As a young political enthusiast, I have been so conversant with politicking, political matters, electioneering and tricks to gain popularity. As a member of the then Accord Party under the leadership of Chief Rasheed Ladoja , I had witnessed political transformation from one party to another in few time . As a student of knowledge, I have learned politics, gained political civilization, understood the real politics ; its governance and execution. I have even read from more civilized countries- how this politics in question is being practiced . As a netizen on social media and a social commentator on major social media platforms, I have seen and read reactions , write-ups , essays and comments on heartrending political issues. As a volunteer, I have observed election processes and involved in some electoral activities. As an electorate saved from any gullibility, I had happened to be the only electorate who endorsed a candidate and casted a vote for him in a whole polling unit. So, I could consider myself a learner .
Election is around the corner and politicians are wandering around, bringing the said politics to local and near the people after they have kept their distance, staying at their offices and making earth-shaking bucks in their bank accounts , for their families and relatives and political cohorts.
They are here again maundering and giving mountain of promises. They are around to tell you big stories that hindered their unfulfilled promises and how their gods didn’t allow them to perform as expected. They have been buying us chips, feeding us with crumble and begging us to welcome another tinted promises to do more if they are given another chance or mandate .
Our grassroots political leaders; your father, your brother, your mother and mine as well are the proxies at the base used to blandish the people with rhetorical manifestos while they are paid with peanuts and promises of appointment. They are the feet soldiers whose hands are the people’s trap. Many of them know the right things but cannot tell, because that is their source of living. Or, play the game just to gain influence for their next agenda .
Rice and chicken during Christmas and new year feast, goats and rams during Eidul Adha and Ramadan are not the dividends from the government. Shouldering Hajj and Jerusalem payment of selected politicians is not the best thing we need. Occasional cups of rice , bottles of palm oil , and sharing of peanut wads are embarrassing and mockery of our abject poverty they have subjected us to .
Whenever I am in a political meeting and this is happening I always weep for my people . Two bags of rice donated to all party members, people that are amount to two hundred in population in a local government. The next thing is scrambling and fighting; ‘rice riot’. At the end, each member will end up going home with two cups of rice which is just hundred Naira in the market, nursing the enmity of the other member who is allowed to take beyond the general measurement. In the next meeting, the political leaders will make them praise the donor , singing and dancing to appreciate the kindness. I weep!
No single road linking Oyo town with other neighbouring cities and towns is fair. Oyo-Ogbomoso is the deadliest road I have ever journeyed in Nigeria . The road claims lives every day and motorists avoid passing through it to Oyo for their safety . Dual lanes to Ibadan are dilapidating. Oyo -seyin and Oyo-Iwo are no more what should be called roads .The new Oyo-Ogbomoso dual lanes remain uncompleted for over ten years. Abolupe-Asipa, Saabo-Ijawaya ,Sabo-Abolupe, Oroki-Idi Gedu and some other minor links in the town are more than being bad .
Greater percentage of the people living in Oyo engage in farming , both at subsistence and commercial level. Cassava is the major crop planted . The four local governments in Oyo can produce cassava product enough to cater for cassava needs of the nation at large, but no markets . Market is needed both at national and international level to enhance the economy of the ancient town. Instead of promoting cultural bills why not economy?
We have legislators from the zone at the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly but their priorities are not ours . They have misplaced the priorities and took to their whims, regardless of what the people really need . Do we really need mini stadium while the one we have is underused and underdeveloped ? How the priority is been misplaced and the people’s want may be a long topic for another time . With jerky face of Oyo town, I always ask myself if we really need camouflage project ? Our people are wallowing in abject poverty, our roads are bad , community are filthy and flooded, our economy is downtrodden, our young ones are out of schools and breeding thuggery has become normal business in our town .
Here in Oyo , nobody cares for manifesto, plans, policy or agenda . What pull crowds is mere dance, musical instrument with motivated jingle and rhetoric and money sprayed. Any politician who can explore these well get the best votes . The little conscious ones among sell themselves to the people with bogus and insuperable promises. .
Consequently, we will remain the same, our development will be surged down and the new generation will never pray on our graves because we have sold their future and ours for chips and crumbles . If our political motivation and awareness are only based on personal gains and the politicians have well knowledge of this even more than we do, then our conditions in few years will be at the rear of what is called improvement. Our society will be aimless and nobody would guarantee a better future . They have succeeded in having all their gains and the nearest of their family while we remain the fools to lick their butts to the detriment of our society.
Politicking is due responsibility of politicians to garner popularity for election . Likewise it is a due responsibility for the citizen to tender their needs hierarchically , to test the competence and integrity of the candidates and to understand the responsibility of the candidates in each office they are seeking .
As a matter of fact , the low level of education and political civilization of our people at grassroot are the points of exploitation by politicians . They come to them with tales because nobody is there to challenge or query their data. Those who can do that are the leaders but they will never do that until something backfires on their wills. So far it remains a good source of income for them , the interest will be preserved no matter its detriment and effect on the populace .
All we need is infrastructure which is the drug, not chips. Peanut which is placebo is psychological while drug is curative, and that’s all we need .
Let me round this piece off with a quote from ‘Indelible Austin’ by Michael Barnes:
“In many ways, we are the city that the New Deal built. Because that’s who built all of our infrastructure. Before that, we were a hardscrabble town.”
Alabi Yusuf Olatunji writes from Ibadan
