Dear Peter Obi
I have read your epistle on your desperate one-term vow and I have the following words for you:
1. The US presidents Abraham Lincoln and JF Kennedy that you cited as examples did not choose to serve one term in office. Lincoln was actually in his second term in office when he was assassinated while Kennedy was assassinated in his first term and had planned to seek re-election.
2. Nelson Mandela indeed served for one term, however that's because of a number of reasons. First, he was already 75 years of age when he first became president. By the time he concluded his first term in office in June 14th 1999 he was 80 years already and turned 81 the next month. So, he was already old and exhausted from 27 years of incarceration.
3. You're neither a Mandela nor a Lincoln or a Kennedy. You sound as if you have never held an elected office before. You sought re-election as Anambra Governor in 2010, and narrowly won courtesy of a divided opposition. Why didn't you walk away after only one term in office? Meanwhile after serving two terms, did Anambra look like a state that has been transformed? If you couldn't transform a small Anambra after 8 years, is there a guarantee that you'll do anything significant under 4 years as President of a complex and complicated Nigeria?
4. You talk about keeping your promises or your vow being your bond, but you and I know that's not true. You have broken previous promises and usually lie with reckless abandon, sometimes needlessly. For example, you said you won't leave APGA but you left (the reason for your exit is immaterial because if we're to make allowance for excuses, you'll definitely have an excuse to break your one-term vow). You talk about trust, but how do you expect people to trust someone who can't keep a simple promise not to leave a political party?
5. I laugh when I saw where you said, "I maintain without equivocation: if elected, I will not spend a DAY LONGER than four years in office." It reminded me of your vow in one of your campaign talks that fuel subsidy WILL NOT LAST A DAY LONGER if you become president. You practically vowed to remove fuel subsidy on day 1. After President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy, you backtracked and lied that you promised to remove fuel subsidy gradually. If you can blatantly lie over such a promise that was documented on video, how on earth do you think people will believe your one-term promise.
6. Also, I wonder if you really understand the complexity of the problems you're going to tackle across many sectors in Nigeria or have any idea of the amount of funds you need to "tackle insecurity; prioritise education, healthcare and poverty alleviation of a more than 220 million nation; catalyse small businesses (I wonder how many you catalysed in Anambra), transform agriculture (I'm struggling to recall anything significant you did in agriculture in small Anambra) across Nigeria not just in your favourite North etc. To me, it appears you have actually not taken out time to evaluate the revenue needs to transform the country or the fact that what happens at the states and LGAs are also important in the areas of education, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing etc.
7. Finally, I also noticed that infrastructure is not your thing and that's probably why you didn't even mention it at all. I really want to know how you intend to significantly improve the infrastructure landscape across Nigeria (roads/bridges, rail, power, housing) under four years considering the chronic infrastructural deficit we have and the grossly inadequate public revenue to tackle these. I have not even talked about length of procurement process for big projects (remember EIA et al).
It's obvious you're just so desperate to become President and therefore you are willing to promise anything including a one-term vow. If not, why didn't you promise to do one-term during the 2023 presidential election campaigns? Why 2027? What changed? You are begging to do one term, so that after finishing the one term, you will now start quoting the constitution where it is written that Presidents must do 2 term? No wonder Soyinka nickname you gbajue.