…says Nigeria needs best hands, not political compensation
The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) presidential candidate and former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, has given an indication of the kind of government he would run if elected president in 2027, saying his cabinet may contain no politicians if that is what it takes to assemble Nigeria’s best hands.
Duke stated this in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja, explaining that the depth of the country’s problems demanded a government organised around competence and delivery rather than political accommodation, patronage or calculations about another election.
“If I am going to pick a cabinet, you may not find any politician in that cabinet,” he said.
He added that the 2027 election should be less about personalities and political structures and more about what each aspirant proposes to do about Nigeria’s economy, insecurity, unemployment, education, healthcare and justice system.
Duke said he was prepared to put competence ahead of the political considerations that often influence cabinet formation, arguing that an administration preoccupied with rewarding politicians could quickly become consumed by the next election.
“I’m going for broke. When you start putting politicians in your cabinet, you are looking at the next election. You are thinking about the people who will support you.
“For me, I want the people to support me. If you perform, the people will support you,” he said.
Drawing on his experience governing Cross River State between 1999 and 2007, Duke argued that performance could itself become a politician’s strongest campaign organisation.
He said his first governorship election required strenuous political mobilisation because he was introducing himself to the electorate. However, by the time he sought a second term, his record had largely taken over the work of campaigning.
“My first election in Cross River was really tough. I was basically introducing myself to the people, and there were politicians running around everywhere.
“But by my second election, I hardly needed to go to rallies. You could feel the mood. People would tell me, ‘Don’t worry yourself; you have proved your mettle.’”
Duke said the experience shaped his conviction that an incumbent should not require elaborate explanations when seeking another mandate.
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“When you prove your mettle, much of the politics disappears. People trust you because they have seen what you can do.
“When you are contesting for the first time, people hold on to your words because that is what you offered them. But when you are seeking a second term, they should hold on to your work. Your work should speak for you,” he said.
He added that he was embarrassed by incumbents who, after spending years in office, still had to campaign principally on promises or lengthy explanations of their supposed achievements.
“At that point, you shouldn’t have to spend your time telling people what you did. They should know. Your work becomes your campaign,” he stated.
The PRP candidate identified one of the fundamental weaknesses of Nigeria’s democracy as the absence of an equally rigorous test of suitability for public office, despite constitutional requirements for eligibility.
He said meeting the prescribed age and citizenship requirements and having no disqualifying criminal conviction might qualify someone to contest an election, but those conditions said little about whether the person had the capacity to govern a complex country.
“The constitution tells you who is eligible. It tells you the age requirement and says you must not have certain criminal convictions and so on.
“But where is the section dealing with suitability?
“We need to sit down and design a suitability matrix. Leadership should not be a free-for-all where everybody enters and the most popular person wins, even when that person does not know where he is taking the country.”
Duke said Nigerians should approach the choice of president with the seriousness with which a football manager selects a team for an important match.
“If you want to win a Premier League match, you put out your best eleven. That is what I am trying to put on the table.
“This is not a popularity contest. You don’t substitute your future for a popular candidate. You look for who is best equipped to do the job,” he said.
He added that his decision to seek the presidency was partly driven by frustration at watching the country deteriorate while those capable of intervening remained on the sidelines.
“Am I the best candidate? I cannot say that. The voters will decide who the best is.
“But I want to put another option on the table because the options we have had have been too narrow and have not adequately addressed the issues,” he stated.
Duke said the same principle should guide the formation of government if Nigerians entrusted him with the presidency.
He identified education, health, justice and security as areas in which a president could not afford mediocrity.
“The ultimate function of government is to enhance the productivity of the people.
“Education becomes critical because people need the skills to be productive. Health is critical because they must be healthy enough to use those skills. Justice is fundamental because you cannot have peace without justice. And security, of course, is indispensable.
“The problem today is that everything has become urgent,” he stated.
He also accused Nigeria’s elite of protecting their private comfort while neglecting the wider society, whose stability ultimately determined their own security.
“The Nigerian elite is selfish and self-centred. He thinks that by looking after himself and his immediate family, he is safe. But he is not.
“Enlightened self-interest should make us look beyond ourselves and consider the wider community.”
Duke said a government under him would have to recognise that private prosperity could not endure indefinitely amid widespread deprivation.
“If you want to be the richest man in the community, that is fine. But make sure the other members of that community are not so poor that your wealth itself makes you a target.
“You see successful Nigerians moving around their own country with security and sirens. This is your country. This is your home. Why should you live in fear in your own home and not realize that something is fundamentally wrong?”
For Duke, that breakdown strengthens the case he is making to voters: that Nigeria’s next government must be chosen and staffed according to competence rather than the familiar demands of political patronage.
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