Are you incorruptible, fair, fearless, and would rather have your tongue fall out before you can tell a lie?
Do you thirst for justice and the development of your people? At least, have you been told you have these attributes? Then don’t join politics.
It will change you quickly and kill you slowly. And if you resist the change, you would be miserable.
Politics is not for the honest, the unyielding advocate. Because here, honesty is not an asset. It is a liability, a curse, and a stench that makes your colleagues avoid you and skip over your name when inviting people to meetings.
And don’t listen to those who say good people MUST join politics. Forgive them, they don’t know what they are saying.
The good news is, your skill set can make you an effective leader, so go and be a leader somewhere else.
But you can make an impact – even enjoy politics – if you come with a critical mass. Convince at least 100 people you admire, your friends, your foes – those who have the same mindset as you – to join.
That is what critical mass means. Which is leadership itself. So if you can not persuade at least 50 people to arrive with you, then you are not going to make any difference in government.
Aminu Kano, Balarabe Musa, and a few others came before you. While they had varying degrees of success, the system almost broke their backs. So, who are you?
Don’t join politics. If you are talented and can earn a good income, go ahead and earn money for your people – it is what they need the most. And helping people is what will get you heaven – what YOU need the most.
If you already earn a good income and you join politics, your responsibilities would double and your income would be halved. People would think you belong to them now. They expect you to solve all their problems. The reasonable problems: hospital bills, school fees, money to start a business, installation of transformers, digging boreholes, and so forth. But they also expect you to solve unreasonable, self-inflicted problems too: pay for naming ceremonies, pay for their weddings, bribe others to get them a job.
Except you’re a thief, you can not make enough money in government to take care of these. Also, the person you help today would badmouth you if you are not able to help them tomorrow. And if you decide to help only those that you have not helped before, that is also an inexhaustible list.
Many don’t believe you when you said “I don’t have money.” An older relative of mine once came to my house in Minna. When I told him that the house wasn’t mine, that I was renting it, he didn’t believe me. He only smiled and shook his head. “How could you be so close to the Governor and not have your own house,” they think. They forget that the Governor doesn’t print money.
But they also expect you to steal and give to them. A friend once learned that I rejected a large “appreciation” from a contractor. So he decided to lecture me about it. “You could have collected the money and given it to the poor,” he said. But the money wasn’t mine to give to the poor, I said.
If money is what our people need to solve most of their problems such as going to school and feeding their families, then there is no money in government. At least not at an individual level. You can use the might of the government to solve the problem, but you need support. Support from many good people like you.
I once received a political appointment that paid me less than what my university paid me as a Ph.D. student.
Another political appointment paid me about half a million naira but my account would be empty by the next day. The only thing my family might have gotten from that money might have been only the monthly feeding allowance. The rest went to outsiders. Yet, someone would sit somewhere and said that I had not given him money before and he would have been right because I can’t give to everyone for I had very little.
But the people feel entitled to that little money because I hold a political appointment. Yet, I could be doing better, much better if I had accepted other opportunities (like one’s friends) outside the government. Then, the people wouldn’t think my money is their money and I would be free to help those whom I want only for the sake of Allah.
But one remains in government because he believes the lie that says “if good people don’t participate in politics, they would be governed by their inferiors.”
This is not an Ayah, a hadith, or Gospel. It is attributed to Pluto. Well, Pluto is dead and Pluto may need revision.
Here is the revision:
“If good people don’t join politics in a critical mass, they can not make any meaningful impact and would be overwhelmed by the bad guys.”
So join politics in multitudes or don’t bother.
This rant is open to no question; except by good people who have at least contested for a political seat before. If you’re not and have not, then like Pluto, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
