By Muheeb Mashood
The system of practicing politics in this country has driven people into a state of perplexity. The people have now been led to believe that succeeding in a political race is unattainable without a compromise of their will and choice from the part of the government officials. It is now mostly believed that the success of a candidate in a political contest is as a result of his ability and strength to play politics wisely, rather than being the reflection of people’s decision. This political practice inherent in the combination of power, tactics, intellects and the like, has put the people in a permanent state of confusion as to the nature of our system.
As far and as deeply as I can observe, the system is not utterly the source of these identifiable challenges; they politicians in their respective capacity author them (the challenges), in a bid to score political goals. It is their calculated efforts to frustrate the collective will of the people at the advantage of their own interest. The system which is supposed to be the reflection of people’s free will has now been so doctored that it becomes understable to only the politicians themselves . It is now tainted with uncertainties and irregularities.
The uncertainties and irregularities have now been so much so that hardly could an election be conducted in the country with almost– not to talk of absolutely– perfect results of the process. Over the years, a candidate is hardly declared a winner in an election without countless allegations of irregularities in the process by the parties involved, most particularly the unfavored ones. While in some occasions, the allegations are justifiable, in some other circumstances, they are baseless and unfounded. It’s quite uncommon to have elections conducted in Nigeria without contesting parties ending up in the Elections Tribunal, challenging the elections process. Is it the system that is that complex or the people running it make it so?
To give instances of how much our electoral system is being perpetually frustrated in the country; in Osun Gubernatorial Election conducted last year, All Progressive Congress (APC) objected to the validity of the election on the ground of over voting in some areas after Ademola Adeleke was declared and sworn in as the new governor of the State. That’s despite how the process went smoothly, as the results were the reflection of people’s choice. Yet, the victory was challenged at the Elections Tribunal, where the success was reversed based on overwhelmingly fallacious evidence. Until recently when the Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the lower court, the victor was about to lose his honor to the politics of the wise.
The recent general elections are to also attest to the fact of how complex our political system has been made to be, as multifarious challenges continue to pop up. The process continues to be attacked by the losers, even by the party whose chances of winning were very calculable. In fact, not only the success of the president-elect was and is being challenged, but also the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officers are not free from the accusations either.
This, to my mind, is nothing but an attempt by the politicians to frustrate the political system of the country at the displeasure of the people who are literally meant to be the most favored in the process. On a final note therefore, Politics and our political system should be made a game understandable to the people, and not only to the ‘wise’ politicians for the country to make a recognizable progress in the comity of nations.