The byline of the Tinubu Manifesto shows that Tinubu did not author it. It is an 80- page document. It is probable that Tinubu has not even read it. Does Tinubu look like someone that can find the time and energy to read and study an 80-page document?
I therefore cannot understand why reasonable people should place confidence on a manifesto that third parties wrote for a candidate. We don’t see such things in mature democracies. A political party should have its manifesto written at the time of formation. It enunciates its ideology. I have already made the point that the Constitution states that political parties must adopt Chapter Two of the Constitution as their manifesto. When it is election time, we want to know the position of the candidates on the major issues of the day.
The issues of today are security, national unity – integrating all ethnic, religious and political interests and sections and reducing agitation and militancy, the economy – dealing with the debt burden, employment, increasing household income and purchasing power, reinvigorating trade and increasing local production, stabilizing the Naira and eliminating inefficiencies in economic management, including fuel subsidy, then human capital development through education and health and increasing investment in economic infrastructure.
These issues are not just a matter of well written plans but rather, as in developed democracies, of the candidates talking about them and defending their positions on them against critical challenge in press interviews and live debates.
You would be making a mistake to take seriously any candidate that keeps avoiding critical live interviews and debates. Anyone can pay people to put a beautiful paper together. It is live interviews and debates that expose the depth of a candidate’s appreciation of the issues and preparedness to tackle them.
