Being that political leadership shares some characteristics with a business partnership where many shareholders come together to own and run a business, politicians, especially in underdeveloped worlds like Nigeria connive with the prominent and respected members of societies for the maximum profitability of their business of maintaining themselves in power for their benefits.
In Nigeria, politicians use poverty and ignorance as instruments of achieving loyalty, support and even votes during elections from the masses, this is regardless of how they treated these masses while in power or before the declaration of interest in political leadership. It’s a belief that “the strong is never strong enough to maintain himself in power unless he utilizes trusted and well-respected members of the of lower class”.
It’s apparent in Nigeria that whenever elections draw nearer, politicians recruit trusted members of societies to manipulate people’s beliefs and perceptions about politics, and sadly, this time around the recruited personalities includes; journalists, religious scholars, traditional rulers and even the hungry educated class who teach in higher institutions of learning.
Mass quality education being a core instrument of achieving a progressive democratic leadership as it gives citizens insight as regards who to vote for or not and also empowers citizens to say no to anti-people policies of government is neglected and often considered valueless.
The worst part of it is that when these politicians get into power, they develop authoritarian and oppressive tactics, subjugating and antagonize all and sundry irrespective of whether one supported them during the election or not.
To conclude, I suggest that, we have knowledge and experience about how these politicians ruled before and their capacities, let’s use it as a barometer for choosing who to vote for not based on other people’s opinion.
Zaharaddeen Muhammad Azare wrote from Bauchi State
