Until recently, I had not paid that much attention to Dr. Patrick Okedinachi Utomi. All I knew was that he has the right mental attitude and the right stuff: well-read, well-traveled, and well-trained and seem to have the kind of resume that, under the right political system, would have given him a better than average shot at the presidency. Put another way, in another time and place, his country would have courted him; or at the very least, his country would have noted and noticed his impeccable credentials for the highest national office. But alas, Nigeria is unlike most other countries; therefore, neither the political class nor the electorates are going to go in search of him asking to be taken to the land of Canaan . Oh no! He has to want to. And he must show it, prove it, desire it and fight for it.

Granted the presidency is not the be-it and end-all position, Utomi must show he truly deserve the office. He must fight for it. He must because the country in question is Nigeria . And Nigeria , we all know, is not your “usual” country with well-tested electoral laws, constitutional tenets, and with a proper political culture and climate that engenders free and fair electoral contest. Nigeria is not like the Scandinavian countries. It is not like Canada or some other slow moving and gentlemanly electoral system.

If Mr. Utomi wants to be the president of Nigeria come 2007, he needs to act like a candidate, a very serious candidate. He needs to sell himself to the people: the men and women on the street, the military and security forces, the political class, the mass media, and to the decision makers of his party and to President Obasanjo. To do the aforesaid, he must spend all his time in the country. He must remain in Nigeria visiting all the abovementioned constituents. He must play ball. Those he needs to be playing with reside in Nigeria -- not in the USA , Britain or any where else outside of the country. Why does he travel so much spending a lot of his time and capital in foreign capitals? Why?

For a man who is gunning for the presidency, what business does he have gallivanting and traversing the globe? What can oversea-Nigerians do for him, anyways? Raise a dollar here, a yen there and euro in another venue? Oh no! Utomi should stay put in the country. He should be seen in Sokoto, Maiduguri , Kaduna , Yola, Kano and elsewhere; he should be heard in Ibadan , Ile-Ife, Ogbomosho , Akure, Ede and every where in between. He should be consulting with the Niger Deltans (the Ijaw, Itshekiri, Ogoni, Isoko, Urhobo and other ethnic nationalities). Furthermore, he should pay attention to the “competing power centers” of the Ndiigbo nation which can sometimes be self-immolating.

And so I ask: How many introductory or presidential-type speeches has he given at various Nigerian institutions of higher learning? How many Nigerian think-tanks has he visited? How many Oba and Emir and Obi and Ijaw Kingmakers has he visited? How many political rallies has he in the offing? Has he spoken to President Obasanjo and to the PDP executive council? Does he have eyes and ears within the retired and serving military establishment? How much of his own money is he willing to spend? And does he have deep-pocket financial backers? For all these and more, Dr. Utomi needs to spend 99.9% of his time in Nigeria .

Diasporan Nigerians cannot help him; they cannot do anything for him. Nothing! We don’t have the voting right, and even if we did, we don’t have critical mass dense enough to swing the votes to the right or to the left. Therefore, Utomi’s lot and luck and destiny rest with the people and with all the various kingmakers and demi-gods in Nigeria . Yes, the Nigerian politics is not fair, but that is what we have for now. To be a credible presidential contender, he must play according to the Nigerian political rules. He must not soil his conscience, but he may have to soil his left hand.

The political battle, the heart and soul of the country is not in Obodo Oyinbo, it is in Nigeria . The sooner Chief Utomi realizes this, the better. If he is coming to America and London and Paraguay to raise money, well, that’s fine. Once or twice is enough. Nigerians who want to send money may do so through readily available mediums.

One of Nigeria ’s pre-eminent commentators and public intellectuals is Mr. Uche Nworah. Uche also happens to be one of Mr. Utomi’s campaign coordinators in London . When asked about what I consider to be a poor political strategy and poorly thought-out campaign tactic on the part of his candidate, his response was: “Professor Utomi has always maintained his strong belief that the Nigerian renaissance would be championed by the Diasporas, hence his various meetings and dialogues with Nigerians in the Diaspora. This does not mean that there is no merit in your suggestions for a more sustained ‘ground’ campaign, that is also happening and the momentum would obviously increase as we near the crunch months.”

