Buhari "Tsunami", electorate and prosperity

By AHMAD RASHEED MAKARFI
Posted: Thursday, April 7, 2011

I am afraid and anticipate a dark future to our teeming youths who demand  for change. I was known in our area as a social critic that contributes in creating awareness through the media. I am happy that what I have been advocating is about to happen. Free, transparent, credible and fair elections, accountability and good governance are the major themes of my preaching. Last Saturday's botched National assembly elections remain my peak day of happiness when I saw a semblance of credible elections unlike the previous ones. The electorate in our area were divided into two, PDP sinking and shrinking ship and the CPC tsunami, the Buhari ''huricane''. I don't belong to any of the two big warriors, rather I belong to the relatively unknown ''A.C.N.'', the Ribadu party, which I was assigned to be its returning officer in Makarfi Local Government Area of Kaduna state. Don't say am jealous of the two camps, but rather lam contented that my position enables me to view things objectively.      I am afraid because majority of electorate are desperately yearning for change. They became blind proverbially by promising to defeat the incumbents. They say change is ''dole'' meaning a ''must''. While I agree that change is inevitable, I totally disagree with the view that it is always good for us.
Change of whatever kind comes along with it, positive and negative effects as well. But in most cases in less developed nations of the world like ours, usually the negative effects of change outweigh its positive effects, because it tends to sweep away virtually all existing policies, no matter how sound they are. More so, characteristically, political change connotes a complete change in policy and strategy of leadership.      I am afraid that our electorate will be misguided into changing governments with well organized programmes with focus less, visionless, inefficient, and ineffective leadership. I believe most of the candidates that won credibly in 2003,2007  courtesy of Buhari hurricane in Kano and Bauchi states for instance, end up forming administrations that are lackluster in performance, unable to deliver campaign promises, spendthrift, lacks rationality, priotise frivolities and most significantly lacks capacity known of leaders to make effective decisions on important matters due to clash of interests that cannot be subdued.     
I am afraid that our  political change may later turned as a regret. I believe political change is usually initiated by grassroots movements, professional associations , groups and other non-state actors fundamentally to dislodge dictatorial governments with unpopular anti-people policies, and in most cases in a confrontational manner. This is mostly change for the better. However, political also do initiate or stage a political change, but usually they don't go down well with the people. In Nigeria for instance, aggrieved ambitious politicians usually swap political parties only to satisfy their deeply entrenched lust for power. In our area, they hide under Buhari's popularity to oust the incumbents without any agenda . They deliberately conceive an ill notion that they were victimized in their former party or they were refused ticket. For this simple reason, a typical Nigerian politician will sabotage or dump the very party that he did not only fought to establish but also helped into power.  
  I am afraid that our tricky politicians reach out to diverse constituent support groups, framing issues to their advantage, tricking people into sympathizing with their travails, thereby shifting public attention from current socio-economic turbulence to their personal problems with administration in power . While all these tricks are framed to cajole the electorate, a fundamental aspect of political change, that is ''agenda –setting'' is thrown to the dogs. The initiators deliberately refuse to appreciate the fact that political change signifies complete change in policy and usually poses a serious challenge to political leaders in the event that they succeeded in effecting the change. 
I am afraid that until political leaders recognize the importance of agenda-setting to leadership prior to acquiring power, the people will continue to be misguided. I learnt from Maman Fat i that of the several approaches in the field of political science to the study of political change, that which gives most weight to political leadership is the ''agenda-setting'' model. The model according to Frank Myers focuses on political issues, their source, how they are selected for serious consideration, how they are framed to attract support and how they influence the policy process. This is where many political leaders who initiate a political change erred. We need change but we need caution.
No need to mention, PDP Central government has failed, but we should emphasize on personalities not party platforms. Some of the PDP candidates are more qualified than the other party's.  I will even prefer the ''devil you know than the angel you don't know''.    I am afraid that our electorate are not after quality representation. I t is therefore imperative that we must all be concerned with the quality of our representation. We must be deciding to consciously participate in the choices that affect our destiny. Our collective dream of transforming Nigeria into a country worthy of our pride and a respectable member of the comity of nations can only be possible if each one of us play his part in this noble cause.
The same applies to our desire for democracy, prosperity, good governance, sustainable development, security of lives and property and other lofty goals. The quality of governance in 2011 depend squarely on the people elected to run the system. The key is electing merit, experience, and competence. May I, therefore appeal to the electorates
to shun violence during the elections and avoid any sentiment but pray, support, participate and contribute to make this aspiration of ''new Nigeria'' a success so that together we can translate this vision into reality.
RASHEED wrote in from Makarfi.