“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” - John F. Kennedy
“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” - John F. Kennedy
The Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy as enshrined in the 1999 constitution deals essentially with the fundamental obligation of the government to its citizens, but the political class ruling Nigeria, their political attitudes and negative orientation toward a common national agenda is suspect because there is no appropriate choice of policies, programmes, and projects, well-sequenced and well-implemented outcomes that will ultimately benefit the majority. In this regard, politicians and their godfathers in the forthcoming elections would do this nation a great amount of service, if they ensure that they relate their manifestoes to the developmental vision of the Nigerian people.
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This article highlights some of the critical mass that politicians and indeed their sponsors should look for as they prepare for electioneering this year particularly from the point of views that the electorates are getting wiser with their votes. A close look at all the political parties particularly the ruling party-the People Democratic Party (PDP) with the concocted mantra power to the people, one presumes there is inclusiveness in matters of individual and the collective interests, respect for the rule of law, civil and individual rights, freedoms and a sense of encouraging all to participate and to take the interests of all into account in matters of governance, national development and above all, internal democracy are totally absent. Imagine the division in the Governors Forum that is mostly populated by PDP governors. While appreciating that section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says every person shall be entitled to assembly freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any association for the protection of his interests.
Indeed most political parties and party leaders and the so called progressives and democrats are not motivated by any share ideology or political incentives, but rather they are driven by material gains above the larger interest. This manifest disregard for issue-based politics raises grave concern for our emerging democracy particularly for the 2015 elections.
On the other hand, the newly registered All Progressive Congress (APC), one would again, assume a sense of an all-inclusive, one approach to responding to issues of national interest devoid of narrow partisanship and putting the country first. A patriotic party in my humble submission is one whose sole and primary interest is in working for the nation. The drum beat of war emanating from their leaders are disquieting and unnecessary particularly in 2014 that is not an election year!
In countries such as Germany, the sense of patriotism is inculcated into leaders from a very early age and they grow up believing in Germany. They say the pledge, respect and value their national ethos and development agenda etc. This is seen in quite a number of other western democracies and whenever the American National Anthem is sung, you can see the passion with which the US citizens sing the anthem and you also see and feel the patriotic sentiment that override parochial party interest after elections result are declared.
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Indeed one of the major failing in Nigeria political engineering is the peddling of falsehoods with a view to drawing attention to its key officers at the national levels and the total lack of respect for electorates in my view is also tantamount to failing on issue-based politics and credible alternatives. Must we accept that just because politics is said to be dirty and politicians will always tell lies to sell their ideas and rig elections, therefore it is in order. If our politicians openly and blatantly tell us lies, exaggerations and other falsehoods as part of their manipulation, should we allow such people to win elections and stay in government?
We must begin to invoke all the provisions in the constitution to demand good and transparent governance at all levels irrespective of our sentiment.
But what do we see in reality and on the ground. We seems to be consumed by the politics of winner takes it all and much as this writer have no quarrel with political party mergers, what we see is one party taunting the government in power or sometime frustrating the opposition party on the other hand, whichever one is the winner of elections at any level. Name calling has becomes the order of the day and as we have seen many drama between the presidency on the one hand and the opposition party on the other hand raise some fundamental questions about the integrity of the practitioners in all the divide. What is more, another major challenge confronting the Nigeria state is the unstable character of our political leaders. A nation that desires real transformation and development must look closely at recruitment patterns to party positions at the grassroots -through – to the state and at the national level. Political parties’ recruitments should take cognizance of political and social background, their organisational experience, educational, psychological well being and above all, value orientation of the individuals towards the common good.
Sadly, we also see politician and political parties actively discouraging their individual members from taking up any government appointments and where and when any of their members seeks to recognise something good in the ruling government or praise any good deed or indeed condemn anything negative from their own side against government, such individuals are accused of having been bribed with juicy contract from the ruling government or they have been compromised. This is common place in Nigeria politics and efforts should be made to address this.
Admittedly, if we must practice democracy as in other climes particularly in the United Kingdom, a number of Labour party - current opposition members have taken up roles in the ruling Conservative and Liberal Coalition government e.g. MP Frank Field. In the US, the former Gates, and current Mr. Hagel, Defence Secretaries belong to the Republican - current opposition party and indeed during the Clinton administration, the then US Defence Secretary appointed by President Clinton was also a Republican. In International Politics, coalition governments and sharing of political positions has characterised politics for a very long time, and single parties running whole governments is harder to achieve except in Nigeria. This is partly explained on the basis of the type of voting systems and the system of representation overall. Practicalities also play their role, not to talk of patriotism and the need for national cohesion, balance and stability of all interest to enhance policy direction.
It will also interest you to know that countries such as Japan and South Korea, politicians, even prime ministers have been known to resign from office for not telling the truth, most especially in cases of corruption. But it seems to me that most Nigerian politicians and public servants are not honourable in the face of wrong-doing. Therefore a constant and constructive civic engagement through various non - state actor platforms like the traditional and new social media must be deployed constantly to set the agenda for national development. The recent Afro barometer public opinion survey in Nigeria says that a majority of the citizens describe the present economic condition of the country as very bad. The Afro barometer (AB) is a comparative series of public opinion surveys that measure public attitudes toward democracy, governance, the economy, leadership, identity, and other related issues across Africa.
Hence you see state governors that cannot hand over to their deputies when they travel out of the country on health grounds in spite of the constitutional provisions on the powers of a governor and their deputies. The inefficiencies in executive - legislative over sight functions also raised worries about our nation building efforts and a true national development agenda.
Politicians and including all well meaning Nigerian's who have something to offer, irrespective of party affiliations. Therefore, there is need to recruit people based on merit and to look for the best people to serve in the various sectors and roles, based on integrity, honour, respect and know - how. It should be noted that the nation is bigger than anyone person, and that people irrespective of party, should accept approaches by parties to join and work for the collective interest of Nigeria with a view to providing credible alternatives in people- centered policies and programmes that will transform our great country.
It is about time Nigerians and indeed the electorates start demanding from politicians - political aspirants, their surrogates, functionaries and groups that at all times they must tell us the truth no matter how much it hurts or is unpleasant in the spirit of national development; and that we will hold them to account for their utterances, actions and inactions in serious matters of state and at constituency levels irrespective of party affiliations.
Orovwuje is Founder, Humanitarian Care for Displaced Persons, Lagos.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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