2011 ELECTIONS IS AROUND THE CORNER;
WHOSE HEADS THE
CROWNS WILL FIT?
BY:
MUDASSIR ALIYU
YUNUSA
NTA ZARIA.
In
Nigeria most elections used to take place periodically after 4 years, this
allows the citizens to have clear overview and assess the performance of
democracy. It is almost a time toward the end of political tenure of the office
holders elected in 2007; this became a mandate for the election governing body
(INEC) to hold another fresh election this year (2011) at all tiers of
government. As one of the features of democracy, election is the most important
aspect that signifies the sustainability of democracy particularly in a country
where military dominated the scenario of political leadership, like Nigeria,
military were in power for 29 out of 50 years of independence.
By definition, election is a legal way of choosing a leader through casting
of vote by people or group of delegates vested with the power and authority to
put in place and legitimizes somebody as a leader in a governmental or non
governmental organisations. It is also a procedure that allows members of an
organisation or community to choose somebody who will hold a position of
authority to command and effect positive change within it. Election serves as a
way of evaluating and assessing the viability of a political leader or the
activities of the government by the citizens/electorates. The system of direct
election is recognised and adopted in Nigeria where eligible people are allowed
to conduct elections through casting of votes directly to a particular
individual holding a flag of a registered party who is vying for a given
political office. And on the other hand anybody who met the criteria and
requirement for contesting should do so in as much as he or she is a bonafide
citizen of Nigeria, in respect to this most of the people can meet up these
criteria and become eligible but might not be credible enough for contesting a
particular political office.
Therefore, what the electorates should consider first is the credibility
and competency of the candidate even though some politicians most of the time dedicate
themselves to win a given political office/position no matter the danger
involved in the process; the question here is that what is the wisdom behind
this political devotion? Are they sacrificing their resources to impact their
people and nation positively or are they doing it to satisfy their own selfish
desire or their personal interests? The issue is that as we already learnt a
lesson from political deception and bitterness during previous elections, so we
now have better political awareness and education to observe what is right or
wrong for us politically, socially and economically.
What
I am saying is that, the electorates should scrutinize any person aspiring or
contesting for a given political office/position base on his/her previous
records and acknowledge his/her credibility and accountability before giving
out a single vote for him/her, let us look for the qualities and potentials
that will benefit our society generally. At the same time we should also consider
what the contenders will actually and positively do in return when they won and
assumed office. The reason why I said this is because for long, some politicians
had been deceiving people with their political sugar tongues full of lies and false promises but their actual
motives is self perpetuating and self building paying no heed to the yearnings and
plight of their people and constituencies.
As a matter of fact, if we want to salvage ourselves from the danger of
endorsing bad leaders we must be conscious enough to detect the qualities of any
person seeking for any political office. We must find out the political
maturity that will be applied in fighting out the great enemies that bedevilled
life of the people e.g. poverty, unemployment, corruption, ignorance and
illiteracy.
The
electorates also need to know the motives of one for joining politics, and at
the same time the electorates must ask and supply themselves with good answers
to the following pre-election questions.
·
Are the contenders going to serve the public whole heartedly or
are they going to serve their interest?
·
Do they have the zeal to fully participate in any legitimate
activity that may guarantee human right and provide welfare to the electorates
no matter the difficulties involved?
·
Do they have the desire for the development of masses and the
nation generally?
·
Do they possess good ideology that can make them to endure any
challenge that may undermine the development of their nation?
·
Among the contenders, who will be the right person through whom the
citizens enjoy the dividend of democracy?
These are very vital questions that we electorates should consider much
and provide answers to because of their relevance to the political situation in
the society.
Therefore, in an attempt to sanitize the political scenario in our
community we must know among the contenders who the crown of leadership will
suitably fit. But some people especially the masses in most cases are just considering
the economic strength of a politician where they use to casts their votes to any
person who is giving out money or other materials in what I considered as
political token or bribe called TSARI or SAITI in Hausa regardless of his/her
social, moral and leadership qualities and commitments, which I am sure those
politicians when elected and assumed power no doubt they must recover and
compensate all the money they spent during campaigns, rallies or any other
electioneering process, and at long last the masses who elected them would be
treated ruthlessly and in many cases they were forced to became a beggars,
housemaids, watchdogs and servants of the politicians despite what the
electorates endures in long queues; the hot sun, rain, cold and hunger to vote
them into their office.
So
my counsel to fellow electorates is that we should try to make a rational and
commendable choice in the fourth coming April polls. It is high time now to
stop fighting each other and concentrate on promoting proper values, good
attitudes, characters and virtues that will help in building just and
prosperous society and nation. Let us consider the responsibilities attached to
any political office and endorse a person whom we know is equal to the tasks
for our own benefit. Let us join our hands together, work together and endure
all the pains of today for the gains of tomorrow, we should set aside and
forget all our sentiments, sectionalisms, political differences and feelings to
strive for good governance. Usually elections holds within a month and the
tenure lasted for 4 years so is better to capture the chance in little time and
get the benefit that will last for long time to come. Our goals, our aims and
ambitions are attainable since we have the vote in our hands so we have the
ability to bring positive changes which will eventually transform our nation to
become an avenue where there is true freedom, justice and accountability.
Moreso
let us be conscious and have certainty so that whoever we vote will be
trustworthy, compassionate and hardworking enough in serving us to the best of
his/her ability. We must elect responsible and accountable leaders to direct
our political affairs of our society or else we must provide ourselves with
pain reliever that can mitigate the political tensions and stresses created by
some ineffectual and deceitful politicians those we voted with our hands.
Please let us not allow the vicious cycle of thuggery, manipulation, rigging,
imposition of candidates, political blackmail, tyranny, oppression, human right
deprivation through kidnapping and assassinations to continue in our pride
nation.
Finally, my hope to Nigeria is to conduct
free, fair and credible elections comes April elections and my prayer is that
each person elected would be suitable for the crown of leadership, very equal
to the tasks and is ever ready to shoulders
the responsibilities attached to the office he/she is going to hold.
MUDASSIR writes from NTA Zaria channel 32.
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