By Yusuf Goje
I just wish we took governance as serious as we take politics. Politics is about power, while governance is about development. Our elections will continue to be a disaster until we shift the narrative from personalities (primordial sentiments) to developmental issues.
It matters little to me whether it is APC or PDP or any other party that win elections, what matters is my responsibility of holding them to account for the mandate either given to them via votes or stolen.
While we waste valuable time debating the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa, by now we should have known that to the politicians morality or due process counts for nothing, the end to them justifies the means.
As we busy ourselves celebrating or criticizing the outcome of the elections, lets not forget that the 2019 budget implementation is ongoing at the Federal, State and Local Government levels. And that is what should matter to us.
The reason why they distract you with partisan politics is so that you pay little or no attention to how they utilize the resources they are fighting (using us to kill and main ourselves) to take control of via elections, which is war to them.
They have misled many into thinking that the change or transformation or any other applicable slogan we desire can be achieved only through joining partisan politics. Nothing bad in being a politician, but it becomes dangerous when the motivation is not ideological but inordinate ambition.
However, ideally after elections, the elected candidate should be for all regardless of political orientation, as issues of development cuts across all divide.
Back to the critical questions we should rhetorically ask ourselves; first, if everyone becomes a politician, then who will hold the politicians accountable?
Secondly, why don’t they release/spend as much money as they do mobilizing people during elections to either vote or rig for them, on mass mobilization of citizens to actively participate in governance (especially tracking the procurement process and contract execution)? The answer is clear.
I can bet you if we actively participate in tracking governance process towards ensuring value for money for every project or intervention of government, politics will become less attractive and our elections will witness sanity. As there will be no room for abuse of power and primitive accumulation of resources/privileges.
Let me conclude by quoting section 14 of the 1999 constitution (as amended):
(1) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice.
(2) It is hereby, accordingly, declared that:
(a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority;
(b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government: and
(c) the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
Remember: The quality of our participation in governance determine the quality of governance we get.
Yusuf I.Goje
CALPED
