One of the major requirements of the contemporary Nigerian
politician is to have money. After all, Saddam Hussein once said that if
one cannot be corrupted with money, one can be corrupted with too much
money. In other words, everyone is assumed to have a price, and if the
price is right he or she can be bought. While there are many who acquire
money through legitimate means, some acquire money through petty
stealing or armed robbery. Others get money through practicing fetish
things. Yet others get it via stealing from public/government sources.
By hook or crook the aspiring politician has to get money and if he does
not have any of his own then he has to surrender to godfathers who have
the money to
sponsor him but this comes at a price.
The aspiring politician may not care to have any serious academic qualification. After all, there was a time in this fourth republic when someone became a Speaker of House of Representatives with fake papers. He may not have done anything for his community or even in his life. All he needed is to be given birth to, by a powerful political father or to be associated with a powerful political godfather, who is ready to bankroll him. After all, the language of politics is money here and in many other places around the world too. To ensure the loyalty of the aspiring politician, the godfather initiates him into something, like cult or to be sworn to an oath. That marks the end of his independence as a human being.
There are no more political parties of any ideological expression and no more politicians of any ideological orientation since the end of the second republic. Politics is no more a call to service but viewed as a pure investment for higher profits. Very few governors are independent of being controlled by godfathers. That means the monthly allocations from the federation account go to servicing these vested interests. At the end of the tenure, the governor will have nothing to show for his years in office.
If it is a legislator, particularly some of the federal ones, they
just lobby to be put in “lucrative” committees. They then embark upon
“oversight” functions. This is just to make sure that they do not
“sight” when money is “over” in that particular agency or department.
Ministers have to promise what contracts they will give to the
legislators before money is “appropriated” in budgets by the Assembly.
As if that is not enough “constituency projects” have to be inserted in
the budget. This is just an institutionalized bribe by the executive to
the legislature since there is nowhere in the world where the legislator
“executes” projects. The legislator is to pass law and to make sure
that money appropriated is spent judiciously by the executive. That is
the oversight function and not to go to ministry to collect
Ghana-must-go bags of money.
Meanwhile, two or three years down the road, the governor will start buying pages of newspapers or magazines to “showcase” his “achievements”. Believe me, honey does not need to be marketed. Only sugary thing will be marketed as everyone knows the value of honey. So if you see anyone advertising his so called achievements, be careful before you get deceived. If you have really worked for the people you do not need to advertise. The people will know and judge accordingly on voting day. But if after collecting billions you are showing a few buildings and roads under construction to justify these billions then something is wrong somewhere. That means, the only way for you to get re-elected is to accumulate money to bribe the electoral officials, the law enforcement agents and even the judiciary to remain in office.
As for the legislators, particularly some of the federal ones, instead of telling us how many bills they have passed to impact positively in our lives, a few months to elections they buy bags of rice, wheelchairs for beggars, and even cheap handsets and call on one of their “principal officers” to come and witness their “constituency projects”. I was told of one who even bought donkeys to distribute to his begging constituents to ease their begging movement! Can anyone beat that?
Soon enough, it comes the time for elections again. For some of the governors, they start sponsoring articles that they deserve “higher” offices just because President Obasanjo had facilitated the emergence of Yar’Adua and Jonathan, two former governors as Presidents at some point. Sure enough there are some governors who are presidential materials but for the majority one wonders even how they became governors in the first place. For other governors, they make sure they secure a senate seat from their states and become “distinguished” senators. In fact, the senate is becoming like the retirement house of the governors now.
They come to the senate and continue to determine not only the fate of their states but the direction of national policies. If you see any old man who does not want to be old be sure he is an ex-governor who is now a senator. If you see a young man with rosy cheeks full of life, be sure he is a House of Representatives member. And if you see an old man looking fresh even though he is managing old age illness, be sure he is close to the presidency. They eat, fly and ride two or four legged best cars on government expense. These set of people are living while the rest of the people are just existing.
The people consistently voted for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) for four consecutive elections. They saw that the PDP has derailed from the path of progress and decided to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Soon, the PDP elements quickly moved to the APC and got elected in the APC change bandwagon. The PDP virus is difficult to be cured, apparently.
