NOBODY expects President Goodluck Jonathan or his aides to know about campaign posters that surfaced in Abuja luring the President to another shot at the top job in 2015.  The President, an honourable man, has told us he would only think about 2015 by next year.

He is too busy now. What occupies him is, “to deliver on his electioneering promise to Nigerians and not to embark on the pasting of posters”. Who said the posters are from the President? Suppose they are from him?

“They are not from the President. Nigerians should take the President for his word and ignore any information to the contrary,” Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati said. “Those pasting the posters are trying to express their own view. The President had stated that he will talk about the presidency from 2014. Those doing this do not have the consent of the President.”

Nigerians should not be bothered with these posters. Just like those “trying to express their own view” are asking the President to “do more”, those who have contrary opinion can ask him to “do less”.  Is that not better than fighting over posters?

Freedom of expression, as Dr.Abati rightly interpreted it, also means that other prospective contestants can paste their posters around Abuja without being charged with violating municipal sanitation laws.

*Campaign posters

The beauty of democracy is that it offers opportunities to agree or disagree openly. Choice of candidates for high offices is a platform to test the efficacy of debates and the capacity of the democratic space to accommodate them. More enlightened debates about the 2015 elections are desirable, in fact they are imperative.

It does not matter if posters trigger off the debates about the candidacy of the President or anyone else. Nothing says the debates should wait until 2014 – by then they would have been very late.

When delegations start arriving Abuja to persuade the President to “do more”, would delegations with opposing views gain access to the President?

Nigerians should take their concerns about the 2015 elections further. Where are the candidates? What issues do they intend to address? What would they do differently?

There is too much obsession with the President running in 2015 that other candidates are not presenting themselves. When would they declare their intention? When would they sell their candidacy to their parties and Nigerians? Who says they cannot paste their posters in Abuja?

If the President would state his position in 2014, is that a rule for other candidates? We are only 24 months away from elections, if we provide for primaries. 2015 is now, the Abuja posters say so.