Chukwudimma Aaron-okon... 7 months ago

@Aaron 3 min read Write a comment #government-politics

The Politics Of Poverty: Whither The Conscience?

It has become a norm in every electioneering period for most Nigerian politicians to employ the use of poverty alleviation strategies to lobby vulnerable citizens into mortgaging their fundamental right of freedom to elect their own preferred candidates.

In order to compensate for their failure to provide critical infrastructure needed to better the deteriorating state of our national economy, the anti-people politicians that are often incompetent trick the common citizenry into exchanging their rights to choose competent leadership for immediate gratification wrapped in all kinds of material terms. Bags of foodstuff, envelopes of money, liters of kerosene, etc., are the common denominators.

What we must realize today is that with every bag of a food item or envelope of money collected from any politician for electing them into office, we are taking our dear country years backward, mostly resulting in deteriorated infrastructure. In other words, we are helping such anti-people and self-centered politicians to divert billions of funds into their private accounts at home and abroad while we continue to suffer the consequences.

Whether the conscience - the inner part that judges the morality of our actions and makes us realize how wrong we have been all along. As campaigns set to kickstart this week, we need to checkmate our evident succumb to these manipulators and say an emphatic no to material inducements that these conscienceless politicians have already packaged in wait.

We must stop giving our power of thumb to politicians that are only interested in recouping the financial expenses they spent on the electioneering campaigns. Times have changed, and we must equally change our political processes with the dynamics of the changing times. We must adamantly resist being used as bait for political gains and insist on being left to our choices of credible, free, and fair elections.

The political era of taking the horse to the river and forcing it to drink must end for us to enable Nigeria to attain its deserved social and economic stability. The coming February 25, 2023, presidential elections are offering us an opportunity to usher in a fresh new government whose administration will genuinely enhance our quality of life through the provision of critical infrastructure that is crucial to our economic prosperity.

The current state of our nation is yearning for servant leaders whose characters are spotless like we have found in HE Mr. Peter Obi and Sen Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate, respectively. Obi-Datti is a leader that offers exemplary leadership imbued with a sense of humility, empathy, and love for all Nigerians. They are the kind of leaders that rekindle hope and confidence in our yearnings for a better country.

#GoAndCollectYourPVCToday

#LetUsTakeBackOurCountry