Greetings my fellow Nigerians who live at home and abroad. I am a young Nigeria who is concern about things that happens in this country. For almost six months now the Nigeria’s political landscape has been very busy with the politician engaging in different activities to sell their manifestos to the good people of Nigeria. The struggle for who will occupy the number seat in the country narrowed down to two strong political party, the people’s Democratic Party and the all progressive congress.
On the 28th day of March 2015 Nigerians will be going again to the polls to elect the leaders who are going to pioneer the affairs of the state for the next four years. As you prepare to discharge your civic responsibility and create a better future for yourself and the generations unborn by voting in credible leaders who will be humble enough and have the sympathy to give a credible representation back to the electorates who have sacrificed to stand under the scorching sun to give them a the mandate that took them to the positions they occupy. Please Nigerians I will like you to have an overall scrutiny and give a second taught before casting your votes, don’t cast your votes out of desperation. Politics has been the foremost problem that Nigeria have and it is still eating deep into the fabric of our national growth. We all know that the reason why most of the politician do everything possible which sometimes might even warrant the shedding of innocent blood is because the Nigeria’s political environment is very lucrative. You as a Nigeria has the power to change the system, your vote will go a long way to bring a change in our country. Just take a look at some countries which were once a third world country like us in the likes of China, India, today they are far much ahead of us because corruption and bad leadership.
Great people of Nigerians are we still going to seat and watch just a few bad individuals destroy our future and the future of our great country? Are we going to sacrifice our happiness in the future just because of a bag of rice? How many bag of rice will they have to give us in a year for us to be satisfied? With the way people go about singing aloud and praising one candidate or the other not because that candidate has what it takes to save them from the hand of poverty, lack of infrastructure and social amenities but because they share them money and gifts I begin to wonder what manner of electorates they are.
Election time is here again, a lot of Abuja based politicians are now finding their way back to their constituencies and senatorial zones which they have abandoned ever since they ascended the exalted seat. They are coming back to seek vote from people whom they have abandoned in the past four years. Now they know how important you are to them, but the thing that appalls me is that with few money they will load themselves with which is just a small percentage of the money they have looted from the national treasury, the same people who were neglected and abandoned will come singing and clapping for them just to take home with them an amount which is very small to take care of their daily needs. That is exactly why someone will claim that he is a senator and after four years he would end of not attracting a single project to his senatorial zones and constituencies not to talk of sponsoring a single bill that will bring a relieve to his people. They know that irrespective of whatever happens that whenever they comes home with some fresh currency that his past sins will be forgiven immediately. With the way people complain that the president has not done well, then I begin to ask if the president has indeed not done well what are the people who are elected to represent you in the parliament doing to make sure that the president is hold accountable to discharge his constitutional duties.
The next time you want to talk about corruption don’t just call only the president. Remember that if at all the parliamentarians are doing their job efficiently and have decided not to be corrupt I don’t see the reason why they will not question or even use their constitutional power to stop the president from being corrupt, but the truth is that they are all birds of the same feather. In every state in Nigeria we have a local government chairman, who is the one that is closest to the people, we also have a member representing constituencies in the federal House of Representatives and house of assembly, and we also have the senator representing a senatorial zone and then the governor. If all these leaders in this hierarchical order are truly discharging their constitutional responsibility without any compromise I bet you that Nigerians will always smile because they are truly reaping the dividends of democracy, but lo and behold all of them are thieves who are looking for one treasury or the other to loot and have their way.
The fundamental responsibility of a representative or a parliamentarians is to represent the common interest of the people in the national or state houses of assembly. That means they are the once who knows you and knows what you want and also should raise their voice so that the federal or state government can come to your help. The president or the governor cannot know exactly what you want without your representatives bringing it to their notice, have you seen the reason while you should know the caliber of people you are voting to represent you in the national and state assembly or even to take the executive responsibility as your governor or the president.
To give a quality representation every representative or even the ones in the executive arm should bring themselves so low to hear the voice of the dying masses and immediately work on alleviating their sufferings. At least at the end of every month the youth, the market women, the representatives of each town and village should be meeting with their representative in the parliament to rub minds together to know what the pressing problems are and in turn lay it down on the floor of the parliament or work immediately on it for the people in the executive arm. Do you know that your representative should have solved the problem of unemployment in your constituency by simply asking the youths who want to go into business to come up with viable business plan and he or she will through his influence attract grants and loans to finance the startups or he or she can even work with international organization to employ or create a job opportunities for the teaming unemployed youth.
I believe now that you have seen the reason why I said that Nigerians should concentrate less on the president and work more on the politicians closer to them. Thank God that there are some states in Nigeria where credible leadership are obtainable, I will like the politician with a corrupt mindset to learn from theses politician that are laying the foundation for good leadership, transparency and accountability. It is not how rich you are nor how powerful or influential you are but how many lives have you impacted? How many people can testify that you are the one who saved them from the hand of economic frustration and poverty?
My fellow Nigerians as we draw closer to a day when we are going to decide how our future will be, let us be wise and vote credibly, don’t vote because a politician is your brother but vote because he or she has what it takes to bring change to the society. For the youth whom they will be trying to use to achieve their heinous agenda by all means, I want to remind you that their own children might be enjoying themselves in places Like London, US and other great places and you are here trying to defend a man who hates you from the depth of your heart just because of some token which you are going to go home with. The money will soon end but the suffering which you have brought upon yourself for not voting a credible leader will not end.
Therefore, my fellow Nigerian as we troop out to the polls to decide our future let us vote sincerely and be always ready to defend our democracy, let us be law abiding and allow peace to reign and in all let us call on God the creator of heaven and earth to help us to elect credible leaders who are going to give us an impressive representation.
YOURS FAITHFULLY EMMANUEL
CHIEF EDITOR OF [url]ODKMEDIABLOG..COM[/url]
(A blog which focuses on entrepreneurship, business ideas and tutorials)