Achievement is an English word that represents promotion, success, prestige, breakthrough, enjoyment, satisfaction, improvement… In fact add as many words as can be associated with the good side of life and you would be right. Wherever achievement exists is where all the focus shifts. I mean human focus – just to be identified with it, moreso as with the achiever.
And so achievement is synonymous with people who engage in one venture or the other for the sake of improving life and ensuring the comfort of all calibre of human beings: male and female, old and young, white and black, educated and uneducated, informed and uninformed, rich and poor.
Achievement is central to life endeavours, be it political, economic and religious. Political achievements cannot be separated from their economic counterparts since political participation remains relevant only in so far as there are things on ground for political parties and their leaders to refer to while conversing for the co-operation of the electorate during elections.
In Nigeria, 2019, that’s next year, will usher in another period of elections as the present political office holders put their cards on the table for second terms in office. From elections into the Houses of Assembly in many states to the Governorship, House of Representatives, Senatorial and Presidential elections, the registered political parties are set to sponsor contestants that will carry their flags during this important period.
Inspite of the fact that the number of registered political parties has continued to increase, only an insignificant percentage look poised to take part in the elections and among these will be the traditional participants in the previous exercises such as the main opposition party People’s Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Progressive Parties Alliance (PPA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Accord Party and the ruling All Progressives congress (APC) etc.
It is most likely that there is going to be a coalition of political parties during the elections next year as strong indications are emerging that only a coalition of the opposition parties can be formidable enough to wrestle power from the ruling APC and the main opposition(PDP) if it fails to form part of the coalition.
The utmost aim of these parties is to achieve victory. For victory to be realistic, parties organize themselves in terms of the various efforts and inputs to facilitate success at the polls. Electioneering campaigns and rallies must be embarked upon right from the local government wards to the state and national levels. Thus funds are mustered from here and there which must be spent on voters, party leaders and for expenses to be incurred and other logistics. Cars, motorcycles, cash, drinks, clothes and other kinds of gifts are to be freely used to entice voters.
From the history of elections in Nigeria and the pattern of voting as well as the behaviour of the electorate, political parties have been succeeding in using this inducing ploys to achieve victories.
Now if we consider a situation whereby political parties in Nigeria employ the use of the above to win elections, it is clearly decipherable that they are flawed; meaning that they negate, counter and rubbish acceptable democratic norms and principles that true and decent democratic tenets the world over endorse.
For any person to aspire to rule and as a matter of fact, for candidates to aspire for re-election, they must show evidence of positive developmental impacts not only on their immediate environments but also on the nation in general. Same should also be the yardstick for eligibility of incumbent governors and sitting members of State and National Assemblies. And the criteria must be on tangible and laudable achievements seen in the states where they rule and the constituencies they represent.
If aspiring public office holders, whether businessmen or women, corporate personalities and even clergymen must be allowed to contest elections on the platform of any political party, they must be thoroughly scrutinized and found very capable of touching the lives of the people through leadership styles that transform to tangible results. This can be decided from their personal achievements for themselves and for the generality of Nigerians through the business and corporate successes already witnessed and evidence of assistance in developing their local communities in terms of hospitals, schools and even roads built for the people. Such aspirants must not be selfish individuals whose only reason for the foray into politics is to embezzle public fund, encourage nepotism and engage in other corrupt practices nor should any ethnic or religious apologist be given an opportunity. This is necessary in order to block people with sentiments and beliefs that may bring divisions and bickering capable of triggering national conflagration as a result of the evil acts they may likely engage in.
Provisions must be made for the state to function maximally such that people live comfortably and in such a way that every aspect of national life must impacted upon. Thus security of lives and property should be the foremost priority area for the seekers of political offices. Where life is nasty and brutish, where there is constant ethnic clashes, killings, terrorism, militancy, insurgency, kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, assassinations, riots and arson, the possibility of peaceful co-existence is always an illusion and a dream fulfilled at the cost of so much blood. This is what we are witnessing today in Nigeria with news of blood-letting emerging on daily basis from many parts of the country.
Development in infrastructures such as good healthcare systems with availability of well-equipped hospitals, good road networks, schools and other amenities should be uppermost in the minds of party leaders as they get ready to sponsor of candidate for the 2019 elections. A situation in which electoral contests are based on projecting the highest bidders in terms of cash doled out and splashed on party leaders is retrogressive and counter-productive.
When aspirants buy cars, motorcycles, wrappers, phones, bags of rice, beans, garri, tubers of yams etc and distribute to selected members of their parties to get votes, it means buying the collective will of the people. How can you put such elected representatives to task if they fail to execute development projects for the people, when in their minds, they have already settled with the voters via those gifts.
Political parties should focus on free and fair elections next year and this should be by rejecting all forms of electoral fraud arising from basically the use of tugs who hijack ballot boxes, tampering with figures on result sheets, intimidation of party agents, electoral officers.
Tactical use of assassinations, murder, torture and kidnapping of opponents by seekers of public offices during periods of election prevalent even from the first republic is not an achievement and should be used as one of the conditions by political parties to push out bad eggs in our body politics.
It is only the tendency for corruption in the minds of greedy and unconscionable party leaders, individuals and as many dubious Nigerians as are warming up for business as usual that precipitate the demand for scratching of palms and gratifications in this instance. When the parties subject the desire for selfishness and ill-gotten gifts, riches and wealth that only elevate individual statuses to strict check, the generality of the people stand to benefit.
Where the evil tendency of asking for or expecting to be gratified remains unchecked and continues to be sustained, result is that vast national wealth will continue to lines private pockets of the politicians. Such stolen wealth never benefit the people neither will they be channelled to economic development except for the pittance they spent on hijacking the will of the people. This is rape of democracy and it scuttles the quest for personal financial independence and expression of the common man.
In the light of all the above impediments to electoral success, its highly impossible to witness the needed political development even as the much talked about economic independence Nigerians so much desire remains elusive.
For Nigeria to be better, elections to offices in the 2019 general election must be seen as contests not wars that may escalate to recording of misfortunes that remain permanent national scars. Invariably, Success in these elections must be seen as divine privileges and not rights that must be enjoyed at the expense lives and property.
