As the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has opened the window for political parties to begin official campaigns ahead of the 2027 general elections, it is time for sober reflection.
In the last four years, what did your support earn you? If all you received were branded T-shirts, face caps, and empty promises, then it is time to rethink. Ask yourself if your leader facilitated political appointments for others while you were ignored, and whether it was because you were never truly valued. Did they spend millions to send family members on pilgrimage while you got no support for your business or education? While you battled epileptic power supply and daily hardship, was your leader enjoying luxury with sensitive materials in hotels with stable electricity? After you risked your life and reputation to campaign for them, can you be discarded like a used item the moment elections are over? Do they want to keep you in perpetual servitude? That is why they will never recommend you for life-changing opportunities.
Do you also realize that despite the enemies you made defending them, you can be picked up and incarcerated the moment you dare to criticize them? And while you are out there fighting for them, have they not already secured the future of their own children and generations yet unborn?
These questions are not meant to discourage you from participating in politics. You have every right to support a candidate of your choice because I have mine too. But do so with wisdom and with your future in mind. Do not turn friends into enemies in the name of politics. Politics should end at the ballot, not in broken relationships or divided communities. Shun all forms of electoral violence. Do not allow yourself to be used to snatch ballot boxes, disrupt voting, or attack opponents. The blood you shed will not be replaced by those who sent you, and the scars of violence will outlive any campaign season.
Do not promote ethnic, religious, or cultural division to market your candidate. Sell ideas, not hatred. Engage those seeking your vote on issues that matter. Ask them what is in their manifesto and what concrete plans they have for jobs, education, power, and security. More importantly, do not risk your life for someone who will abandon or block you after winning. A leader who cannot remember you after election day will not remember you in government.
Above all, take your personal development seriously. Go to school, learn a skill, start a business. No politician can mortgage your future if you are self-reliant and equipped to stand on your own.
Your vote is your power. Use it wisely. Protect it. But never trade your life or your future for it. The future of Kogi State is in your hands. Build it, don’t destroy it.
– Zacchaeus, Ozovehe Emmanuel writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