Consequently, the PDP is becoming APC and the APC is becoming PDP. Those who were lifting oil under PDP are the same given the go ahead to lift oil under APC recently. In other words, the change has changed very little since those who were empowered economically to service the PDP machine are the same enjoying the same thing now. Thus, it appears those who voted for change are being short-changed. The one at the top is just holding the horns for others to milk. When will this cycle break? It appears if you put a cube of sugar in liquid you can never retrieve the same cube of sugar. History is on the side of the oppressed!
Credit: www.leadership.ng/
sponsor him but this comes at a price.
The aspiring politician may not care to have any serious academic qualification. After all, there was a time in this fourth republic when someone became a Speaker of House of Representatives with fake papers. He may not have done anything for his community or even in his life. All he needed is to be given birth to, by a powerful political father or to be associated with a powerful political godfather, who is ready to bankroll him. After all, the language of politics is money here and in many other places around the world too. To ensure the loyalty of the aspiring politician, the godfather initiates him into something, like cult or to be sworn to an oath. That marks the end of his independence as a human being.
There are no more political parties of any ideological expression and no more politicians of any ideological orientation since the end of the second republic. Politics is no more a call to service but viewed as a pure investment for higher profits. Very few governors are independent of being controlled by godfathers. That means the monthly allocations from the federation account go to servicing these vested interests. At the end of the tenure, the governor will have nothing to show for his years in office.
Meanwhile, two or three years down the road, the governor will start buying pages of newspapers or magazines to “showcase” his “achievements”. Believe me, honey does not need to be marketed. Only sugary thing will be marketed as everyone knows the value of honey. So if you see anyone advertising his so called achievements, be careful before you get deceived. If you have really worked for the people you do not need to advertise. The people will know and judge accordingly on voting day. But if after collecting billions you are showing a few buildings and roads under construction to justify these billions then something is wrong somewhere. That means, the only way for you to get re-elected is to accumulate money to bribe the electoral officials, the law enforcement agents and even the judiciary to remain in office.
As for the legislators, particularly some of the federal ones, instead of telling us how many bills they have passed to impact positively in our lives, a few months to elections they buy bags of rice, wheelchairs for beggars, and even cheap handsets and call on one of their “principal officers” to come and witness their “constituency projects”. I was told of one who even bought donkeys to distribute to his begging constituents to ease their begging movement! Can anyone beat that?
Soon enough, it comes the time for elections again. For some of the governors, they start sponsoring articles that they deserve “higher” offices just because President Obasanjo had facilitated the emergence of Yar’Adua and Jonathan, two former governors as Presidents at some point. Sure enough there are some governors who are presidential materials but for the majority one wonders even how they became governors in the first place. For other governors, they make sure they secure a senate seat from their states and become “distinguished” senators. In fact, the senate is becoming like the retirement house of the governors now.
They come to the senate and continue to determine not only the fate of their states but the direction of national policies. If you see any old man who does not want to be old be sure he is an ex-governor who is now a senator. If you see a young man with rosy cheeks full of life, be sure he is a House of Representatives member. And if you see an old man looking fresh even though he is managing old age illness, be sure he is close to the presidency. They eat, fly and ride two or four legged best cars on government expense. These set of people are living while the rest of the people are just existing.
The people consistently voted for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) for four consecutive elections. They saw that the PDP has derailed from the path of progress and decided to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Soon, the PDP elements quickly moved to the APC and got elected in the APC change bandwagon. The PDP virus is difficult to be cured, apparently.
Consequently, the PDP is becoming APC and the APC is becoming PDP. Those who were lifting oil under PDP are the same given the go ahead to lift oil under APC recently. In other words, the change has changed very little since those who were empowered economically to service the PDP machine are the same enjoying the same thing now. Thus, it appears those who voted for change are being short-changed. The one at the top is just holding the horns for others to milk. When will this cycle break? It appears if you put a cube of sugar in liquid you can never retrieve the same cube of sugar. History is on the side of the oppressed!
Credit: www.leadership.ng/
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