‎Sometimes, politics can be brutally funny.

‎And sometimes, beneath the laughter lies a very serious democratic problem.

‎That is how I read Onyebuchi Ememanka’s, popularly known as Ururu Aja, recent Facebook commentary concerning the reported statement by a gubernatorial aspirant that, if elected Governor of Abia State in 2027, he would “return Government House to Umuahia.”

‎My first reaction was exactly the same as Ururu Aja’s:

‎Return Government House to Umuahia?

‎Umuahia ke?

‎Has Government House travelled?

‎Is there another Government House somewhere that we have not been told about?

‎The joke is funny, but the underlying political question is not.

‎And I think Ururu Aja has made a valid point that deserves to be taken beyond social-media banter.

‎There appears to be a serious deficit of strategic and issue-driven opposition politics in Abia State today.

‎Let me state this clearly before anybody misunderstands me: I am not a partisan supporter of Governor Alex Otti, and I am certainly not suggesting that the present administration is beyond scrutiny. Far from it.

‎As a civil-society actor, I believe that every government must be subjected to constant democratic scrutiny, regardless of who occupies the office.

‎Government is not a sacred institution.

‎Governors are not infallible.

‎And political power does not confer immunity from criticism.

‎But if you want to defeat an incumbent, you must first understand the government you are trying to replace.

‎You cannot defeat a government you have failed to study.

‎This is where I think many of our politicians have got it completely wrong.

‎From my years of participating in and observing Nigerian politics, I have come to one conclusion: too many politicians begin preparing for an election only when the election is already around the corner.

‎That is backward.

‎A serious opposition politician should begin the work from the first year of the incumbent’s administration.

‎Conduct surveys.

‎Go into the communities.

‎Talk to the people.

‎Analyse the budgets.

‎Track government expenditure.

‎Study procurement.

‎Assess projects.

‎Compare promises with performance.

‎Examine government policies.

‎Study the laws.

‎Interrogate constitutional obligations.

‎Speak with civil society.

‎Engage professional bodies.

‎Listen to workers, pensioners, traders, farmers, students, women, young people, persons with disabilities and vulnerable communities.

‎Find out what the government is doing right.

‎Find out what it is doing wrong.

‎Find out what it promised but failed to deliver.

‎Find out what it delivered but poorly.

‎Find out what it has done without sufficient legal, institutional or fiscal safeguards.

‎Then build your political campaign around those findings.

‎That is how you build an opposition.

‎Not by waking up three months before an election and asking, “What can I say about the governor today?”

‎ọ bụ, ihe ọ bụla ahụrụ, ekwuo!

‎Whether it has substance or not, whether it makes sense or not, just say something because, after all, a candidate must say something.

‎No.

‎That is not serious politics.

‎That is political improvisation.

‎And democracy deserves better.

‎Interestingly, this is where I believe the present administration has inadvertently made things even more difficult for its opponents.

‎Whether one likes Governor Alex Otti politically or not, it is difficult to deny that his administration has created visible governance narratives around infrastructure, public works, institutional reforms and other areas that his opponents must now engage substantively.

‎That means the opposition cannot simply shout, “Otti has failed!”

‎The obvious next question from an increasingly discerning electorate will be:

‎Failed where?

‎Show us.

‎Document it.

‎Compare the budget with actual expenditure.

‎Compare promises with delivery.

‎Compare projects with specifications.

‎Show us the communities that have been left behind.

‎Show us the laws that have been violated.

‎Show us the policies that have failed.

‎Show us the opportunities that have been lost.

‎Then tell us what you will do differently.

‎That is politics.

‎Not propaganda.

‎I remember the 2015 gubernatorial campaign of Dr. Alex Otti, then I was in his camp.

‎Whatever one’s political assessment of Dr. Otti may be today, his 2015 manifesto appeared to have been substantially informed by an assessment of the problems of the then administration and the wider condition of Abia State.

‎It was structured around identified problems and proposed alternatives.

‎In my assessment, it remains one of the most comprehensive and issue-driven gubernatorial campaign documents Abia has witnessed.

‎And that presents an interesting irony.

