21st century electorate dilemma: Past or present failure

ELECTORATE in Nigeria are no doubt caught between the anvil and the harmer as the 2019 election approaches. They are perturbed as to which of the party to vote for, whether that which has failed woefully in 16 years or that which has ensured their country is the world headquarters of poverty in, three years.

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The political atmosphere, in black and white, emphasises a multi-party system, however is this truly the case. The political war, as I like to call it, is now majorly between two parties which makes Nigeria, in practice, a two-party system. A lot has gone wrong with the political atmosphere from time, the selected few or oligarchy in the society have hijacked powers jeopardizing the constitutional principle that sovereignty belongs to the people.

Of course, this is nothing more than a fallacious statement, unfortunately, contained in the ground norm. Electorate no longer decides who wins or loses, the selected few do. This has led to the loss of hope in the entire political organogram by the electorate at large. They are caught in between the fantasies made as manifesto by aspiring political officials and the reality that their vote does not count, and even if it does, they still don’t have the grip of power in the society.

However the rains of hope is beginning to shower on Nigeria’s political system as there is a shift in paradigm from politics of godfatherism to politics of intellectualism. This is however still a shower.

In the recent elections of Ekiti and Osun State where vote buying were predominant, Nigerians have began to ask themselves perturbing but intellectual questions like if our votes do not count then why should they buy it? This is beginning to break the scales of ignorance that has for a long time hovered on the faces of the electorate.

This dilemma ravaging the entirety of the electorate in Nigeria can be cured through thorough rigorous and tireless political orientation, reorientation and education.

The youth and able bodied men and women who have given the entirety of themselves to thuggery and causing mayhem as this election approaches should be sensitized that those who they are killing for are behind their television screen drinking coffee. They are not worth dying for because they don’t even care about the thugs. This is why their children aren’t involved in these acts.

Party candidacy is another recent pain in the heart of Nigerians. The electorate is no doubt fed up with the incompetent administration that has dwindled the economy while claiming to fight corruption and blaming it on previous dispensation. However is there really a better replacement or alternative? This question ravages the intellectual mind of Nigerians.

Like I said earlier practically Nigeria is a two party state and the other candidate who the opposition party tenders has several corruption allegations but never convicted. No doubt the law says an accused is innocent until proven guilty.

However, on morality basis, which the law was founded upon, a person who has an antecedent of looting should not be in a political position. The solution to this problem is for the electorate to look outside the box of the two political parties.

Oluwapelumi Awoyale, Lagos