As the days to Edo 2020 election edges closer and the major political actors and parties fine tune their electioneering strategy, soliciting the support of the people to affirm or reaffirm their quest to gain access to the highly revered office of the governor and for the mushroom political parties as they are often referred to; it is an avenue to garner face saving votes to avoid de-registration by the electoral body INEC.

Democracy as a system of government entrusts power in the hands of the people who are one of the core pillars of the system, alongside strict adherence to the rule of law and the constitution. What is obtainable in Nigeria cannot be said to be true democracy like it is obtainable in the USA though not without its hitches. Ours is still nascent and faces teething problems.
Legitimacy in a democratic setting is guaranteed when the people participate duly in an election and their votes reflected as election results. This is a liberty embedded in the system even though some anti-democratic forces have reared their ugly head overtime to nullify the process but still it is the best form of government. As it makes it impossible for a persons with zero ideas or interest of the people at heart to find their way to power; this however is relative as we have witnessed cases of inept leaders elected and even re-elected by the same people who should have been well informed.

Leaders ordinarily should be people oriented and policies targeted at emancipating a large percentage of citizens from the claws of poverty and oppression. This is what democracy ought to be as it seeks to promote integrity, openness, accountability and all the good tidings one can think of. Where either of this are missing or lacking, conflicts are bound to manifest in more ways than one and becomes contrary to the definition of democracy put forward by the 16th president of America, Abraham Lincoln; who defined democracy as ‘government of the people, for the people and by the people’.

Governance is a call to service and not to be served, leaders who seek political position must bear this in mind when contesting for any elective position. As this is what makes democracy different from any other form of government be it fascism, monarchy, dictatorship. There ought to be zero tolerance for impunity and flagrant abuse of power.

Ronald Reagan defined a leader as not one who does great things but the one who gets the people to do the greatest things. Leaders must be able to learn, unlearn and relearn very often as their tenure runs through. Changes should also be enforced once a desired course of action fails to pull through.

Knowledge is not enough for good leadership, strong will power to enforce decisions is also essential. Frederick Nietzche warns that ‘whoever fights monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster’.
There is a sharp difference between trying to better the lots of the people and mere window dressing pressing issues with a slew of anti people and suppressive policies only to come out to defend such policies. The people must be ready to elect leaders who mean well for them and the best opportunity is on election day.
As in the words of Plato ‘one of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that one ends up being governed by one’s inferiors’ Socrates consolidates on this saying when he opined that ‘the wise who refuse to rule should prepare to suffer the rule of idiots’.
Although wisdom is never popular, but the people should know better by coming out en-masse to vote on September 19th. Only those who are worthy should gain access to power, it is a no-brainer to elect inept leaders and expect them to behave out of character when they get hold of power. It will be unthinkable to call them traitors when we are accomplices.
It is easy to abuse privileges but we tend to accept serial infractions in the corridors of power. Some leaders only get to visit some localities once in every four years during campaigns afterwards they elope to their life of luxury.

Enough of the leaders who come with bags of promises and a notepad of to do lists, our democracy needs to grow past hear-say accounts. The campaigns so far have been riddled with name-calling, tirades, accusations and counter accusations with no real policies or development plans unveiled and it is amazing to find people still giggling and cheering leaders on under the scorching sun just to hear birds of the same feathers run down each other after switching nests.

In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt ‘no one can make you feel inferior without your consent’. The people have been fooled for long by leaders who see them as nothing other than ladders to climb through on their way to power and afterwards they are kicked out.

Our only measure of self defence is our PVC, and we must x-ray the past antecedents of those vying for power; what are their portfolio’s, road maps, developmental plans, ideology. We must rid our polity off vagabonds of power as the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who watch the evil doers without doing anything.

Voting should not be done based on party affiliations, ethnicity, religion, tribal groupings, personal/ sectional interest but it should be based on track record and pedigree.

If we truly know where we are headed as a people, we will never get lost come September 19th 2020.

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