‎A man who once came into opposition armed with a strong diagnosis of the problems confronting Abia now occupies the Government House, while those seeking to remove him appear, in some instances, unable to produce an equally compelling diagnosis of what they believe he is doing wrong.

‎Where is the opposition’s equivalent of 2015?

‎Where is the research?

‎Where is the alternative policy framework?

‎Where is the manifesto that can make an ordinary Abian stop and say:

‎“If this is what this person intends to do, perhaps I should listen to him.”

‎Instead, we sometimes hear promises that sound like political improvisations.

‎“Return Government House to Umuahia.”

‎Ewoooo!

‎Is that the best political argument available?

‎Government House is not a football that somebody carried away.

‎If the argument is about administrative concentration, the relocation of government institutions, the distribution of government functions, or the geographical balance of governance, then say so clearly.

‎Explain the problem.

‎Explain the legal framework.

‎Explain the administrative implications.

‎Explain the economic cost.

‎Explain the benefits.

‎Give Abians the evidence.

‎That is how you transform a slogan into a policy.

‎And this is why I am increasingly concerned about the quality of opposition politics, not merely in Abia, but across Nigeria.

‎Opposition should not mean automatic rejection of everything the government does.

‎If the government does something good, acknowledge it.

‎If it does something wrong, challenge it.

‎If it violates the law, litigate or deploy the appropriate accountability mechanisms.

‎If its policy is good but poorly implemented, expose the implementation gap.

‎If its project is useful but unsustainable, interrogate its sustainability.

‎If its spending is questionable, follow the money.

‎If its achievements are exaggerated, bring the evidence.

‎And if you believe you can govern better, show the people exactly how.

‎That is what distinguishes a politician from a serious statesman.

‎Unfortunately, too many of our politicians think that admitting that an opponent has achieved something amounts to political suicide.

‎It does not.

‎In fact, intellectual honesty can make your criticism stronger.

‎If I say, “Governor Otti has done nothing,” when everybody can see that something has been done, I have weakened my own credibility.

‎But if I say:

‎“Yes, this was a good initiative. However, here are five things that were not done correctly; here is the evidence; here is the law; here is the cost implication; and here is what I will do differently,”

‎then I have given the electorate something to think about.

‎That is credible opposition.

‎That is democratic competition.

‎That is how you earn trust.

‎The opposition must therefore stop behaving as though its only responsibility is to discover faults.

‎Its greater responsibility is to discover solutions.

‎Abians do not merely need politicians who can tell them what is wrong.

‎They need politicians who can tell them:

‎What is the alternative?

‎How much will it cost?

‎Where will the money come from?

‎Who will implement it?

‎What law supports it?

‎What is the timeline?

‎What measurable outcomes should citizens expect?

‎And what mechanism will hold the new government accountable if it fails?

‎Those are the questions serious candidates should be answering.

‎Not simply who will “return” Government House to where it already is.

‎I say this as someone who does not belong to the governing party and does not seek political office.

‎My interest is democratic governance.

‎My interest is accountability.

‎My interest is the rule of law.

‎My interest is a political system in which the electorate can genuinely choose between competing ideas rather than between competing personalities.

‎So, to the opposition politicians of Abia, I say respectfully but bluntly: Wake up.

You have enough time to do the work.

‎Stop waiting for the governor to make a mistake before you discover that you are an opposition politician.

‎Start studying the government now.

‎Build your evidence.

‎Build your policy alternatives.

‎Build your manifesto.

‎Build your team of researchers.

‎Build your grassroots intelligence.

‎Build your credibility.

‎And when the election comes, do not merely tell Abians that you want Alex Otti’s seat.

‎Convince them that you deserve it.

‎Because the ultimate question in a democracy is not:

‎“Who wants power?”

‎Almost everybody wants power.

‎The question is: “Who is prepared, competent and credible enough to be entrusted with it?”

‎That is the question the opposition must answer.

‎And until it does, Governor Otti may not need to campaign as hard against his opponents as they may need to campaign against their own lack of preparation.

‎Nkea bu eziokwu gbaa ọtọ.

‎By Okoye, Chuka Peter, Executive Director of Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society, (CEHRAWS)

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