Most viable democracies are home grown. Most fruitful economic and development strategies are home grown. Strong institutions and constitutionalism is home grown. Political struggles are home grown. Every thing good and great about great and thriving nation-states are, for the most part, home grown. Whatever revival, transition and renaissance attitude Dr. Utomi envisages must be home grown. I am not sold on the idea that Nigerians abroad will export some magic wand, suddenly returning the country to a path of growth and development. Home is where the changes will and must begin from!

Overseas Nigerians don’t return to plant seed of progress. They don’t return to build schools and factories and hospitals and art centers. They don’t return to invest in the economy and institutions. They don’t return to do any thing out of the ordinary. The vast majority of returnees are tourists, visitors, strangers in their own country. Most spend 2-4 weeks; and that’s about it. And in fact, yearly monetary remittances are so pitiful they don’t make a dent in the GDP. It is .05% at best; whereas in some Latin American countries, remittances account for about 10% of the GDP.

His handlers should know, and he too should have known that if he wants to run, he must plan to run; if he plans to run, he must have a winning strategy. It is not enough to speak internationally acceptable language saying all the right things and seeking the approval of the international community. That’s not it. Nigeria is where the elections will take place and where also the votes will be counted, rigged, deleted or multiplied. For these and other reasons therefore, Dr. Patrick Okedinachi Utomi must start building his base, making deals, get to know and be known by all those who matter. With this particular matter, overseas Nigerians don’t matter. They don’t and won’t count and won’t be counting the votes. Good luck!

Sabidde@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 15.11.2006 10:36

Exxcuzme  Villager

# 2 ________________________________________________________________________ Diasporan Nigerians cannot help him; they cannot do anything for him. Nothing! We don’t have the voting right _________________________________________________________________________ Apart from voting right, what about kudi-owo right? Tell us to contribut to NVS which most us commented we cannot do without as it has become a daily ritual, but then we struggle to contribute $3000 the admin says would be needed to purchase a better server. We are we now? Less than $1500 donated so far? However, most of us would say we are lawyers and doctors and the owner of oyinbo land? By the way, I thought Uche is now campaigning for Andy Uba since Utomi no get deep pocket....LOL Posted by Exxcuzme| 15.11.2006 10:53

On the Rocks  Villager

# 3 =Exxcuzme;138690> ________________________________________________________________________ Diasporan Nigerians cannot help him; they cannot do anything for him. Nothing! We don’t have the voting right _________________________________________________________________________ Apart from voting right, what about kudi-owo right? Tell us to contribut to NVS which most us commented we cannot do without as it has become a daily ritual, but then we struggle to contribute $3000 the admin says would be needed to purchase a better server. We are we now? Less than $1500 donated so far? However, most of us would say we are lawyers and doctors and the owner of oyinbo land? By the way, I thought Uche is now campaigning for Andy Uba since Utomi no get deep pocket....LOL Why are you so fixated on whether or not people were able to contribute to the NVS campaign? Who are you to judge other people about what they are able to do? Hey, when you hear that there are 3,000 members on NVS, is it possible that only about 10% (or less) of those members are actually active? Even the NVS Admin made it clear that contribution is at members' discretion. Even church pastor, no matter how much he talks about offering/tithe, knows that the church members will only contribute what they can. Get over this fixation about people contributing (or not) to the NVS fund and get busy with other stuff, please. And if you must talk about it, kindly fill in the gap and make up the difference, for those who were not able to contribute. Enough already. One more word about this and I will have you remanded in custody for the numbers of days equivalent to what is needed to make up the $3,000. Admin, please confirm how much that is. Posted by On the Rocks| 15.11.2006 11:57

