People remain the structure

Now that the nation has finally almost elected new leaders, no citizen ought to blame anyone for the country’s misfortune. Politicians have always relied on what they call structures to power their campaign and elections. In reality, it would be foolhardy to write off structures in any elections. But we may need to define political structure before we reach such conclusions. ‘Structure’ is the culmination of party members at ward, local government and state levels, that eventually campaign and work for party candidates during elections. Parties that have won elections in the past largely have these structures. The point being that those members who have been elected on the platform of the party spend their resources, including buying of votes, to ensure that their party remains in office, although no vote-buying was openly visible in the last election. Also, the structure, which largely consists of party officials at those levels, is also used to ‘share’ political offices and dividends. One of the presidential candidates recently insisted that anyone who wants to get any appointment in his government must go and deliver his or her ward. The implication is that it does not matter how you do it, and your competence may also count little, as long as you can deliver your ward, in other words, ensure that your party wins in your ward.

Those parties that possess these structures have always insisted that they stand a better chance to win elections. However, it has not always turned out that way. Those who win elections and go to the seat of government hardly connect with the grass root because the people see them as going to Abuja to ‘eat’. I have heard a senator complain that when constituents say an elected officer is far from the people what they mean, in essence, is that he is not spending money to oil the party structure. Many of them resort to the tactics of paying scant attention to the structure only to start oiling it when the elections close in.

This structure had rather deepened the distance between people and government. People in the structure have come to see that they become relevant on the verge of elections. Now Nigerians have woken up and want to take back their country. At the grassroots, structures have literally collapsed into a coalition of people who want a better country. Structure has only proven that the people only matter during elections, and they have seen it manifest in a four-yearly circle. Today the people have formed their own structure, one where they make sacrifices because the past has not been palatable. The handouts they get in the four-yearly circle has become a mortgage to which their future has been tied to backwardness. Now members of the structure have begun to battle themselves. In some parties, things have fallen apart. Some people have seen the presidency as an entitlement such that they have even become desperate to mount the saddle, which the voters seem to have denied them. 

Now the blame game must end. The people must take back their country from a political elite that has shown scant interest in the people. They are remembered only when elections come near. To make matters worse, these greedy elite have their report card in the public space. From their filthy lifestyles to their unaccountable wealth, yet they want to muscle their way to power to continue looting. Surprisingly, these people who have weaponized poverty find collaborators in the masses who are willing to help perpetuate the circle of doom on account of the crumbs that would fall to them. The people have watched in dismay over the years, and have come to the ultimate realization that power belongs to them. It is their turn, not that of any entitled person who has helped perpetuate the structure of poverty and lack. It is not the turn of anyone who has a hand in the ridiculous backwardness now the lot of Nigeria. I was at the middle of this article when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu winner of the presidential election. The mixed reactions within the polity tell the story of the level of reception of the polls.

There had been widespread rejection of the poll result, which is why the feeling persists in the populace that the courts would be the final arbiter in an election where the promised electronic transmission of results fell short of expectations, giving room for manipulation to the point that some officials crying out that their lives were threatened. The implication is that the parties may well be putting their papers together for the courts. One clear thing is that voters have revolted in Lagos through their votes. They have torpedoed that strong structure that has reigned supreme in the past 24 years. It shows that structure can fail. The people are indeed the structure. Power belongs to the people, and the people must build on the gains of this election, irrespective of the outcome. It has become evident that the people are the structure. The structure that resulted in the loss of Lagos for the ruling party is, indeed, the strongest, the best of structures. The difference in enlightenment between separate sides of the country has manifested in the outcome where some people seem to have been led by the nose when others were led by their conscience. I still hold that the people are the structure. I hope they would remain and build on the gains of this election.