Politics is not personal

“… The political system is changing rapidly in this country, and we better realise that. The elephants or donkeys are not what younger people look to. They look at individual candidates’ philosophy, and I think it’s a different time and different generation.” – Richard M. Doley. The forthcoming NBA election is scheduled for the 30th […]

“… The political system is changing rapidly in this country, and we better realise that. The elephants or donkeys are not what younger people look to. They look at individual candidates’ philosophy, and I think it’s a different time and different generation.” – Richard M. Doley.
The forthcoming NBA election is scheduled for the 30th and 31st of July, and the campaign trains of both presidential candidates have been on the move both on ground across Nigeria and on social media platforms. Many lawyers have taken to Facebook to convince people why a particular candidate should be preferred over the other to the extent that nobody’s wall is safe from the intrusion of these campaigners.
Take for instance, a legal practitioner expresses his personal opinion on the true intention or otherwise of a pending suit regarding the election on his Facebook page, all of a sudden we begin to see comments describing the qualities of one candidate over the other, then supporters of the other candidate begin to attack the campaigners, slowly and gradually. To the amazement of this writer one begins to see words like “keep deluding yourself”, “maybe you want to practice selective amnesia”, “attack dog”, “desperation has obviously blunted your conscience and deadened whatever sense of right you may pretend to possess” and the like – all  happening on another lawyer’s wall who just expressed his opinion.
Why not use your own platform to express your own opinion, after all it is your wall and you’re entitled to do what you wish with it. If you ask me, it is not ethical to invade a person’s comment box and begin to campaign for a candidate knowing fully well that the owner of the wall is not supporting your candidate.
In the words of a particular commentator on the same wall, Agbo Jerry Madaki “… this smear campaign is antithetical to all the Bar stands for. Where has the learned friendship effervescently evaporated to?” I don’t even know the meaning of ‘effervescently’ here but I concur. It is only in Nigeria that another citizen gets agitated on the choice of another citizen, we all have the inalienable right to choose what we like and what we don’t.
In politics there is no permanent friend or permanent enemy, only interest and as such every lawyer is entitled to belong to a side that would best protect his or her interest.
Many young lawyers who would be casting their vote on that fateful day may not have not had personal relationship with the candidates; most of what they know about them is based on the campaign promises made these past months, why then the agitation between colleagues because we find ourselves on different sides of the race?
Any association or community that does not place premium on merit and competence cannot make any meaningful headway, my point being, campaign promises have been made, some achievable and some not, but it is the individual’s philosophy and that should be the basis of any one casting his vote.
It would be unfair to the electorate and the legal profession if enmity begins to grow amongst colleagues because of difference in choice. You can’t convince a lawyer to vote for a particular candidate by insulting the person you are campaigning for, you are only losing your candidate’s votes than gaining same.
The race as to who becomes the next president of the NBA should not and never be a do-or-die affair, let the best man win and the best man would be he who the majority stands along with in his dream and aspiration of the Bar.
We should not descend to using vulgar or abusive words on one another all in a bid to canvass support for a particular candidate; colleagues ought to learn to have meal from the same plate with those on the opposite side. Politics should be about free will and conviction not stooping low to insulting the personality of one another because he does not support your view – what you feel is the right path to follow.
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