By nature, politics is often associated with the processes that connect leaders and the led and drive a society’s continuous development. Elections are an essential political process that culminates in selecting people entrusted with leadership responsibility. To gain the confidence and trust of citizens, who legitimise political power, politicians strive to influence the electorate by presenting an impressive public service record, demonstrating personal integrity, and showing strong regard for the rule of law.
Nevertheless, various forms of manipulation and falsification of facts are also adopted by some politicians as strategies for winning the people’s votes during elections. Many politicians in Nigeria, for instance, are quick and very creative in making promises to the masses, but dull and uncommitted when it comes to keeping their word when they assume legitimate power.
The concern they express for the suffering masses during pre-election campaigns, is a mere deception, because they swiftly turn their back on the people as soon as they get what they desire. Perhaps this is a clear justification of the popular saying that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
For corrupt politicians, power and the personal advantages it guarantees are both the driving forces that provide the needed incentive and the compass that shows the political direction that must be taken at any given point. But this is very far from the imagery of the ideal polis painted by Plato in his Republic, where the principles of justice and common good constitute the foundation of the state’s structure.
Democracy, that form of government designed for the actualisation of the common good in an ideal state, should not be compromised in modern nation-building. Although no particular country can assume to be a perfect copy of the ideal world postulated by Plato, many countries strive to approximate the philosopher’s ideal through authentic democratisation of their structures. Any democracy that interferes with the fundamental rights of the people to choose their leaders has lost its essential element and stands on the verge of dictatorship.
Although the system of government being practiced in Nigeria may not be explicitly called dictatorship, the gradual but systematic suppression of the common weal, especially during elections, renders our democratic claims contestable. Many members of the political class make utterances that confirm their political robbery and the usurpation of the power that ordinarily belongs to the people.
When some Senate members and state governors boldly declare that they will deliver their constituencies and states for President Ahmed Tinubu in the forthcoming general election, and yet have no plan on how to deliver the suffering masses in their constituencies and states from the clutches of poverty and hunger, it signals the depravity of a political sphere bereft of objectivity and integrity.
Hence, the popular notion that politics is a dirty game. Here at the doorstep of the electorate lies a golden opportunity to edit the Nigerian political script and choose a leader with clean hands and a visionary mind to sanitise the polity.
Over the years, these wrong conceptions of politics have scared many honest and patriotic citizens away from the field of Nigerian politics, exposing the country to a class of politicians who rarely worry about the genuine needs of the citizens. The implication is that politicians remain at the level of rhetoric, essentially preoccupied with political victory irrespective of its objective value in reference to the common good.
The thirst for power and ambition has never ceased to drive politicians to impressive public presentations that do not translate into sustainable development. The widening gap between campaign promises and bad governance is an inevitable outcome. During the 2023 Presidential Election Campaign, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised the Nigerian People a stable and constant electricity supply and the abolition of the estimated billing system. He boldly asked Nigerians not to vote for his second tenure if he fails to keep his word.
What is the scorecard of the Tinubu Administration on the electricity supply and its billing system? Could it be a case of learned forgetfulness or outright failure? This is just an instance that points to the deficiency of integrity and the drive for genuine public service in Nigerian politics. Such instances, however, do not justify the conceptualisation of politics in itself as dirty. Rather, it calls for greater commitment and moral discipline in the entire electoral process. This is not the time to get distracted by the theatrical performances on election campaign grounds.
The twentieth-century philosopher, Hannah Arendt, argued that truth and politics are most often at variance with each other at the hands of corrupt politicians who consciously thwart reality in order to manipulate the masses. Although political lies are generally targeted at the common people, politicians oftentimes fall victims of their own denial of reality.
They make impressive speeches about improved security in the country but yet feel unsafe to travel without a retinue of security personnel. They hype government initiatives in the health and education sectors, but at the same time embark on health tourism and send their children outside the country for quality education. In all these, the modern political liar is a fraudster wreaking havoc on the state structure that provides the basic identity for his authentic existence. His lifestyle and attitude contradict his claims of patriotism.
Plato describes this class of politicians as deceptive crew members who are unskilled in the art of sailing the state’s ship with objectivity and integrity. In his imagery, it is the ordinary citizens who are the kings. The attractive ship of the state belongs to them; the selection of the sailors, their exclusive right. However, they act foolishly when they hire incompetent sailors, who see politics as a game of personal interest to steer the ship off its course.
But, no matter what strategy the modern political liars adopt to keep the masses divided, poor, and intimidated, the ownership of the ship remains incontestable. Any day the people rise against bad governance, rascality in politics will begin to give way to true leadership. This is the beauty of democracy: that legitimate power belongs to the people, not to any political cabal. The election period is a time for civil revolution to salvage a sinking national ship. In fact, if there is a time to sing and act “Arise, oh compatriots…” to save Nigerian democracy, and heed the cries of the people, it is now.
Fr. Ozuluonye, William Nwachukwu writes from Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
