As the drums of 2019 general elections draw closer, Nigerian political climate is filled with nomadic politics. We have seen array of defections in penultimate weeks. Political gladiators are wandering from one political party to another. The question is, are these defections for the interest of the public? Or it is for personal aggrandizement? These are some of the questions we need to put into consideration prior to 2019 general elections.
The conundrum of political actors recycling themselves every four years is obvious. We have had enough of their promises and gimmicks they employed to clinch power. Do you have your permanent voter's card (PVC)? Have you registered for the ongoing INEC continuous registration exercise? If you have not, cease this ample opportunity for the two weeks extension and register. Your PVC is your strength. It is your right to vote. Get it, come 2019 general elections and votes the candidates of your choice, those candidates whose candidature is devoid of recycling affiliations, wishy-washy or nomadic politics, as well as personal interest.
The next President of Nigerian is yet to be known irrespective of your opinion. Though, majority are optimistic that PMB would retain his seat. If i may ask, of what assertion did they think PMB would continue in 2019? Governor Rochas Okorocha sometimes said Buhari would beat PDP even on sick bed. This claim was made shortly after Senate President Bokula Saraki and Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal decamped to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He further avouched that he will beat Atiku even in Adamawa State his home town. Well, he might be right, and he might also be wrong in his assertion.
Many who have haemorrhaged faith in Buhari are craving for new government. More importantly if I may ask, the new government some are clamouring for,does it going to make a difference with the same set of people that we knew who are reforming themselves to recontest? Or the vicissitudes of government is the one that will consider youths inclusiveness considering the passage of " NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN BILL"? Because, if we talk about PDP proposed Presidential candidate in person of Atiku Abubaka. Nigerians have had a bite of him, and they are anxious and worried to have a usual person on the race. This might not augur well with PDP eventually he becomes the contender.
It is truly time for us to build our future.The avalanche of Nigerians who are making efforts to get PVC is an indication that many people are wakening up from linger slumber. More worrisome is the trend of vote buying. We need to address this problem before 2019 general elections. Or else, this bad omens would jeopardize our Nineteenth years of uninterrupted democracy.The issue of vote buying has a multiplier effects on the public, majority of literate and illiterate fellows were susceptible to vote buying in Nigeria. The just concluded Ekiti governorship election recorded massive cases of vote buying. It is assumed that the public are not much aware of the negative implications of selling votes. Money bags politicians are just after their personal interest and not for the concern of the public.
Below are the effects of vote buying or selling to the public and 2019 general elections;
1. Denying of Dividend of Democracy: The negative effect of selling vote or buying vote is so enormous. Majority of people are naive, they don't know that those political gladiators that comes with peanuts and give to them in exchange for votes are doing that to the detriment of the electorates, and for their personal interest. Come to think of it, we have seen these money bags politicians in the past. As soon as they gain access to power, they usually turn back at the public. Many of them are not assessable. They go there to make money for their families. Their apex priority is their loved ones. They have no public interest at hearts. Their children school abroad, while others who can't afford weighty sum of tuition remain in Nigeria to school in our institutions that the facilities are obsoletes, dilapidated, below standards and many more negative factors bedeviled our educational system. Democracy comes with bumper benefits, in a democraticalized milieu, people enjoy certain dividends such as, infrastructural development, scholarship, good access to basic social amenities, robust social services etc. But with the trend of vote buying and selling, these dividends are threatened, and development is drowsy.
2. Emergence of Wrong Candidate: One of the greatest things that happen to the people in governance is to elect a credible candidate to represent them. A candidate whose candidature is free from ambivalence, disgruntlement and idiosyncrasies. But if the wrong candidate emerges, the people suffers. The recent comatose act of vote buying is a problem to democracy. Selling of votes facilitate the emergence of wrong candidate. We have money bags politicians who are desperate to bag power by all cost. They are the ones that use money to buy vote. Remember that, you that sells your vote, you are denying yourself certain benefits of democracy, you are selling your right. Every citizen is entitled to all the benefits that government is supposed to make available for its people. Representatives of every constituency are accorded some obligations to bring to their people developmental projects. But in most cases, these projects are not carried out because, those fellows that represent them are not the right candidates. It could be that they manoeuver their ways into the positions they occupy. Reminisce that, vote buying is not a new trends. It has been going on in the past, though it was miniature. It was only going on in the pipelines but not too brazen as it is today.
3. Massive threat to Democracy: Democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people. The carnage of vote buying is perceived to be a hiccup for the growth of our democracy. Pundits and scholars have pointed out emphatically the multiplier effects of vote buying to Nigerian democracy. If we remember vividly, the military took over power from civilian in Nigeria because of governance impropriety and corruption. It never augured well with us, we cried and craved for democracy because of military assaults, intimidation and undue suppression. Now that we are enjoying democracy and its dividends, why can't we sustain it by refraining from acts that are capable of jeopardizing our nineteenth years of uninterrupted democracy? Why can't we SHUN OR SAY NO to "VOTE BUYING" for the betterment of public interest and Nigerian democracy.
4. Negative Image: A befitting image is key for bilateral ties amongst nations. For a nation to attract neighboring counterparts and far distance leaders to create bilateral relations, such country must have a terrific image among the comity of nations. Negative image is attributed to corruption, electoral offences etc. Therefore, Nigerians should shun any act that would depict our country in a bad light.
5. Poverty: Experts have ascribed poverty as the root cause of vote buying in Nigerian elections. This act is very inimical to democracy. The rate of poverty in Nigeria is alarming. According to United Nations index of poverty in Nigeria asserted that an average Nigerian feed less than one dollar per day. This validation is true to some extent because, if you take an inventory to ascertain the level of poverty amid Nigerians, you will concur with UN position. Nigeria is blessed with arable land, human and natural resources that if judiciously harnessed, we would be competing with developed nations and our economy would robust than we ever anticipated, but the problem is that, corrupt leaders have in the past robbed Nigerians their virility of enjoying a better life. This is the time Nigerians are supposed to choose credible leaders whose concern is to ameliorate poverty by embarking on projects that have direct impacts on the populace. Leaders that will feel the cry of the masses, rather than allowing greedy politicians to lure them in disgruntled act.
6. Dwindling life Expectancy: The truth about life is, if you have money, chances are that, you can afford basic necessities of life including good medical services. But if there is no money, you can easily die in the situation that requires emergency. Lack of proper medical attention have made a lot of people to die. Malnutrition and starvation has been a causative factor to the demise of many individuals in Nigeria and across Africa. For example the issue of youths irregular migration in Nigeria was as a results of those seeking for a better life, in which thousands died on their way for scavenging for greener pasture in foreign lands. Those who ordinarily would have enjoyed longer life expectancy have died because of one problem or the other.
These squarely treated points are some of the effects of vote buying and selling that portends an ostrichlike to our democracy. Therefore the public should desist from this unfriendly act that is capable of disintegrating our unity and nineteenth years unbroken democracy.
David Etika
Journalist Activist
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