“Until the competence of such individuals are challenged both at the council meetings and at the polls, Abia state indigenes will continue to suffer the icon worship of members of the kitchen cabinets of state government apparatus whose primary interest remain photo-ops with the governor and the elites”
During the traumatic days of the Covid19 crisis, many ordinary people and indigens of the states and LG’s across Nigeria felt the pulse of the kind of men and women they had voted into positions of power, representing them and their region in governance. Some horded the palliatives meant for the ordinary citizenry, some shut their doors and pretended not to take notice of the fear and hopelessness that gripped the nations across all the divide.
Beyond that, it was a time to test the pulse of the kind of people parading themselves as men and women of political influence and economical affluence. While some did demonstrated enormous empathy despite not in government or holding any public office, some shut their doors, some threw out crumbs of food stuffs and household convenience, albeit to salvage their conscience that they have done some good works of public appreciation and should be hailed for their magnanimity while the rest simply mind their business and let everyone also mind their miserable and unfortunate environmental conditions.
Penultimate to 2023 electoral year, those men and women of Influence and affluence have all emerged from their comfort zones with face-caps, t-shirts, some #1,000 Naira notes and perhaps some bowl of rice perhaps to show you how concerned and kind they are to you and your community to make sure you still have T-shirts emblazoned with the manicured face of the man of influence to wear, the face-caps and one dirty #1,000 for your transport.
Take Note, any politician ‘wannna-be’ or political office holder seeking for your vote whereas he missed that moment of down-to-earth association with the ordinary people, simply do not deserve your vote, no matter how compelling he tries to convince you, He is simply not for you and should be advised to go ahead and continue to enjoy his affluence in his comfort all by himself and his family.
How about these individuals, declared law-makers or what you call members of House of Representative both at the state and federal level, Perhaps you do not know or they have been too busy to let you know that their business is to formulate laws and influence policies that should benefit you and your region, discuss matters of interest in favour of your community and yourself with the governor of the state as the highest decision making body of the state government.
Whenever the governor receives the so-called Federal Allocation or whenever a budget or a programme is drawn for the interest of the state, it becomes the duty of your Representative to relate your matters, the deficiencies in your community to the state authorities and ensure whatsoever is released from the Federal authorities to the States reaches out to your community and not for the governor alone and members of his Kitchen cabinet, friends and concubines while he doles out crumbs to whoever catches his fancy.
“As another electoral year approaches, it is the duty of the voters to know what’s the functions of their Representatives in government and challenge the status quo other than celebrating uncompleted buildings, water taps, refurbished townhalls and employing a retinue of SA’s as constituent projects”
That member of House of Representatives who have not considered it as a priority of business to listen and be concerned about the lack of basic health amenities in your communities, the little track roads leading to the farmlands, the poor state of schools in your communities, the complete lack of any governmental presence in your entire LGA, the teachers and pensioners, tired and retired and perennially suffering the cruel neglect of their own elected men and women in government answering MP’s, hailed ‘ Honorable’ this and that’ at every function, receiving titles and chieftaincy red caps at all functions – do not deserve your vote at any level of governance.
I have listened to state law makers from Abia state take pride in delivering projects they referred to as ‘Constituency Projects’ and funded from their pockets without any interference or an appropriation bill support from the state government. As laudable as such gestures may appear, it has automatically disqualified such man or woman from any subsequent election and expose his weakness to present and defend matters concerning his region at the state or federal level. Because, the office of Member of House of Representative is not a stand-alone office where projects and policies are influenced by individuals from his private account without the contribution of the state government otherwise whatsoever the individual claimed to have spent in executing any project is a product of his office and not a private gift.
Unless matters of this nature are clarified, voting such individuals into Representative positions at any level becomes a waste of resources.
As a matter of fact, the communities are abysmally lacking and uninformed therefore whatever such individual doles out as ‘largesse’ even uncompleted structures littered here and there are accepted as successful ‘Constituency Projects’ and are celebrated.
The people of Abia state do not deserve this level of bashing and humiliation at all corners therefore it becomes paramount on the electorates and their advisers to chose men and women that will stand up to the occasion and defend their participation in government as members and beneficiaries of the success and failure of the state.
Until the competence of such individuals are challenged both at the council meetings and at the polls, Abia state indigenes will continue to suffer the icon worship of members of the kitchen cabinets of state government apparatus whose primary interest remain photo-ops with the governor and the elites, title crowning and hero worship of the man with the largest bags of crumbs while the business of quality representation and governance continues to be diverted.
As another electoral year approaches, it is the duty of the voters to know what’s the functions of their Representatives in government and challenge the status quo other than celebrating uncompleted buildings, water taps, refurbished town-halls and employing a retinue of SA’s as constituent projects.
