By Ayuba Yilgak'ha
Electioneering periods are often
dicey moments in a democracy. One of the reasons is that such moments are moments of decision making which have future implications. The circumstances surrounding such decision points are mostly featured with so much uncertainties too. The options are not often absolutely defined as those seeking elective or appointive positions are human with tendencies to be unpredictable, especially, with power.
It is possible for the direction of change of a person who has acquired political power to go towards the wrong side of history. As "power", Shakespearean Macbeth said, "tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Even with the best of intentions, power could corrupt an ultruistic patriot. There are very few exceptions especially in developing countries like Nigeria. That is a lesson of history that cannot be wished away or taken for granted.
As 2023 General Election approaches, Nigeria and Plateau State in particular is at a crossroad and the citizens have the civic responsibility to determine the direction the state should go by critically choosing from the many aspirants/candidates who have presented themselves for election. In doing this, the parties, the issues and the candidates are the three fundamental considerations which will shape the choice of the electorates with the most important being the profile or track records of the candidates.
A party is an established political platform which is recognised by law to screen, select and present candidates for elective and/or appointive positions. The issues are the manifesto of the parties and/or those of the candidates and any other dynamic consideration within the political space or polity. The candidates are individuals who presented themselves for election into an existing political office created by extant laws of the state or country. In other words, a candidate is an aspirant who successfully emerged through a party primary election. Having won the primary election, such a candidate is qualified to contest with candidates of other competing political parties in a secondary election to be organised by a surposed impartial electoral unpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The credibility of each candidate contesting an election is indeed a very important factor must be carefully considered by electorates since it is the candidate who after being elected has the mandate to galvanise and operationalise the manifesto or mission statement which himself and the party presented to various publics during campaigns. That is why citizens are encouraged to participate actively in party politics. That is, register as members with parties of their choice to play active role towards determining who becomes candidate at the party level. This is because once they emerged at that level, even if such candidates are not good enough, cannot be changed until May be defeated at the secondary poll or disqualified by a court of competent jurisdiction.
The people will be left with nothing but Hobson's choice when all the candidates presented by political party are seen as not good enough. Hobson's choice is one that either way you go is a disadvantage. God forbid because the attendant consequences of such situation can be frustrating, to say the least.
The most important gain of democracy which is reputed as 'government of the people, by the people and for the people' wholly lies in the capacity of the citizenry to jointly demonstrate superior wisdom and courage by producing the best of elected representatives through popular votes. If any constitutional democracy does not guarantee this needful benefit, through the instrumentality of election processes which produce the best of us to govern us, then, the system becomes yet another political liability - uncivil, unpopular and draconian systems such as facism and totalitarianism, etc. Who can afford this systematic mistake? Not you, not me, even fanthom dreamers cannot contemplate such at all!
No matter how rich or excellent a party's/candidate's manifesto looks like, if the best candidate is not identified and selected, nothing good ever work for the system or polity. A manifesto can be stealthily misleading because its development can be outsourced or contracted out to experts but the responsibility of delivering quality leadership cannot be delegated. Therefore, it takes a tested and practically reliable candidate who won the election to deliver qualitative leadership.
With quality leadership, even a bad manifesto can be corrected but with bad leaders, the best manifesto could be jettisoned or made nonsense of at any time. That is also the lesson of history as Nigerians have great reputation for developing sound policy (manifesto) rhetorics but grossly deficient in political will to implement such to the latter. That is the bane of development in the country and Plateau State in particular.
So far so good, not fewer than thirty aspirants have indicated interest to contest for governorship during the next general election in Plateau State. Each of these aspirants have demonstrated their respective intentions by printing and pasting campaign posters with captivating captions or mantras. They are equally intensifying covert and overt consultations; dishing out part of their respective manifesto at any slightest opportunity. The political actors are also busy assembling their 'foot soldiers' who sells their individual ambitions on both print and electronic media with the overall objective of winning popular sympathy from the public and their respective party platforms.
The game of politics, however, is a dynamic one. Even though the primary goal is to win political power; the process of securing such mandate is fluid and not straight-jacketed. There are several sympathy or votes mobilisation platforms which can be explored by political actors. While some contestants rely on tribal affiliations, others explore religious sentiment (intra or inter-religious considerations). Some found school 'old boys' and 'old girls' associations or professional and vocational associations amongst several others promising. There is no extend that political parties and politicians cannot go in a bit to outsmart each other but that is the nature of the game, really.
