Need to vote credible candidates and not political parties

By TOYE ISIOYE MUNIRUDEEN
Posted: Thursday, April 14, 2011

As the 2011 elections are fast approaching, the tense political atmosphere is something worth discussing. Many electorate have made up their minds to vote against the incumbent from different political parties occupying various elective positions. The problem of Nigeria as a country in the last fifty years has been that of leadership. The affliction of having the wrong people at the helms of affairs has been largely responsible for our economic and political backwardness as a nation.
However, a lot of mudslinging have characterised the process leading to the 2011 elections. First was the issue of zoning in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Malam Adamu Ciroma led Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) decided to hand pick Alhaji Abubakar Atiku as a consensus candidate for the north and he was convincingly defeated by President Goodluck Jonathan during the PDP's presidential primary election held in Abuja early this year.
Furthermore, the jubilation by the Jonathan group for victory signified a new beginning for the NPLF, as they continue to strategise on how to present another consensus candidate for the North. What we need to place emphasis on as a nation is oneness regardless of our religion or ethnic background. The interest of the nation should be greater than any individual's aspiration.
The question I continue to ask is: are Nigerians really prepared to vote fcr candidates that will bring about a change? Or are they preparing to just vote for a political party? The citizens of Nigeria today need leaders that truly' know what they need. But as long as we fail to vote in credible candidates then we need not grumble, condemn and even complain about the poor state of affairs in Nigeria.
Assignment and a re-think for the voters; any voter who intends to cast his or her vote during the forthcoming elections must not do that based on sentiments. Sentiments in casting vote will never produce the right leader.
We must assess those we want to elect into public offices thoroughly, so that we don't mortgage our future and that of our children. We must shun tribalism, religious bigotry, nepotism and ethnicity in our quest to elect sound, credible and God fearing leaders.
Different political parties, especially the leading political parties Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have tried to run each other down, but what is most important to voters should be the credibility of the candidates they are presenting and not the political parties they belong to. If a credible candidate is presented under the platform of PDP, we must not be in a hurry to just vote blindly against the candidate because PDP has done this or that, and same consideration should hold for other parties. It should be noted that prejudice in voting will bring leadership.
However, most of the political parties have spent recklessly in campaign activities, we heard about the ANPP presidential aspirant who on regular basis distribute customised GSM set with credit charge ofNl,500 to curry the favour of hundreds of thousands of the electorate.
The leader of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as well as President Goodluck Jonathan have spent huge sums to hold political rallies across the nation: a lot was spent on hiring of hotels, stadia and buses; placement of billboards, posters, advertisement in print and electronic media just to mention a few. For instance, it is a well known fact that live television coverage of three hours cost about NI0 million, and a television advert at prime time cost not less than half a million per minute, while a single colour half page of daily newspaper advert ranges between N400,000 to N450,000, if you calculate the hours on the radio and television and space in the newspaper that each political party has paid for the figure you will arrive at will be staggering. The political parties should stop castigating each other; they should just concentrate on campaigns that will be fruitful, as election is just around the corner. The parties accuse each other of spending huge sums of money, but in summary with all what I have mentioned above, it is evidently clear that all the political parties have spent recklessly. Most of the political parties are without ideologies. What do we say of a contestant, that doesn't understand the meaning of legislation or bill and he/she is eyeing the house of representative or a vice presidential material that won't speak English.
In conclusion, voting for a political party is more dangerous- than any game in the world. What we must consider is the credibility of the aspirants presenting themselves under the various political parties. Nigerians needs to go for God fearing aspirants in all the political parties in order to elect those that will bring about the much awaited changes. Let me not say Goodluck Nigerians, so that it won't look as if am campaigning for anyone, but I will say 'Best of Luck Nigerians' as we begin another journey in electing credible candidates.
Munirudeen writes from Gamji Road, Kabala Costain, Kaduna.