VOTES counting would ordinarily mean that
people are casting their votes with a certain
wakefulness that informs their decisions. For
politicians, votes counting would mean that
adequate numbers of votes to ensure victory are
in their favour.
Nigerians should ensure their votes count on
issues that are central to our survival as peoples,
and a nation. If Nigerians do not approach the
elections with circum-spection, 2015 would
produce the same unsatisfying outcomes we have
had since 1999.
We complain without addressing our concerns.
The lengthening complaints about politicians have
more to do with the individuals than political
parties. The quality of candidates is regrettably
low.
Across the parties, candidates who offer
themselves for elections, and their supporters
within the system, have cast methods that leave
voters with minimal knowledge of candidates. We
should vote for candidates with character and
credentials, those have been willing to permit
scrutiny of themselves.
We have paid dearly for ignoring candidates since
1999. We would pay the same price again if we
cast our votes without considering our past,
present and future. Votes that count should
produce strong voices, to represent the voiceless.
We need candidates, who, when elected, would
work for the common good. They are in the pack,
we have to find them. These issues are important,
whether we are electing the president, governors
or legislators.
It is important too that those we are electing
would lead Nigeria out of economic gloom.
Candidates we are electing should have clear
milestones for assessing how they would re-direct
Nigeria from further drifting. The glossy posters
and promises are sometimes veneers for the
emptiness of candidates. We should look beyond
them. Nigerians’ dissatisfaction with our current
political system stems from two points, the near
total neglect of the welfare of the people and the
aversion of public office holders to accountability.
The joint impact results in frustrations with
almost all governments throughout Nigeria.
We can get out of this jam by voting out of a
conviction that our choice, our voice, our vote
would make a difference to the parlous state of
Nigeria. We cannot vote out of fear. We cannot
vote out of intimidation. Our choices have to be
made freely.
Candidates would be judged for their past,
present and sketches of the future. They have
sold themselves to a sceptical public. People want
to vote on their perception of candidate’s stand
on issues: major, minor.
Most importantly, Nigerians want candidates to
ensure a secure future for Nigerians, beyond
current concerns. Voters’ choices that are based
on capacities of candidates to work for the
common good should supersede the primordial
considerations that keep slipping into the
campaigns.