will supplement the things that I know. He will teach me how to be a consummate politician,” she said.
The ANN vice presidential candidate, Mrs Abdullahi-Iya is described as a law graduate who also has a Masters degree in Law and Diplomacy.
According to her principal, Durotoye, he said she founded a variety of social enterprises and businesses and also sits on the board of a few SMEs. She also possesses over 10 years experience in humanitarian and community outreach programmes.
These three will have to show that they are not just tagging along in the contest for Nigeria’s presidency, especially as they are squaring up with the cerebral and accomplished candidates of the APC, Osinbajo and PDP, Obi.
Osinbajo is a professor of Law, who has proved his mettle in the courts and classroom. As former attorney general of Lagos State, he is credited with the legal reforms in Lagos that produced the Office of Public Defender.
At the formation of APC in 2013, he superintended the design of the party’s manifesto, which culminated in the book, “Roadmap to a New Nigeria.”
As Nigeria’s Vice President, Osinbajo could not do much. But any time the President was away on medical leave and he has to serve as acting president, he brings effectiveness to the running of government.
In one of such instances, he drafted and signed an executive order on ease of doing business, he toured the Niger Delta and assured them that licenses will be given to them to operate modular refineries, he removed Lawan Daura as Director General of the Department of State Security when he misbehaved, and many other actions he took.
It would have been easy for Osinbajo to have the day, but Peter Obi is not an easy opponent, especially when Osinbajo’s turf is Law and Obi’s is the economy, which is Nigeria’s bane.
Obi has acquired several economic and business knowledge from most of the top rated business schools in the world.
As governor of Anambra State, he left a robust savings for the state which served to immune it from the economic recession that crippled Nigeria’s economy between 2016 and 2017.
His education reform in Anambra yielded a major victory for Nigeria when seven secondary school students from the state won the first prize for a technology contest in the United States recently.
For Obi and Osinbajo, there is no doubt that they are well prepared for each other. Except for the last four hours when Osinbajo tweeted his remark at the Inter Africa Trade Fair, he has stayed away from Tweeter since December 11. Obi was last seen tweeting on December 2.
A clash between Osinbajo and Obi on the economy is an El Classico.
