Olanrewaju Ganiyu
“There are many ways of encouraging people to make life better other than joining political party. Politics with a small ‘p’ isn’t just about darkened committee rooms, endless meetings – It is about giving people the right to make decisions about our lives”. John Reid.
From time immemorial, societies have been organized in tandem with political structures for smooth administration. From whatever perspective a person may want to look at the definition of society, the word ‘people’ have to be mentioned. Likewise, in politics, politics cannot work without people.
As a result, people are said to be a link between politics and society or a territory.
It is generally believed that people are the lubricant lubricating the cogwheel of politics, but on the other hand, they stand as a cog in the wheel of progress for good governance oftentimes. Therefore, the success or failure of a leadership depends largely on the people whether the government or the masses.
It is small wonder that a system of government that is globally accepted today, is defined by the erstwhile president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln as ” the government of the people, by the people and for the people”.
Similarly, government of the people means that government should be carried on by people of high principle, that is, those trusted with the affairs of government should not be Politicians who seek to make themselves rich or powerful at the expense of those whom they are supposed to serve – the people.
The involvement of larger percentage of people in Nigeria politics, i.e popular participation as a need for democracy has come to stay in Nigerian politics.
Interestingly, Nigeria as the most populous African country with approximately two hundred million People is a place where opportunity is given to all and sundry to join any political party of their choice. This is done in a very transparent manner without paying attention to one’s religion, gender or race.
The idea of open membership of all political parties to the people is widely embraced. The people believe is a replica of direct democracy which was practised in the ancient Greek City, hence their membership will give them a sense of belonging. However, it is worthy of note that it is not compulsory for the people to belong to any political party before they can exercise their franchise or enjoy dividends of democracy.
In the ordinary course of events, Politicians are those saddled with the responsibility of governing a state. They usually emerge through elections, some of whom are given mandate by appointment. And electorates are the people that have satisfied the requirements as entrenched in the constitution of a country to vote in an election.
Moreover, in a country where the system does not recognize independent candidacy, a candidate will have to come through a particular political party after due process of registration for membership. Then, such a person may declare his or her intention to vie for any elective office of his or her choice, but the victory is for primary and general elections respectively to be determined.
Meanwhile, not everyone joining one party or the other has ambition to sit on the seat of authority. Many people do join just to get certain benefits for themselves with the belief that if they do not join, they may not get any benefit as an ordinary citizen.
Bye and large, there seems to be a gap between those with only voter’s card cards and the people with both voter’s and party membership cards. Surely, the current system cannot bridge the gap.
Since the bigwigs have exerted their power to make the common people embrace this idea, people unwittingly do so to make Politicians more popular.
Once a person is registered as a member of a political party, such a person owes allegiance to the party and becomes a party stalwart who would always stand by the party, tout the party and vote for it when elections come as a matter of duty.
Every voter becoming member of political parties is worrisome and this may not augur well for the future of Nigerian politics as this is fast becoming a political culture.
Obviously, party membership has become something one sees here and there in this country to be extent that civil servants, artisans, market-men and women, members of civil society organisms, etc, are members of one political party or the other. This is a good evidence of popular participation but, at the same time a trick and Machiavellian method by the Nigerian Politicians to get figures for their victory. If everyone refuses to vote in an election out of annoyance against bad governance, those stalwarts who owe allegiance to these parties will definitely vote.
While efficient and quality services may not be delivered by the agencies of government as a result of the involvement of the people working for government – Civil servants in politics, who are supposed to remain non- partisan, the interests of the parties may take precedence over the people’s needs.
Unarguably, a voter who doubles as a member of a party will still seem it necessary to vote for that party after being subjected to suffering by the administration of that party especially when it is in power.
Furthermore, this implies that the number of people does not really matter like the number of voters do, because many voters have been indoctrinated by way of pledging allegiance to parties they support.
Once again if other people refuse to vote as a sign of civil disobedience against undesirable policies of government, the indoctrinated stalwarts will vote and the number of votes will be shared by the contending parties. (It is not really a matter of total number of voters, but a matter of who polls well). It is obvious that people have become the instrument being used by the Nigerian Politicians craftily to realize their political dreams.
As a matter of fact, it is high time it was infused into the consciousness of people that this ideology is a cunning stratagem adopted by politicians to win, rule and stand the test of time at the expense of the people.
Finally, if people must join a party, they should join to defend the position of the populace and not for individual interest. The politicians on the other hand need to be educated that it is not everyone that think it is necessary to jump on the bandwagon by joining a party before they can feel the impact or presence of government.
More importantly, a major civic responsibility of a citizen is to exercise franchise (right to vote and be voted for).
Therefore, it behooves Politicians to regard both the voters and the party members as those whom they owe essential services. Also, they should be committed to delivering dividends of democracy to all and sundry.
