Essential Ndubuisi
Renowned Professor of Political Economy and Management expert, Pat Utomi, has expressed concerns over the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, stating that the nation may never be the same again after the polls. In an interview with Arise News on Sunday, Utomi spoke about his support for protests by Nigerians who are demanding their stolen mandate. He noted with regret that the same people who marched with him against the annulment of the June 12 election in 1993 are today championing ethnicity.
Utomi also discussed the challenge of legitimacy for those who govern Nigeria, which he attributed to the nation’s underperformance. He stated that Nigeria performs badly despite the talents available in the country and its position in the aristocracy of talent age. He went on to say that the poverty capital of the world is one of the reasons Nigeria performs poorly.
According to Utomi, legitimacy is conferred on those who emerge from the electoral process, and it is earned every day by the government when they are in office. He stressed the importance of ensuring that there is no doubt about the legitimacy of the electoral process in a democracy. However, this has not been the case in Nigerian history, as the idea of elections has almost become a laughing matter, taking legitimacy away from the process.
Utomi suggested that the best way to ensure that Nigerians begin to take the outcome of elections seriously is by finding a system that is transparent. He proposed that Nigerians should stop trying to organize elections, and instead, ask some foreign body, such as the UN, to organize them. He believes that once the process is transparent, nobody will quarrel about who emerges from that process.
Utomi expressed concerns over the division of opinions on the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. He noted that INEC has declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the elections, and he is now the President-elect. Despite the presidential election tribunal’s sitting, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has declared that nothing will stop the inauguration on May 29. Utomi warned that if the government goes ahead with the inauguration, it will have a crisis of legitimacy. He also noted that a civilian coup d’état could occur in Nigeria.
