The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced late last month that the 2023 general elections will be held on Saturday, the 18th of February of the year.
The commission has since then ramped up preparatory activities such as the creation of new polling units and continuous voter registration while major political parties have, on their part, started both intra- and inter-party machinations in preparations for the elections. The only category that seems to be still sleeping is Nigerians – especially youths – who are at the receiving end of whatever politicians decide.
In line with the boiling flog style (on which I wrote two weeks ago), we may think 2023 is still far off, but it is not. Electioneering activities will take off in earnest about a year from now and politicians are already far ahead. Part of the challenge with our past attempts to change the way that our politics is done was that they came too little too late and we can’t afford to repeat the same mistake. If we were to have a go at ushering in a better way of doing politics in 2023 by promoting security, good education, economic opportunities, health and building infrastructure, all well-meaning Nigerians must bond together and actively participate to rescue our country. This must include youths and women, traditional and religious scholars, traders and professionals – Nigerians from all corners of the country, from all ethnic and tribal backgrounds and from all walks of life. We cannot continue to be deterred by the erroneous notion that politics is a “dirty game”.
The corrosive consequences of such a mindset are there for all to see. It makes politics a game that only dirty, brutal and treacherous liars can play successfully. That is what is happening in our country. People with the required integrity, knowledge and skills will not seek political leadership, either focusing on their work or end up becoming public commentators. And since, by our constitutional arrangement, one can only attain leadership by seeking elected office, it means that the very worst of us end up ruling us. From our security to our economy to our hospitals and schools, the grim result spares no one except its architects, who divert our resources to secure their families, educate their children and fund their profligate lifestyles at home and abroad. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: because all politicians get tarred with this brush, those who value their reputations for probity hesitate to get involved.
But politics should neither be filthy nor reduced to a game. On thecontrary, political life should be a sacred vocation. Politics is the most consequential endeavour in any society. It puts people in charge of public resources, empowers them to legislate and execute laws and policies. If a country were a living thing, politics is its heart, the engine of the vascular system. If the heart is sound, the entire body is both spiritually and physically sound and if it is bad, the entire body is bad. Contrary to playing a dirty game, Shaykh ‘Uthman Dan Fodio said in his Diya’ al-Siyasat (Illuminating Light on Politics) that participating in politics delivers on the common good, which is obligatory for every single Muslim.
Because of our lack of participation, Nigerian politics has become completely broken from the perspective of ordinary citizens. I believe this is one thing most of us – for all our polarisation – can agree on. We are all concerned with the current turn of events in our country and are even more worried about its direction. The disappointing 34.7 per cent voter turnout in the last election is a demonstration of this and many more have become disillusioned since then. But we cannot change things by watching and wailing. If we do not close ranks now and get our heads down, we will in 2023 be faced with yet another set of two evils between whom we must choose. We will then wail for another four years before repeating the same cycle over again. We have got to stop agonising and start organising and the time to start was yesterday.
One way to partake in politicking is by registering as party members and gain a say not only in those parties’ ideology and manifesto, but also on who becomes candidates for elections at local, state and national levels. This is key to fielding the best candidates – including ourselves – and holding politicians and parties to account. There are fantastic, intelligent, dedicated Nigerians – including among our politicians – but they rarely reach the top because our system is skewed in favour of those who play dirty. It is, therefore, part of our duty as citizens to search for and support those who are clean and competent. But we can only effectively do so if enough of us earn a stake in political parties.
Also, we can engage in aggressive voter education to encourage Nigerians not only to register and vote, but also to hold their elected officials accountable every step of the way. With INEC’s announcement last month that continuous voter registration will resume soon, we have got a golden opportunity to encourage our family, friends and everyone who is not registered – including those who turned 18 in the last three years since the registration was paused – to register to vote. This is one good area we can leverage our social media influence. But we must bear in mind that there is simply no alternative to on-the-ground participation and engagement. Passionate online advocacy may help, but keyboard participation can only do so much – for most of those we should be targeting are not on the internet and are not even lettered. They are the ones our unscrupulous politicians have been exploiting and they are working like the devil to do so again.
In the wake of the #EndSARS protests last October, there was an enthusiastic conversation on how to channel the enormous energy generated towards a robust political participation. But, as the hashtag sank, so did the zeal. That is because everyone thought someone should take the lead and so nobody did. It is high time we renewed this drive and started taking concrete steps. Part of the challenge of the #EndSARS – which was ironically also one of its strengths – was the lack of central leadership. The positive was that because there was no single leader, our rulers couldn’t put their finger on who to arrest or compromise. But the negative aspect was that without a leadership there was no one to articulate demands, strategise, engage with stakeholders, make collective decisions and give directions. Thus, part of planning is setting a good leadership structure from ward to national levels.
There is no question that our current politicians have shown themselves to be unwilling to sow the seeds of a Nigeria that our children will be proud of; if they deny that claim, then the only alternative is that they are too intellectually deficient to be entrusted with authority. Either way, they do not have any business to be even close to the centre of affairs and they know it. But they are not – and will never be – ready to relinquish their power, which brings ill-gotten wealth, luxury and influence. The only way forward is to wrestle power from them in the manner stipulated by law. This requires painstaking planning and implementation, which cannot wait.
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