FEATURE ARTICLE

Barth Amakihe, Ph.D.Sunday, May 23, 2010
[email protected]
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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SANITIZATION OF THE UGLY POLITICAL PRACTICES IN NIGERIA (1)

igerian politicians are once again inundating the air waves and print media of various promises to actualize their political ambition in the fast approaching election of 2011. The frenzy of alignment and realignment are all designed to win the elections through fair or foul means and thereby control the resources allocated to the Federal, State and Local governments.


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Recently, former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was reported to have dumped his party the (AC) Action Congress for his former party the (PDP) Peoples Democratic Party. Buhari was also reported to have jettisoned his ANPP and is making strong moves to join another political party. It must be recalled that Buhari was in 2003 and 2007, the presidential candidate of the ANPP. Ibrahim Babangida is seriously traversing the Nigerian landscape and seeking the platform on which to actualize his presidential ambition, even after a failed eight year unproductive tenure.

In 2008 and 2009, three Governors and several state legislators dumped their parties on whose platforms they were elected to office and joined the PDP. The movement of these political party leaders into other parties is not against the constitution of the land, but the fact remains whether politicians and their parties do have any philosophical ideologies that shape their manifestoes or platforms for national, state or local development?

Richard Remy, a well known political scholar noted that "political parties and their members in a multi party system often represent widely basic beliefs about government". These beliefs which include political philosophies and principles are reflected in the party's platforms, and shape a political candidate's overall view in developing political or economic agenda for the entire constituency whose votes the candidate is seeking.

Do politicians and their respective political parties in Nigeria ever use their parties' development guidelines or platforms to create a strategy that will uplift their constituencies if and when elected?

How can political parties achieve developmental growth if they do not create platforms or blueprints that are supported by ideological framework for example providing free health care or free meals for children in elementary and secondary schools?

In stable and developed democracies especially in Europe, the United States and Canada, party ideologies and philosophies are the principles that guide political candidates. Party officials and their candidates use these party guidelines to craft their political and economic agenda that are then used for a comprehensive development of the constituency they plan to govern.

The question again is, which of the fifty or so called political parties and their candidates in Nigeria have a well developed and articulative manifestoes for a comprehensive development of the nation or the constituency they plan to govern?

How many political candidates including councilors, local government chairmen, state legislators and their governorship candidates, as well as presidential candidates and the national assembly members develop well thought out agenda of economic growth of their respective constituencies?

How many party executives and their political aspirants had presented to the Nigerian people what plans their parties' have on issues regarding employment, security, education, uninterrupted power supply etc?

Which political candidates have futuristic plans based on their party's ideology for example "Elimination of Hunger" or Provision of Free Health Care to all"?

Can an elected political leader easily dump his party, if he had developed a platform or agenda based on his party's principles?

In a young and troubled democracy such as Nigeria, party leaders must always require candidates routing to become their party's flag bearer to provide comprehensive blueprints of development. These documents or blueprints must fall in-sinc with the overall party's principles and platforms. Moreover, such goals must be based on common beliefs or agenda, for example a free market economy or the enhancement of the proverbial African extended family system which played a pivotal role in stemming poverty.

Politicians must be reminded that winning elections are not only the most important aspect of being an elected official. The most important thing an elected person leaves for himself and posterity are the legacies that future generations will embrace and cherish. Strategizing to win elections at all cost, including the elimination of opponents by fair or foul means or the adoption of the Machiavellian principles will not advance our young democracy.

Political leaders can be elected or re-elected if the voters perceive sincerity on the part of the aspirants, and a clear concrete achievement that are on the ground which incumbents or people running for re-election had accomplished. Voters are not stupid. Nigerian people know when their leaders perform.

Late Governor of Old Imo State, Chief Sam Mbakwe is an icon in the hearts of Imo people today because of his achievements as a state governor. Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. M. I. Okpara pioneered the development of their regions in the areas of Communication and Agriculture. It must be recalled that Chief Awolowo built the first regional broadcasting station in Ibadan while Dr. Okpara embarked on massive agricultural projects that made the then "Eastern Nigeria" food sufficient. In the same spirit, Joseph Tarka from Northern Nigeria pioneered and advanced Nigeria's international relations within the United Nations These leaders together with others in major areas of the country, left landmarks which are still visible today. To be continued.

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