Temidayo Akinsuyi, Lagos

Lagos – Chief Olu Falae, a former National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and one-time Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) has said honest and principled Nigerians will find it very difficult to attaining political power, especially the presidency because the country is still practicing jungle politics.

Speaking in an interview with INDEPENDENT, Falae, a former presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 1999 presidential election said competition for power in Nigeria is usually in in favour of unscrupulous and unprincipled politicians who are prepared to do anything to achieve power.

He said given the nature of politics in Nigeria, which is dirty and brutal, any politician who wants to play by the rule will find it difficult to achieve political power.

“It’s apparent that the competition for power in this world often goes in favour of the unscrupulous. The unscrupulous has no constraint. If you are going to the box, there are rules and regulations.

“Those rules are the constraints. It means as a boxer, I cannot hit my opponent below the belt. But for the unscrupulous, he can hit you anywhere and so, he wins.

“The decent, honest candidate has self-imposed constraints; which are rules and regulations made by himself in order to regulate his actions and conducts so that he can be a decent person in all places at all times. That is a handicap when it comes to competition for power, particularly in a jungle such as Nigeria".

“One of my younger followers in this state came to here one day. He said, ‘Sir, I can’t see you winning the presidency of Nigeria because you are not made for here.

“People like you should play politics in the United States or UK where they practiced civilized politics, politics of ideas. Here in Nigeria, we are in the jungle; and you must play jungle politics in order to win’.

“Throughout my time in politics, I never recruited one thug. When we were going to do SDP presidential primary in 1992, I produced a handbook for all my agents and supporters nationwide".

"In that handbook, I told them not to rig for me because I don’t want to rule by fraud. I also told them to ensure that the other opponents do not rig me out. Can a man like that win against somebody who said the election is ‘do or die’?

“I had the best political machine after Action Group. I had a structure nationwide. The other people had no structure at all. In fact, there were times I felt the competition was unfair because I was just too far ahead of my opponents.

“On the day of the primary, my major opponent was Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. Our supporters are to line up behind our pictures. My line was a hundred metres long while his own line was just a quarter of that.

“That goes to show you why principled people with a commitment to civilised behaviour are at disadvantage".

“At the spiritual level, as a Christian, Jesus Christ said: ‘The ruler of this world cometh but he will have no power over you because I have conquered the world’. Jesus told his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane that the Devil is the ruler of this world.

“That shows you that the Devil controls all the important things in the world. Power is the most important thing in this world and the Devil will give power to his people.

“Occasionally, those who are not on his side will get power because God wants to use that to show how good governance should be but most of the time, power comes to his people,” he said

https://www.independent.ng/honest-people-cant-become-president-of-nigeria-falae/

None of u guys is decent

Including you lol

illicit:
None of u guys is decent

True

When GMB contested in 2003,2017 and 2011, he had little money to spend and campaigned based on what he had, he lost.
The moment he had access to private jets, wore suits and isiagu, drank N50 sachet milo and started taking pictures with small children, we voted for him.
You can't win elections in Nigeria when you say the truth.

Corruption in nigeria is like palmoil..as e rub middle finger..e don rub others...a country where minister of justice says "if i speak,heads will roll"..na to tell u sey dem plenty.from top to bottom.

well, he is right.
decent people like me hates how politics is done in this country.
cultism, corruption, oppression, division and hatred.
I no fit

Ok

Angry President !!!

He came to disorganize NOT to organize ! ! !

Why Nigerians never look outside APC and PDP befuddles me, honestly.

GEJ seemingly bleeped up, they ran to APC, APC has bleeped up on a grand scale, they'd be running back to PDP come 2023.

It's a very sad cycle.

...
He's right

Everybody in Nigeria are corrupt,its an inbuilt stuff

From the military to every other profession,

Hello

Even in Real life....good people no too dey last.

Even if you are decent,the folks around you no go give you breathing space...If you can't beat them...you join them..Na wetin dem been do Late Umaru Musa Yar'adua

that's the impartial reality of life. only God can help this country
dm for your graphic design

.
True, the set of skills that enable someone win elections in Nigeria are the same that make that person an indecent human.

Our electoral system is like a sieve that filters out good behaviour and rewards bad behaviour.

I think a solution to this would be to allow people contest elections on an individual basis, not on a party basis. If this is done, lots of corruption (which takes place in political parties) would be eliminated. The issue of defections would also be over.

Party politics encourage group think and tribal inclinations. It causes people to see good and bad as what their party says is good and bad. If people come out as individuals to contests, the voters would see the individuals for who they are. No one would vote them simply because there are in APC or PDP.

This party problem is not unique to Nigeria and happens all over the world though.

Someone may ask, won't this lead to so many people trying to contest for political positions? Well, yes and no.

First of all it would reduce the initial barrier to entry of cost (in the name of forms) imposed by political parties. This way, elections are not just for the wealthy.

Secondly, a system of collecting signatures (digitally unique signing) could be utilised. Signatures are a way of showing you have the required support to be a viable candidate, similar to signing a petition. NIN number or other unique identifiers could be used to ensure signatures are signed by the electorate.

This is already practiced in countries that allow for independent candidates. In this case, there would be a threshold (for instance signatures of at least 5% of the registered electorate).
.

The Journey to become the President of Nigeria will corrupt you

Ode whats the one saying

What nonsense!!!


Meanwhile, who get desktop or pin mouth charger? I wan borrow abeg

Oduduwa ppl choose this man in 1999 but Fulani ppl said sam.....
A Yoruba man that has the interest of Yoruba ppl have never ruled in this country, their masters (Fulani) never allowed that to happen.


this ppl have been suffering and smiling

Okay

Everyone is corrupt
Nigeria ain't ready for change or anything at all that's if there's something called Nigeria

Can someone please help me with the summary of the write ups in six sentence only. Because I am not understanding...

l see

True

Abeg anybody that has something meaningful should use this space. Politicians in Nigeria are Nigerians. I hope people get to realize that some day.

Ekundayo7574:
Ode whats the one saying

y