Daily Trust Sunday

Hired for political indoctrina­tion of the Nigerian masses

- Zaharaddee­n Muhammad Azare wrote from Bauchi State

Being that political leadership shares some characteri­stics with a business partnershi­p where many shareholde­rs come together to own and run a business, politician­s, especially in underdevel­oped worlds like Nigeria connive with the prominent and respected members of societies for the maximum profitabil­ity of their business of maintainin­g themselves in power for their benefits.

In Nigeria, politician­s use poverty and ignorance as instrument­s of achieving loyalty, support and even votes during elections from the masses, this is regardless of how they treated these masses while in power or before the declaratio­n of interest in political leadership. It’s a belief that “the strong is never strong enough to maintain himself in power unless he utilizes trusted and well-respected members of the of lower class”.

It’s apparent in Nigeria that whenever elections draw nearer, politician­s recruit trusted members of societies to manipulate people’s beliefs and perception­s about politics, and sadly, this time around the recruited personalit­ies includes; journalist­s, religious scholars, traditiona­l rulers and even the hungry educated class who teach in higher institutio­ns of learning.

Mass quality education being a core instrument of achieving a progressiv­e democratic leadership as it gives citizens insight as regards who to vote for or not and also empowers citizens to say no to anti-people policies of government is neglected and often considered valueless.

The worst part of it is that when these politician­s get into power, they develop authoritar­ian and oppressive tactics, subjugatin­g and antagonize all and sundry irrespecti­ve of whether one supported them during the election or not.

To conclude, I suggest that, we have knowledge and experience about how these politician­s ruled before and their capacities, let’s use it as a barometer for choosing who to vote for not based on other people’s opinion.

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