It’s a fact that the Nigerian constitution grants every citizen from the age of 18 years a right to vote and to be voted for, there’s no doubt about this. One may ask or wonder why I chose to speak on this aspect or what prompted me to go to this length knowing full well about the foregoing.
Before dwelling on the main issue, I will briefly highlight some major ways that one needs to follow in the process of participating in politics, these include holding political office holders accountable and aspiring for political office.
Holding our elected public office holders to account refers to the “Pressure Groups”. These are groups of people that are not partisan. The main objective(s) is to ensure that every political office holder discharges his duties efficiently.
Aspiring for political office is an act of practising partisanship,and one must contest a certain seat in politics.
It has been observed that there are some categories of people whose participation in the politics will definitely yield good results, particularly Islamic clerics, because they are role models and are their consciousness in obeying God’s laws can’t be overemphasised.
However, as people who have a poor insight on how Nigerian politics is played, and how sometimes our politicians show their true colours after they have gotten “power of decision making that will affect society or a country”, the best thing for our Islamic clerics to do for themselves and their followers is to stop accepting any government’s appointment.
Instead, they should aspire for political seat, because an appointee is always answerable and loyal to his employer, regardless of the circumstances.
Furthermore, an appointee does not have absolute power of decision making, in fact he is not different from a tenant, because a tenant cannot take a decision without the consent of his/her landlord.
People should get it clear that there is nothing wrong for an Islamic cleric to accept government’s appointment, but it should noted that an appointee will forever remain like a mere decoration in a home.
But if an Islamic leader wants to bring positive change and sustainable development in the country, then executive power or legislative seat is the only and the perfect platform for them to show their desire in, because through that they will be able to correct many wrongs, and above all they will have absolute power of decision making, more especially the executive seat.
Aubakar Muhammad Sani,
Kaduna
