As the process of politicking has already started and campaign is about to start in months-time, there is the need for the general public to be mindful of who to vote. Different people have different reasons for electing different candidates. Such reasons are numerous and might be justified by the electorate, but there is only one valid and acceptable reason for electing a candidate: performance.
Why is it that in the 21st century people still think and vote solely for ethnic, political, sectional or religious sentiment? Ibrahim voted Abubakar because he (Abubakar) is a Muslim. Oluwabi had voted for Adeshola because they are both Yoruba. Okechukwu cast his vote for Ekpeyong because he (Ekpeyong) is a fellow Southerner to Okechukwu. Barnabas vowed to vote Nda based on nothing but party affiliation.
However, candidates ought to be voted for their track records of performance, whether they held a political office in the past or they are just private wealthy individuals who used their wealth and developed their various communities, rather than sentimental attachments.
We, as reasonable people, shouldn’t be expected to vote for any candidate just for his religious belief, political party, ethnic background or the region he came from. We ought to know better. Historically, in Nigeria, people who were voted due to their tribes have failed their kin and kith; those voted in for being members of certain religion have eventually disappointed their brethren; and the ones who were handed over the mantle of leadership by regional bigots have also failed their region woefully.
In any civilised society, the only valid and accepted reason for voting any candidate for any position is certainly not which language the candidate speaks, not where he was born or where he resides, not what type of clothes he wears, not what he worships. Of course, it is by looking at what he did in the past and what he is capable of doing if he wins the election.
I will not rest on my oars on pleading and will always continue to urge the public to vote wisely and peacefully. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
Farouk Isa Musa,
Kano
