Getting the people’s choice in office more important than price tags

The last couple of days have been marred with debates on the price of the nomination forms for political aspirants under the two biggest political parties, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and the main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Many are disappointed that a presidential nomination form could cost as much as N100 […]

The last couple of days have been marred with debates on the price of the nomination forms for political aspirants under the two biggest political parties, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and the main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Many are disappointed that a presidential nomination form could cost as much as N100 million, in a country whose majority live on less than $2 a day and GDP per capita of barely N880,000 or some $2,100.

Interestingly, this should not be surprising to Nigerians, given the popular knowledge that “Nigeria’s political space has long been captured by a mindless political class masquerading as leaders”.

This is the way a diaspora friend recently put it when we discussed people’s lamentation over the price tags. We concluded that the price tags on the nomination forms are just one of many barriers that the political oligarchs in Nigeria have put in place to fend off the poor majority from ever dreaming or aspiring to contest for political offices, irrespective of their qualification or ability to do so.

I am not particularly up for limiting electoral offices to educated folks, especially as we have seen that even professors, PhD holders, and other well-educated professionals in political offices are sometimes worse than the “stark illiterates” in government. After all, even basic elections in professional bodies and universities are now as rowdy as the NURTW elections, if not worse.

That said, should Nigerians really wail over the price of the nomination forms, when there are bigger issues to worry about? After all, we know many of the aspirants’ drama of saying the forms are bought for them. Even our president lamented in 2014 that the N27.5million price tag on the presidential nomination form then was too much but he does not seem to see anything wrong with the current price of N100milion, as I guess he now understands the impact of the high inflation in the country on APC nomination forms but does not understand why workers in private and public sector are asking for a higher minimum wage because their income has been completely eroded by inflation.

Even the PDP that championed the “Not-too-Young-to-Run” is not different in the price of its nomination forms. I just wonder where any youth would get the funds to buy the nomination form, talk less of financing the election except if he/she is a yahoo boy or yahoo girl. It is clear that the legislators only wanted their children to ascend to power quickly, so youths need to understand the law is for the children of the rich and just a way of fast-tracking their succession to power. After all, “all animals are not equal in Nigeria’s kingdom”.

But the price of the nomination form should not be our concern; it is just an infinitesimal part of the ills that the political class in APC and the PDP have visited on the Nigerian polity, which has become a game of the highest bidder have the office. It is a deliberate strategy to accentuate the current governance of exclusion, where the common man can never rise to a position of leadership except sponsored by a godfather, who would in turn dictate the tune, as such poor man would only be a proxy of the godfather, a figurehead, ceremonial officeholder, with no power.

And trust me, politicians have no plan to change the oligarch strategy any time soon, so we better live with it or find a legitimate and civilised way of regaining our power as the majority, by pursuing true democracy, where our choices can rule. This cost of the form is just the tip of the iceberg of the investments that the politicians are willing to make in the unfolding season when politicians and their cronies sow in expectation of bountiful harvests.

As a friend once said, Nigerian politics is the most lucrative business anyone can ever do and except if we make it less commercially attractive, we can hardly get the right people in the office. As if there is no end to the greed, as these politicians throw in a fraction of what they have stolen in the past, they expect to harvest multiples, a reality which means Nigerians should be ready for more of the burdens unless they decide that they have had enough of the deceit of the capitalist politicians.

But the tragedy of this circus is that the political class is smart, perhaps smarter than those of us on this side – the voters and the wailers. Despite the hue and cry now (which will soon end, anyway), the two leading parties may still have their way, largely because of the seeming gullibility of most Nigerian voters. Many of the people wailing would be contracted to share onions and rice with the electorate, and in fact, many of the wailers would be contracted to snatch ballot boxes or disperse voters on election day.

Some may even go to the extent of killing, all in support of one candidate or the other, not necessarily because they believe he/she is the right person for Nigeria’s future but because he/she is the paymaster, who would give them their share of the National Cake, as they say.

Such activities will be funded by some among the multitudes now pretending to be the saviour that Nigerians have been waiting for. The budget for that is not captured in the N100m or N40m that has been announced by the two largest political parties for their presidential candidates. In fact, many groups are already sprouting like mushrooms across the nation announcing their readiness to buy the registration forms for one politician or the other, and chanting support slogans and calling on their supposed candidates to contest, as if we do not know that it’s all a charade, “Lori Iro”, in the colloquial Southern parlance.

When we continue to wail about nomination forms, and we look away as if we do not know the cost of incentivising delegates at primary elections, then we are deceiving ourselves. If we wail so much about this “little fraction” of the cost of contesting and we join the queue in collecting gifts from politicians or invite them to our events in anticipation of their sponsorships and cheques, we have no moral justification to complain about their theft after the election. In fact, many a time, a good part of the cost of electioneering is even funded with state funds anyway, and that is what they call the “power of incumbency”.

When party delegates are paid in foreign currencies, clergymen are given “gifts” and every influencer’s opinion is monetised, what are we complaining about. We cannot eat our cake and have it. This is once again the time for us to face our reality. We are already suffering and the peanuts these oligarchs and their agents hand out to us will not solve our problems or put food on our tables for so long, so let’s reject the money bags and let’s reject the so-called influencers playing with our emotions and taking undue advantage of our respect for them. Let us choose wisely without fear or favour. Now, we have a chance, let’s use it wisely!