It was a motley audience, comprising persons from the academic, law, medicine, literary art, politics and the media. All of them had converged last Saturday on Debonair Bookstore in Herbert Macaulay Way in Ebute-Metta, to listen to a seasoned writer, poet and now politician, read gleefully his book, Tenants of the House. The 306-page publication encapsulates part of the endless intrigues in the Nigerian polity.Whereas the intention of the organisers of the event was to showcase the latest masterpiece from inimitable Okediran, the audience was held spellbound by the bitterness, near frustration and despair conveyed in the submissions of other speakers on the state of the nation. The occasion was eventually rounded off with the dignitaries raising fresh hope about the Nigerian project, as their reckoning, coming elections provide a unified prospect to restore public confidence and trust in government.Old School is another popular rendezvous on Lagos Mainland. Many professionals often retire there at dawn and most weekends, to chill out and savour different local delicacies and continental dishes.Lately, the joint, to use a common parlance, has become an observatory for political issues, with few discussants exhibiting traces of dogmatism. The debates are usually hot, incisive and instructive because a lot of the participants are cerebral. Though, some of the debates can be pedestrian, mundane and absolutely nauseating because the actors exhibit crass ignorance, choose to play to the gallery and hallucinate. The two scenarios played out last Sunday when four out of six commentators at Old School, vowed not to have anything to do with the pending elections. Their argument was that nothing had changed so far either in terms of the dramatis personae at the level of the electoral body, political parties and those who pay the piper.Many citizens with a similar disposition could be found across the country. They cut across class, creed and status. They are going about with a mindset that nothing good or significant could come out of the elections. They have become disillusioned because of the huge deficit by leaders in fulfilling promises to the electorate. These people are among the hordes of adults, who are still skeptical or had become almost incurable pessimists about the conduct of Nigerian political leaders to public service. They are becoming increasingly rigid on their resolve to be apathetic on the day of the elections, in spite of having made sure that their names are in the voter register.Many of their households, who only attained suffrage under the present dispensation, are being indoctrinated to lose hope and confidence in the ballot box because of the fiasco of the past called elections. A lot of adults say it with a false sense of pride that they had never voted in their lives and were ready not to do so in the present dispensation. They struggled to get registered, but say their voter cards were only precious items because of the folly of public officials to attach strange conditionality to public access to certain benefits from the government.Because we are in a democracy, such individuals have the right to take whatever position they consider to be appropriate and in their interest on the elections as long as they do not infringe on the law. No one should begrudge them for taking such decisions, since they have shown to appreciate the importance of a voter card. However, we need to appeal to the conscience of such individuals, in view of the greater significance of the election to posterity. A non-challalant attitude will only ensure that status quo persists. As voters, Nigerians possess the real weapon to make the necessary change beginning from Saturday; they are at the dawn of enthroning only persons that appreciate the value of public service, who are ready to live by it and die for it. But we must put in an extra-effort to distill the good from the bad and vote wisely, and not based on any Greek gift because the latter is a bait designed to mortgage the future of the country.I agree with many that most of the current bloodletting among politicians is a mark of the systemic security and intelligence failure. All relevant agencies, including the federal government, must accept the responsibility and own up to the tragedies. The fact that the police had to admit that some politicians were allegedly stockpiling arms and ammunition, ostensibly to prosecute political wars meant the authorities had privileged information on the irrationality but failed to act appropriately. So, the police should tender a public apology for the bloody clashes Nigerians are being subjected to simply because a few individuals are bent on having their way instead of allowing the electorate to confer their mandate on candidates they can trust. A similar penance is required from officers in other security services that have been giving lame excuses for the security lapses, which have culminated in the ongoing barbarism in the land.Nigerians must not succumb to the attempt by certain forces to cow them. They should not allow the few bad elements, who are trying to create a climate of fear with the aim of frustrating the aggressive national drive to effect change through the ballot box. The raging horrendous political killings in many states are condemnable, especially in Akwa Ibom State, where some conscienceless individuals went berserk, engaging in the wanton destruction of public property and savage killings. These avoidable tragedies should be enough to strengthen the resolve by Nigerians to vote wisely, so that Nigeria can be free from the shenanigan of power mongers and usurpers. The right place and time to begin the process of effecting the change is through the elections into the Senate and House of Representatives.The leadership of the outgoing National Assembly has consistently scored the legislature high in the performance of its statutory functions. The populace thinks otherwise, as the majority of the citizens believe the lawmakers have largely shirked in their constitutional responsibilities. The general opinion is that they have exploited the system to feather their own nests, while the majority cringes with awe and frustration. A number of the present lawmakers could not secure the tickets of their party to seek re-election. A few are trying other platforms to go back to the National Assembly. It is through the election of next Saturday that the electorate can pass the right judgment on the conduct, action and inaction of those seeking public mandate to be among the next set of legislators. The cumbersome nature of enforcing the clause on recall for any erring elected public officers makes it imperative that Nigerians take a concerted effort to elect men and women of good character and unimpeachable integrity.Legislators form an integral part of the machinery of government. They are part of the aggregate of forces that guide against the abuse of office by the other arms of government, especially the Executive, which given the present federal arrangement, is too powerful. The legislators also constitute part of the group of elected public officers that assist in checks and balances in the running of government. They are to make sure that budgets are implemented as sensibly appropriately and that there is thorough and proper monitoring of projects, and not a group of legislators that would stir controversy randomly in order to be settled by government agencies and parastatals. Once the lawmakers perform their oversight functions effectively and efficiently, the Executive arm of government can always be brought to true accountability.Oderemi, 08023501874 (SMS Only)
Click here to read full news..