techsista  Villager

# 4 This your piece merits a long response oh. My dream Naija election would involve Pat Utomi running against Donald Duke. Imagine an issues based election campaign with both candidates laying out a concrete vision for Nigeria's future. I can dream can't I? After much arm twisting, I convinced some US based members of my family to listen in on Utomi's October 29th conference call. During the call he talked about creating jobs, security, healthcare, reviving the manufacturing sector. He wondered why Nigeria has no major trauma centers to deal with the numerous traffic accidents we face and described how he was involved in one himself years ago but was lucky to be airlifted to Germany because he worked for Volkswagen at the time. He laid out a vision for Nigeria's future. He talked about speaking to folks in Kano, told us about the Lagos market woman who after hearing him state what he would do if elected, brought her money pouch out from her wrapper and donated 500 Naira to his campaign :-). I was impressed. My relatives at least had grudging praise: "He doesn't have a prayer," my uncle opined, "but he's a good man." "How about helping him have a prayer?" I asked. "How?" "Money is one of the main issues right? We know how the candidates with deep pockets made theirs and we're trying not to repeat that. I figure if 10,000 Nigerians in the diaspora donate $100 to Utomi's campaign, that's $1 million. That's a start. If a market woman in Lagos could donate 500 Naira surely you can spare $100?" My uncle is still laughing at that one. (This is an uncle who was reluctant to donate $50 to a Nigerian charity I was fundraising for years ago. His thinking? "I know you but I don't know the other people involved." Finally I said in exasperation, "Okay uncle I'm going to chop your money. You should have no problem with your niece chopping your $50. Hand it over.") My uncle isn't a bad person. Like many Naijas, he's been disappointed so many times he's decided to stop hoping, to stop believing in anyone outside his family. I refuse to adopt that world-view, so the ribbing continues. I made my donation to the Utomi campaign. I received an acknowledgment email from Patrick Okigbo who I'd heard of from his past work on VISIONigeria. I decided that my donation would be my own way of doing "something." I called my aburo in Naija. "You Americans. Internet revolutionaries. Come back here and fight now." We both laughed. But I know my words were at least heard and won't be completely ignored. I know some NVS villagers have already contributed to the Utomi campaign. I know others are sitting on the fence, convinced that reality means we'll get another military man in agbada. My simple question is are you willing to do two things you can from abroad to make a difference? Are you willing to back your chosen candidate financially and tell your family and friends why this candidate is the best thing since sliced bread? Or are you content to "siddon look" and meekly accept politics as usual in Naija? As the Naija saying goes, "choose your choice." Posted by techsista| 15.11.2006 21:09

Papino  Villager

# 5 Techsista, You are on the issue.Abide's essay carefully higlighted on the short-comings of an overseas dependent campaign formular as used by Utomi and explained that Nigerians abroad cannot help Utomi since,we cannot vote.Yours was a redress from that point of view and yes,though we cannot vote but the impact of a politically motivated Diaspora can swing the votes in favour of the best man.Is Utomi the best man?I am very sceptical and it bothers on Sabelle's eloquent clarification that elsewhere his resume would have given him a guaranteed shot at Aso Rock but,we are talking about Nigeria. The central issue that should be on our minds is to mobilise those who can vote since we cannot vote.Just like Techsista has already started,let us reach out to our families at home,tell them not to be intimidated by money bags but to vote progress and responsible government.The impact of moneis we constantly send home is to be able to tell them that as people who have seen functional democracy,we think that candidate X is likely to deliver Nigeria than anyother.Before then,we should be able to at least have a consensus on the candidate with better potentials to deliver. It would be a great disservice to our nation if we are unable to coordinate a peaceful return of reponsible government.The message is;VOTE REASONABLY OR DIE MISERABLY Posted by Papino| 16.11.2006 04:37

salstep  Villager

# 6 Sabella Abidde, Your article is spot on. I have jokily mentioned this issue on various utomi articles. But His advisers don't seem to be taking heed. I can bet my button dollar, Utomi can't win a Nigeria election. With less than 6 months to go, they are busy organizing talks in the UK and US when the people on the ground in Nigeria don't know Utomi. Anyone should do a random phone sample to naija in Nigeria, then you will realise how far off course the campaign have gone. I am not even talking about the man in the village whose vote is determined by the village elder. As things currently stand, Pat Utomi will be lucky if he gets 10% of the vote. Utomi and Uche are educated enough to know that Theory and practice are 2 different things. There is no visibility on the Ground in Nigeria. I will start believing when my Granma receives the Utomi message. See recent Sun poll in link below: The Sun News On-line Posted by salstep| 16.11.2006 08:25

Oghre  Villager

# 7 Ah come on leave the man alone, his big grammar CV and foreign trips may amount to something someday, he is probably campaigning in Diaspora in case all nijja people decide to go back home in future, at least then he will be the most popular contestant among returnees he met in cyberspace. By the way, has he covered China and Ireland? There are nijja people who can’t vote moving to these places in the last decade. Well done Pat Utomi, may you win the Nijja Diaspora presidency! Posted by Oghre| 16.11.2006 10:00