The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced
dates for the 2019 general elections. In a statement posted on its website, the
electoral body said it was making the announcement well ahead “in order to
ensure certainty in our dates for elections, and to allow for proper planning
by the commission, political parties, security agencies, candidates and all
stakeholders”. The 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections were
announced to be held on Saturday, February 16, 2019 while the
Governorship/State Assembly/Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections
were scheduled to hold on Saturday, March 2, 2019. This is the ideal practice:
to announce the election dates on time to allow adequate preparation and
participation of the political agents.
Many applauded and called it a welcome development in our
political landscape, considering the uncertainty that surrounded the nation’s
political environment over the years. A lot of people believe that this idea
will be a step ahead mechanism to correct certain anomalies in our electoral
process. These challenges include issues with giving proper voter education;
omission of candidates or political parties from the ballot papers; late
arrival of voting materials; election apathy; ballot box snatching; security
challenges and all manner of hitches. These challenges are attributable to
inadequate and late preparations.
It is the practice in the US, for example, that the date of
the general elections is made public beforehand. The comparison is because of
the seeming similarity between their political system and ours. But it turned
out that we adopted a system similar to theirs while leaving out the finer
details that matter of which national interest tops the list. Over there, you
have leaders but here in Nigeria, we have politicians who only think about the
next elections rather than the true development that the people yearn for.
National development projects that can really impact lives positively are what
you see being embarked upon and it is on this basis the political players seek
reelection. But here, the average Nigerian politician’s mindset is that of
self-interest and seeks how much money they can gather to buy votes and voters
in the next elections at the detriment of national development and well-being
of the people.
The date for the 2019 general elections has been announced
by INEC. Next on the mind of every politician, especially the incumbent public
office holders, is not how many projects they can complete between now and
then, but how much money they can gather within the period to surmount every
opposition. And those ones in their last term of office will be focused on how
much money they could go with at the expense of capital and development
projects. The concern is that a sizeable chunk of the capital budget
allocations for the next two years is likely going to bear the brunt. And this
concern cuts across all tiers of government. Little wonder that the issue of
unclear, inappropriate, frivolous and wasteful expenditure in our annual
budgets continues to be there. As these line items have no deliverable by which
they can be measured by design, but become an avenue to serve the purpose of
amassing funds to fund electioneering and reelection.
Nigerians must demand their rights to put an end to this.
Demand accountability and transparency in all government transactions. Too much
emphasis on money politics should be reduced by amending some necessary parts
of our Electoral Act and other laws. Undue pressure on political office holders
to make donations or provide certain goods and services should be stopped. By
so doing, we reduce the undue pressure on them and not to compound the problems
by adding to their flamboyant lifestyles which pressure to maintain push them
to do the wrong things. With these done, the citizens can properly demand their
right to inclusive governance.
It is time to intensify the efforts being put in place by
the civil society organisations to monitor and raise questions where necessary
on the entire capital budget implementation beginning with the 2017 budget at
all levels of government to see that the capital budget allocations are not
used to fund 2019 elections by politicians. The decision to move forward from
the present state of things will be the difference maker in the forthcoming
elections. Your vote is your birthright, do not sell it; for it is the only way
to ensure that leader and not rulers get voted into power. Nigeria must be better!
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