Campaigns have commenced nationwide with the office seekers traversing the different parts of the country making promises to the voting public in a bid to earn electoral capital. Some of the promises are not well-thought out; while some of the makers of the promises seem insincere.

This illustrates unpreparedness for governance, which has contributed profoundly to the nation’s retrogression. New Telegraph will not hesitate to say that such a trend is not only illogical but also indefensible.

Since some political gladiators usually gain access to elective positions via unrealistic promises, they may never be discouraged from doing so, thereby making the country backward. While the New Telegraph will continue to blame some politicians for making unimplementable promises, we also hold the populace responsible for allowing the politicians to take them for a ride.

It is common knowledge that some members of the voting public settle for transient gifts such as rice, salt, milk, sugar, vests and money from the office-seekers and allow the latter to persuade them in the house-to-house campaigns to vote for them.

In circumstances, whereby the office-seekers are made to engage the electorate at rallies, members of the public end up not asking probing questions as to put before the activists their needs, as scripted them, and not according to the whims and caprices of the political gladiators.

We note with displeasure that the absence of robust engagement of the political office-seekers by the voting public has denied Nigeria of the much-needed scrutiny that would have resulted in the emergence of integrityladen, service-oriented and competent political office-holders at all levels of administration.

Regrettably, this has resulted in the deprivation of the country of visionary and result-producing office-holders, as reflected in the multiple contradictions, ravaging the country.

These include recurring strikes in the different sectors of the country, failure to make Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria justiciable, being one of the three nations with the highest number of out-of school children in the world, high cost and epileptic supply of petroleum products and electricity.

Phones and Tablets

The contradictions also include the upward review of the salaries and perks of serving political officeholders, failure to reorganise law-making in Nigeria to become a part-time activity with lawmakers paid only sitting allowances for diligent participation in debates over a specific number of days.

Political apathy, as is being exhibited by the populace over the years, would continue to aid the office-seekers to make unworkable and unrealistic promises to transform into political office holders, where they would continue with their deceitful exhibitions to the populace.

New Telegraph enjoins the electorate to turn a new leaf and shed off their apathy to politics. They should take to the path of political consciousness in their own interest and for the good of the country.

We recall that high political consciousness has helped Nigeria in the past during and after the nationalist struggle. Mention must be made of the Egba Women’s Uprising of 1948, which resulted in the exile of the then Alake of Egbaland.

A year earlier, the country’s leading nationalist newspaper, ‘The West African Pilot’, in what seemed to be a prophecy of a sort had drawn attention to developments in Egbaland while describing a female nationalist, Mrs. Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti as “The Lioness of Lisabi.”

Mrs. Ransom- Kuti ended up being a key participant in the 1948 Egba Women Uprising. The protest by a delegation of the National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS) led by its then President, Mrs. Hilda Adefarasin at the National Assembly Tafawa Balewa Square, (TBS), Lagos, in 1981 led to the stoppage of the debate of the Abortion Bill.

In the opinion of NCWS, the Abortion Bill, if passed into law, would denigrate the dignity of womanhood. The NCWS was also of the opinion that the continued debate of the bill would eventually lead to its passage into law by a male-dominated Senate. In 1981, Nigeria could only boast of one female senator in the person of Senator Franca Afegbua of the old Bendel State.

But the female revolt with one of the greatest impacts in Nigeria’s history was the Aba Women’s War of 1929.

Though the demonstration started in the historic Enyimba City of Aba, it spread to many cities of the Eastern Region. Even with the injury and death of some women in the exercise, the females remained resolute in their demand for an end to the excessive power of the British colonial administrators.

The women had their way with the abrogation of the “Indirect Rule,” the British Colonial Administrative System, which gave dictatorial powers to the British colonial officers but were exercised through some native intermediaries known as the Warrant Officers.

The intriguing thing about the Aba Women’s War was that it was ignited and sustained by a widow thereby challenging the age-old impression of vulnerability ascribed to anyone of such status.

The abrogation of the Anglo- Nigerian Defence Pact in 1962 remains another example of a successful check of an erring Federal Government (FG).

We appeal to Nigerians to constantly maintain surveillance on office seekers with a view to securitising their promises while confronting them with their needs such as access to quality health, education, housing, food, stable supply of power and petroleum products as well as the comprehensive devolution of powers to state governments and local government areas.

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