In a video that is currently circulating on social media, Joe Igbokwe took the old-fashioned view that money plays an important role in Nigerian politics. He said Peter Obi would soon find out, regardless of the view that he does not give out money freely and thoughtlessly, that he needs to throw money around, if he wished to triumph in next year’s presidential election.
It is repugnant for anyone to insist that money is key to success in politics in Nigeria or that the practice must be preserved.
Peter Obi is contesting the presidential election so he could significantly enhance the country’s economic development, transform the lives of citizens, restore national security, institute good governance, improve healthcare and advance higher education. He is not aiming to share money to achieve that ambition.
The current culture of politicians spreading money around to buy votes cannot stand forever. It is not sustainable. At a point in history, every country must undergo political and social changes. The challenge facing Nigeria is to transform the profoundly contemptible political practice in such a way to give youths the opportunity to compete in elections and to take up leadership positions.
It is all right to hold conservative political views but it is obstructive to insist that Nigeria must continue to do things in old ways, or that our political system can never change because of the power of money. It is equivalent to contending that Nigerian voters can never free themselves from the temptations of money. There is more to life than money. People who have no integrity adore money.
Money cannot influence eternally the nature of politics in Nigeria. To advance the argument that money will remain a central force in our political landscape is to venerate corruption and crooked lifestyles. Such a viewpoint ignores the laws of nature. The first law is that no one was born with money. The second law, drawn from a proverb in my part of the world, is that we all came to this world with nothing, and we shall depart with absolutely nothing.
Poverty and extraordinary greed are part of the reasons why Nigerian voters expect to be bribed during elections. Western developed countries do not have that culture of spreading money in other to influence the outcomes of elections.
There are many fundamental issues that should engage the thoughts of patriotic citizens eager to rebuild a country that has completely broken down. How would paying delegates at political party primaries solve the problem of poverty in the larger society? How would paying for a few days of accommodation at the federal capital resolve financial difficulties experienced by party delegates? How would the lives of acquisitive party delegates be transformed positively weeks after they might have expended the money and “gifts” they received?
Focusing on temporary satisfaction of politicians’ desires is a short-term solution to a longstanding problem. When political agents and delegates accept instant gratifications or pleasures from desperate politicians who are determined to actualise their pipedream, they sell their conscience and the soul of members of their constituencies.
I am persuaded by Peter Obi’s philosophy that there is no virtue in politicians sharing money just to win elections. The focus should be on policy of political candidates aspiring to become President. They need to present their ideas about how they plan to govern. It is a contest between innovative and refreshing ideas and mediocre views. It is about presenting convincing and informed argument, rather than plotting how to buy votes, voters and their conscience.
Political candidates should be elected on their demonstrated capacity to govern, as well as their knowledge, skill, experience and ability to lead the country effectively and to empower citizens.
Ironically, candidates who offer incentives to buy party delegates do so on the understanding that whatever they spent on party delegates must be recovered immediately they are sworn into office. The evil committed by party delegates in 2022 will return in 2023 to haunt them, their families, the people they were supposed to represent and the future direction of the country. There are consequences for political corruption. The long-term economic interests of citizens, their wellbeing, their security and their safety will be mortgaged. Here is why.
When insecurity deteriorates and becomes uncontrollable, it must be because money and other resources that would have been invested in tackling the problem were misused and diverted to pacify greedy party delegates.
When academic programmes of public universities are disrupted regularly, we must attribute the interruptions to government’s apathy and redirection of funds to other useless purposes. When teaching and research are degraded, owing to paucity of funds and inadequate infrastructure to cater for the needs of teachers and students, it must be because money that could have been used to upgrade the quality of teaching and research and provision of much needed infrastructure was used inappropriately to gratify crooked party delegates.
When public hospitals are abandoned, the healthcare needs of citizens suffer because money that could have been used to improve the quality of healthcare was misused. In such an environment, ordinary citizens will continue to struggle to overcome poverty, economic hardships, a life of social deprivations and hopelessness.
If, in 2023, we wonder after the presidential election why nothing works in Nigeria despite the emergence of a new President that is not the popular wish of voters, we must look back at the destructive role that money played in the elections.
What Nigeria requires, as many commentators have already advocated, is a President who is empathic, a President who feels the pulse of the people and attends to their needs, a President who has the capacity to think, to find solutions to national problems, and a President who is focused. Such a President must be “stingy,” yes. He must not be a President who shares money carelessly as a prodigal son who wastes much needed national resources.
Nigeria needs a new direction and a new team of youthful leaders. The new President must be able to restore dignity and pride to the country. He must make Nigeria workable again. He must be able to elevate national security, educational standards, regular electricity supply, healthcare, agricultural production, infrastructure and other important sectors of the national economy that were abandoned and destroyed in the preceding years.
Decades ago, Nigeria was regarded as a regional leader and a continental giant. That profile has disappeared. How could such an elephant crumble in such a short period of time? How could that historical African Leviathan be reduced to a paper tiger, ignored by many countries and ridiculed at high-level intergovernmental meetings?
There are so many things that mock Nigeria and its claim to continental leadership. One of them is the inability to rein in criminal groups that have damaged national security and installed the reign of terror across the land. Nowhere is safe in the country anymore. What a shame. A continental leader that cannot crush an upsurge in crime within its borders is not even worthy to lead a region. A continental leader that cannot oversee the conduct of free, fair, peaceful and credible elections to select political leaders must be an impostor or a fraud.
When would Nigeria rise again? When would national leaders get things right? Why do politicians and political party agents and delegates see leadership through the inner rumblings of their stomachs? Life is not all about money, particularly money that is acquired illegally.