Voting for a failed government

SOMEBODY had observed that the best way to describe the type of political governance that we have in Nigeria over the last few years, at least, is “government by impoverishment”. That is why from one government to and after the other, the poverty level of the country keeps getting worse. In the last one year, within the present governments at the local and national levels, Nigeria has overtaken India, inspite of their over 1.3 billion people, as the poverty capital of the world. Yet none of these governors at the state level or president at the national level are ready to acknowledge that they understand and are embarrassed with that information, are ready to learn how this has happened and to explain how they intend to reverse that trend. On the contrary, each one of them is trying to say that they are the best thing that ever happened to us and so, we should vote them in again! They claim to be ready to take us to “the next level” (of these calamities, surely) because they are “tested and trusted”! One keeps wondering whether these people understand the next level of what they believe they are taking us – of poverty, of lying, of deception, of irresponsibility, of ineptitude, of cluelessness, of nepotism, ethnic cleansing, or of what? What have they been tested in; and what are they trusted for, and by whom? Worse still, many people, including some of the so-called educated people, are either parts of these ruling junta or some of their obviously unreasoning sycophantic supporters; all based, largely, on their ethnic, tribal and religious corruptive inclinations and upbringing.

As we had variously and at different times observed, the fact that we observe this greater parts of what we experience of the Nigerian political behaviours does not mean that these people have not done any things that are good. Far from it, they obviously have done a couple of good things for which we must appraise them. However, on the whole, these politicians have not done very well; and in most cases really done us in – the very reason for our growing impoverishment. Because of these, we had begged them to try and develop some ears for listening to people outside their sycophants. They should do so even for what their so-called enemies are saying to them, examine them and so see how best they will address those. However, whether they do this or not, we must develop the win-win principles for our future voting in Nigerian elections which should help to teach these people the lessons that they need to learn for the betterment of us all. We all have the privilege as well as duty to make sure that we do those. I had explored these principles in the Friday Tribune of the 11th of January 2019.

• Ekiti deputy gov asks states to demand resource control

In the face of all these realities, and because some people are vehemently avowed to re-electing even many of these failed politicians, governors, governments, and parties, even at the national levels of president, senators and representatives, it has become necessary for us to examine the morality of all such behaviours. A person who, with all the evidences of incompetence, nepotisms, corruption, tribalism, religious fanaticisms, ethnic cleansing, and the peoples’ economic impoverishment as we have all seen in this country, votes any of these individuals and parties back in office must know the gnostic and moral meanings of what they do by such behaviour: 1. They have endorsed these behaviours and are therefore guilty of these, both of the past and especially as these people thus encouraged and affirmed in these by these votes, their continuation (or even, more likely, increments) in the succeeding governance by those people. 2. Those who follow their rather unintelligent argument that having made these “mistakes” and having learnt of them in this current failed governance (but with no acts of the needed repentances and change now alreadY) will use the knowledge to do it correctly after they had been elected, again! Obviously, this argument, which has come to be referred in Nigeria to as the “Esama of Benin formula or logic”, with all due respects, may only be referred to as illogical, an argument from the pits of hell. No Nigerian should bring up or play with such statements and arguments anymore, please!

So, to conclude, every Nigerian must be helped to know that politics, partisan politics at that – unlike the formal or other education process, where people who fail or howsoever do badly are given the privilege of a repeat of the exercise – politicians who do badly or other than excellently, should never be given the chance of a repeat. Otherwise, that will encourage them to continue or even increase in such underdoing because of the clear endorsement that the re-election means and has given them. Only when non-performing politicians are regularly shown the way out will the local or national politics begin to improve! The opposite produces the very exact opposite result. So, anybody who does not join in voting out any and every Nigerian government or political party that has done other than exceptionally or excellently is one of those enslaving and undermining us in this country! We may only hand them over to God to deal with in His own ways and time; while we go on with everybody’s education on what we must do and going ahead to do so. We must ensure that our votes count; or in the face of all evidence to thwart these prepare ahead of time to peacefully and most educatedly, civilly overcome them. God bless Nigeria!

• Asuzu is Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Ibadan