The nation’s just-concluded general elections can be said to have been a mixed grill positive and unpleasant experiences. Many politicians were elected into various offices across the states without acrimony while elections did not go without the bitter stories of ballot snatching, rigging, killings, abductions and falsification, among others. The atmosphere was charged in many places that voting took place. This could largely be responsible for why there was general voter apathy in the last elections.
The lust and desperation to get into public offices at all cost could be the basis for why political activities have assumed frightening dimensions in recent times. To say the least, our electoral process is tension-filled from the beginning to the end. This system makes it extremely difficult to breed a generation of leaders that would be passionate and rendering selfless service. Tension begins immediately a party wins an election. The losing party rushes to the election tribunal; whether there is any merit or justification for that or not. Huge resources are committed to such fight and legal tussle to reclaim ‘stolen mandate’.
In our dear country, opposition politics in not what it should ordinarily be. What do we have? It is more of finding faults and destructive criticism where nothing good is seen about the ruling party. The next pre-occupation shifts to a call; vote them out of office, rather than engaging in robust and objective criticism of governance. When elections are fast approaching, various aspirants spring up to vie for elective posts. In most cases, those contesting have godfathers, who tell them what to do rather than doing what my people wants me to do. Those aspiring to become leaders are usually handpicked to serve particular interests. As expected, series of nocturnal meetings follow to perfect how to clinch power by all means.
Little attention is paid to examining and evaluating the quality of governance and service delivery with a view to pointing out observable deficiencies and finding possible alternatives that could impact peoples’ lives better and positively. What is of utmost importance for them is to find faults at those at the helm of power, discredit them and take over. Beginning from local government, state and federal polls, there is tension everywhere. Political parties hardly observe internal democracy that even allows the emergence of natural leaders. What usually happens in that rich candidates or those having powerful sponsors are simply handpicked to runs for elections.
This trend has dominated our political landscape for many years. It is the same old faces and persons that are recycled such that the ruling class continues to be relevant, come what may. Prior to elections, for fear of loss and inability to garner popular support, politicians patronise thugs and use other unconventional means either to silent potential opposition or hindrance that could come their way. Hate speech and extra-judicial killings are weapons that some politicians deploy in advancing their interests. As one camp device its tactics, other parties are not short of ideas of how to curb the excesses of their competitors. The tension increases as a build up to electioneering.
Amusing is a new trend whereby all manners of parties spring up with inchoate manifestoes, philosophy and programmes. What is curious is that, the more is the emergence of various candidates going for topmost positions even with little experience and what it takes qualifies into such posts. At the last election, without prejudice, most of the presidential aspirants had no business to vying for the highest position in the land. It is sheer mockery of the entire process for someone that is not even popular in his local government, to aspire to become the president of Nigeria. This is very uncharitable and laughable.
Deployment of military during elections is gradually becoming the norm. This is an absurdity. Apart from defending the territorial integrity of the nation, the role of the military during elections is limited, except when absolutely necessary. The use of military during polls has now been abused as many soldiers deployed for electoral offences take laws into their hands and even engage in electoral malpractice. Many innocent citizens, including journalists are maltreated and assaulted by military men on official duties. This practice adds to the already tensed atmosphere that allows for any peaceful election to hold. When results are announced, electorate stay glued to their television and radio sets, tensed up.
There is need to fix few things so as to get our elections right. To begin with, attitudinal change must be embraced by all. Elections should be seen as sacred and sacrosanct. The necessary environment must be put in place to engender free, fair, credible and transparent elections devoid of tension. Tension jeopardises and deteriorates people’s health. Political offices should be made less attractive such that the desperation to get into political offices at all cost should be downplayed. More importantly, we need to critically look into our electoral laws and start dousing electoral tension that had made the political ambience averse to producing good leadership that the country badly needs.