It is important to note, however, that no single sympathy or vote mobilisation platform is good enough to guarantee success for any political party or candidate in an election. It takes the combination of several other intervening factors or considerations to determine the fate of each contestant. These factors could be confusing not only to the contestants but to the electorates also. Here in lies the motivation for this essay.
The main argument of this exposition is that even though the process of selecting leaders are complex, the fundamental issues that deserve attention are not hiddened and should not be compromised for any reason or reasons. Remember, the main essence or use of power is to ensure efficient and effective delivery of service to people. Any use of power that does not guarantee the welfare and security of the citizenry which are the primary responsibilities of government is an exercise in breach of public trust. Therefore, the capacity of a candidate or contestant to deliver on this sacred trust should be the most important consideration when selecting or electing leaders (a governor in this case). Mundane or arbitrary considerations cannot translate into good governance in the polity.
Plateau State got great potentials in tourism, agriculture, commerce and manpower development but these potentials do not automatically translate into holistic and rapid development until credible human effort is applied to coodinate, especially, at leadership levels. In fact, human tendencies have tended to make rubbish the greatest potentials states or nations got. These tendencies have often manifested themselves in the form of ethno-religious conflict, leadership deficit and followership laxity. Rather than marshaling its 'can do spirit' to transform the fortune of the state, the citizenry have always cheaply succumbed to mundane or artificial fault lines that have tended to destroy the collective heritage. The situation becomes more catastrophic when traced to failure of leadership.
The problem with politics in developing nations, especially, Nigeria and Plateau State is situated is that everybody wants the best for himself but only a few are sacrificing for the common good of all. Overwhelmed by greed and corruption, people hardly show objectivity but subjectivity even in the choice of leaders whose actions or inactions could jeopardise the welfare and security of the total population. This is done forgetting that subjective actions or inactions hardly translate into objective outcomes except by accident or mere chance.
Tribal sentiments cannot guarantee the emergence of a credible leader at any level. Religious bias or prejudices will not either. A governor produced on the basis of religious bigotry or ethnocentric considerations cannot deliver good governance within the context of 21st century realities of globalisation and innovation. This argument is based on the time tested reality that a man reaps what he sows. Selfish and bias considerations in leadership Recruitment can only give rise to selfish and bias leaders. To get an exception to this reality is a rare exception itself!
The task of producing credible leaders is one that cannot be taken casually because leaders shape and reshape the conditions and direction of things in the society or societies. This implies that once a society missed out or misfire in its leadership recruitment obligations, there is bound to be expensive consequences which could be recurrent. Accidental political leaders will emerge. The situation could be likened to that of a man who handed over the key of his car, full of passengers, to a quack driver who knows virtually nothing about driving to drive them on a high way to a destination. The possible danger associated with this costly action can only be imagined!
Poverty, unemployment, violent conflicts, kidnappings, banditry, terrorism, poor infrastructure, corruption, etc. do not know political party, ethnic nationalities, tribes or religions; they do not also know family ties or denominations; not even sectional and old boys association but the will to demean humans and make them objects of ridicule. These monsters can only steal, kill and destroy but good leadership produced through objective consideration could minimise or stem some of the greatest threats to life outlined above.
In every tribe and religion, local government, zones or state, there are good and bad people. When all citizens objectively exercise their agency to choose, without bias or sentiment, credible leaders will emerge. Plateau State deserves a political leader who possesses the requisite capabilities to galvanise the unique God-given potentials of it people and use same as bargaining power to achieve holistic prosperity for all.
As we make the decisions at the crossroad of general elections in Nigeria and Plateau State in particular, objectivity should be made our guiding angel. If we default in this regards, then we should not complaint ending in serfdom or armaggedon. God forbid bad thing. When a people think clearly, they shall see clearly. Be rationalise, realistic and resolute in pursuing virtues even in our electoral choices!
*(Modest Thoughts with Ayuba Yilgak'ha, December 11, 2021; SMS: 08116181263; Email: loisayuba420@gmail.com)*
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