Following the victory of Mr Joe Biden as the next democratic elected President of the United States of America, Social Crusader and President of One Love Foundation, Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor has urged Nigerians to learn from the US election ahead of 2023 elections. In a chat with Sunny Idika, Publisher of The Whisperer, Eholor said Nigerians should stop expecting much from the western world instead work hard to build a better nation. Excepts from his interview.
What Nigeria and Nigerians learn from Joe Biden’s victory ahead of 2023 General Elections?
Let me first congratulate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their election as President and Vice President of the United States of America.
The election though hard fought was decided by the American people since the day of the physical ballot.
The system they have built over the years protected the sanctity of the American votes and thereby protected the sense of national pride and honor.
We never witnessed ballot snatching, stuffing or card reader malfunction, as it is wont with Nigerian elections under the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).
We never saw court orders and counter orders, we never saw conflicting court judgments that beats commonsense and law itself.
We saw opposing side process freely under eagle eyed Security with no harassment or brutality.
We saw a system that works, consistently, coherently with commonsense backed by law.
We saw a system that defied powerful men, we saw men of honor stood their grounds and we saw a citizen determined.
These are what we hope for Nigeria, these are what we will work hard to bring, with hard work and perseverance.
We can lose or be rigged out as many times but at the end we will win.
Therefore, going forward, Nigerians should understand that elections are not won on social media. They should endeavor to register with INEC and get their PVCs. You saw how over 100million people voted in America. We can do it here and get it right.
What do you expect from the Biden’s Government for Americans?
I believe Mr. Biden already know the expectations of the American people. There’s urgent need to unite all irrespective of colour or race. The pride of American people was taken away so there’s urgent need for restoration of American glory; America need their allies back and their place as world leaders was under threat during Trump’s era. These and more is what the American people should expect.
What do you think his Government could do to help Nigeria in terms of tackling insecurity, Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s bid for WTO’s top job, social justice, true federalism, raw of law, industrialisation, diplomatic relations, trade relations, anti-corruption, development, and others?
I don’t expect anything from him as a Nigerian. Therefore, I expect our leaders to work with such mentality. We have what its takes to solve all our problems. The challenge we have as a nation is leadership. When we get it right as a nation, you’ll discover western nations will even come here for help. Our leaders should wake up and fix the nation instead of looking for who to help us. We can start by reducing the jumbo salaries and allowances our governors and senators are earning. The religious houses are not helping out. I feel their interest and focus is all about how to make money from politicians and their poor members. This is unacceptable to me with due respect to some genuine few ones among them. The activities of these Imams and Pastors should be regulated for the country to move forward because they now part of our problems.
All summary, the Nigerian people should come together as one irrespective of tribe and religion; we should come together and discuss our future and how the nation should be governed. We can do it and we can solve all our problems without interference from the western world.
Once we resolve all these issues, rule of law, industrialization and social justice will naturally be implemented. Therefore, there’s no need for external interference or whatsoever.
Talking about Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, she will emerge as the next leader of WTO even without the support of America. America didn’t support Adesina as President of African Development Bank and he won. Ngozi will win even without their support.
