Election 2007: A Time To Sow The Good SeedsBy Rima Amadi
As the general elections of 2007 draw nearer with political office aspirants beckoning for support with the help of influential politicians positioning themselves as leaders of their ethnic communities and collecting money from aspirants and would be aspirants. Although the money collected by these self-acclaimed front line politicians is to be used to bribe of ‘settle’ the delegates or the voters in order to support their candidacy, most of it end up in the pockets of the rogue front line politicians.
The caliber and integrity of the candidates supported or rigged into elective offices are like seeds of leadership that are sown during elections to be reaped when such candidates eventually get into offices. What is sown is what is reaped, you cannot sow yellow yam and expect to harvest white yam. As the saying in computer language goes garbage-in garbage-out. One cannot help a criminal get into elective office through rigging or any other crooked manipulation only to then turn around to expect miracle or good governance from such a crook as senator, governor or president. A crook or criminal would always carry out crooked or criminal activities.
There is no excuse for Nigerians to once again allow criminals to get into office in 2007. After the abysmal poor performance and massive corruption of our various state governors, it is an insult to Nigerian masses that any one of the governors would even dream of succeeding president Obasanjo let alone carrying out a serious public campaign to achieve such a dream. One might say that it’s not fair to group all the governors as corrupt because not all of them have been indicted for corrupt practices. Well, being indicted by the EFCC, ICPC or an administrative panel is not just the only good gauge to tell who’s corrupt and who’s not since it is an open secret that some of the corrupt governors are sacred cows to the president Obasanjo’s government, especially those who were at the fore front in favor of his failed third bid. We must not forget that it’s the same president Obasanjo who turned the other way when Chris Uba and then governor Ngige admitted before him that they rigged the 2003 elections in Anambra state. I say, the court of public opinion for now is the best gauge that Nigeria has to tell who is corrupt and who is not. IBB has not been indicted by any agency, all he did was refuse to appear before the Pius Okigbo panel, and yet public opinion has it that Nigerians and the whole world know him as corrupt. In the same vain, Nigerians know who the corrupt governors and senators are, whether they are indicted by an agency or not. Nigerians knew who these governors were before they got into office, how rich they were, their lifestyles then, how they spent money then and their assets then compared to their present living standards.
We are all responsible for who becomes our leader in 2007. Nobody should claim that he/she does not know who the criminals amongst us are, they are our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and neighbors who do not have any known sources of income or are political office holders whose salaries are well known, and yet overnight they become millionaires and start to flaunt money around with impunity. And to prove how degenerated our society has become nobody questions their sources of wealth. To make matters worse equally corrupt and disgraceful traditional rulers sell worthless chieftaincy titles to these criminals, thereby rewarding their criminal activities. I hope our fore fathers would punish accordingly those corrupt traditional rulers who desecrate their thrones by associating with criminals and corrupt politicians whose actions only devalue the moral integrity of our traditional societies.
One cannot help but imagine the impact and the multiplier effect of letting corrupt people hold our political offices. If a criminal or a 419ner becomes a governor, chances are that the commissioners and Judges that will be appointed would also be criminals and equally pitifully corrupt, and so would be the traditional rulers that will be given staff of office to rule their communities. As the saying goes, birds of the same feather flock together. If a criminal or a corrupt politician is put in office as a president or a senator, common sense and conventional wisdom has it that the ministers, heads of parastatals and federal Judges that would be appointed would also be criminals and equally corrupt.
If Nigerians and the leadership of the PDP are serious about the quality of people that would occupy offices in 2007, they should read between the lines on the call by the state governors to have one of their own, a current governor succeed President Obasanjo in order to protect their interests. The question that begs for an answer is, what interests are these governors trying to protect, that separates them from the general interests of the public? It does not take a rocket scientist the answer to this question, it is no secret that the interests that these governors want protected are their numerous acts of corrupt practices which only one of them who’s also a partaker in the same acts of corruption can protect after 2007 when they leave office and loose their executive immunities. The governors want to enjoy the kind of protection that IBB currently enjoys under president Obasanjo. If IBB does not enjoy protection from president Obasanjo, why then does the EFCC bark so much at IBB and yet no indictment or prosecution has been brought against him?
This is the time for Nigerians to ask themselves this important question, why have these politicians suddenly remembered that they (voters) exist and also have needs and most be given money to satisfy those needs? The answer to the question is, because the shameless politicians want the Nigerian voters to help them get back into office so that they can continue their looting spree. The Nigerian voters should take the money when offered because it is their money that the corrupt politicians stole by their neglect to utilize the money for public good. After taking the money, the Nigerian voters must make sure that they dump those corrupt and crazy politicians who only remember their constituencies during electioneering campaigns. Nigerian voters should always have in the back of their minds what the scriptures say, that he who gives you food to feed today may not be there for you tomorrow when you go hungry again, but he who teaches you how to feed today, feeds you for a lifetime. A politician who uses public money to do public good by building schools, roads, hospitals, creating jobs and infrastructure is better, anytime than that politician who steals public money and neglects to do public good, but would only give voters about fifty thousand naira (N50,000) each, every four years during elections or re-elections.
The forth-coming general elections of 2007 would afford Nigerians the opportunity to hold these politicians responsible for their actions or in-actions while in their previous offices. The electorate should show the politicians that they only care about their performance in office and not the chicken change money they give them every four years when they want their votes. If the electorate does not start now to hold these politicians responsible for what they have done or failed to do while in office, they would never change and start to think of the general well being and welfare of the Nigerian masses. For Nigerians to demand for accountability from those voted into office, they must make sure that they give legitimate mandate through a free exercise of suffrage and making sure that the person with the majority of votes emerges the winner, and it is only when that happens that accountability can be justifiably demanded by the electorate.
The importance of legitimate mandate could never be over-emphasized, Nigerians were all aware how the senate under Adolphus Wabara was just a rubber stamp of the executive branch just because Wabara did not have a legitimate mandate, but somebody who wanted him in the senate so badly, helped him pay off a guy named Imo who got the people’s mandate at the elections. Wabara did not think he owed accountability to the people but rather to that person who helped him to pay off Mr. Imo. And so, Wabara as the then senate president undermined the oversight duties of the senate. Nigerians were also aware when the Nigerian judiciary shamelessly took three years to restore the legitimate mandate of Peter Obi of Anambra state but left behind the numerous local government chairmen, councilors, senators, house of assembly and house of representative members who were also illegitimately installed with Chris Ngige, as boldly admitted by Chris Uba, during the 10th World Igbo Congress held in Newark New Jersey, USA, that 95% of the 2003 elections held in Anambra state were won by APGA. Just as expected, the lame dock Gov. Peter Obi was later unjustifiably impeached by the illegitimate Anambra house of assembly. The electorate must at all times show contempt and disgust when legitimate mandate is denied. Legitimate mandate does not come through voters selling their votes or through election rigging, but rather it comes through a free exercise of franchise with voters expressing their rights to elect their choices of candidates.
2007 would unmake or completely make Nigeria a corrupt nation. It should be the year to stop the multiplier effects of corruption and finally nail its coffin in Nigeria by electing leaders with honor and integrity who can bring back the pride of being a Nigerian again. If Nigerians expect investors to come back to Nigeria, and for Nigeria to begin to reap the good fruits of leadership and good governance, this is the time to sow the seeds that would germinate into honest, accountable, discipline, vision, solution-oriented, transparent and God fearing leaders with integrity that would bring about the good leadership and good governance that Nigerians are desperately waiting to reap from democracy. May God Almighty continue to help the oppressed people in Nigeria.
By: Rima Amadi New Jersey, USA
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