Need For Politicians To Take It Easy
The 2011 general election is about three months away and already the polity is overheated by public office seekers jostling for endosement from their political parties. However, the processes leading to the primaries of the parties have been anything but orderly.
Daily reports of political activities suggest that our politicians are yet to imbibe the politics of tolerance. The do-or die mentality is exhibited everyday and most office seekers see the struggle for political office as a goal that must be attained at all costs. None is willing to concede an inch to the opponent.
The political space is also filled with threats and counter threats by politicians in the same party or outside the party. The desire to be nominated by their parties has left in its wake rancour, acrimony and bitterness, and in some instances, created a deep gulf which has led many to decamp to other parties. Many have been threatening fire and brimstone if they were not picked by their parties.
There is no better way to illustrate the level of desperation and intolerance by politicians across the country than the incidents of the last two weeks during which politicians demonstrated their dare-devil attitude by engaging in wanton killing and assassination.
On 30 December 2010, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party in Oyo State and the factional leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Lateef Salako, a.k.a. Eleweomo was gruesomely murdered during one of the primaries in Ibadan. The chilling photo of Eleweomo as he lay dead soaked in his blood on the ground was a sad reminder of the dark days of political violence witnesssed during the 1983 elections when tension enveloped the land following electoral malpractices perpetrated by the ruling National Party of Nigeria, NPN, in Oyo and Ondo states.
Residents of Jos at the weekend were also not spared the political machinations of some desperate politicians who launched a reign of terror in the state as a political weapon of making the country ungovernable for their opponents if their wish was not met. Some even resorted to bombing a merry joint at the Mammy market in a military barracks in Abuja to drive home their point. In these incidents, many Nigerians lost their lives while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.
It is our contention that politics should not be played as if there is no tomorrow. It should not be a do-or-die affair or a matter of life and death, as some politicians are wont to call it. Politics, we believe, should be played with decorum and a sense of conviction in the good of the majority of the people. A situation whereby those aspiring to public offices engage in brigandage, destruction of properties and killing of political opponents will not augur well for our democracy.
Politicians should seek public offices only with the aim of serving the people and treat life as sancrosanct. If they have the genuine interest of the people at heart, then they should give the people the chance to elect those they feel can best represent their interest. Enough of the killings, threats and counter threats.
The electorate should also be on the look out and ensure that they do not put desperate politicians in power. They should be more vigilant and elect only credible leaders to represent them.
The best time to assess some of the political aspirants is now. By watching their utterances and actions, the electorate should be able to assess those with genuine intentions and those who are only out to feather their nests. Nigeria at this stage of its development requires a compassionate, effective and forward-looking leader to take it to the promised land. And it is the duty of the citizens to ensure this by making sure that their votes count this time.
Comments