‘YEYE’ is a political sickness where an electorate who have been suffering intense hardship for years due to bad governance from their leaders decides to sell their vote to the same leaders for peanuts on election day not minding their years of sufferings and clamor for change.
The ‘YEYE’ sickness is pervasive during elections as electorates with the sickness sell their votes for money ranging from N2000, N1000 to N500 as the case may be; depending on the politician who is inflicting the sickness on them.
This sickness manifested intensely in the Lokoja / Koto Bye Elections of 2018 for the Federal House of Representative seat where electorates sold their votes for 2 pieces of Onions, 7 cubes of Maggi, 2 piece of Plantain, 1 small packet of Dangote Salt and nylon bag to contain them. Surprisingly this is all for four years; four good years.
The sickness is not limited to geographical location as it ravages the minds and romances the greed of electorates from the East, West and Central Districts of Kogi State. The sickness guarantees swiftly, election into public office not by credibility or the capacity of a candidate to deliver on an acceptable mandate, but by vote buying.
Politicians who see public office as a business, inflicts this sickness on the electorates who are surprisingly willing and ready to be inflicted with some electorates justifying reasons for the sale of their votes.
Vote buying which I have termed ‘YEYE’ is a useful strategy and potent political weapon of victory at the disposal of very wicked and desperate politicians in Kogi State. These politicians impoverish the electorates to such a level; that they loose their sense of human dignity, turning them into political pigs; and as It is often asked, what is a jewel ( good governance ) to pigs?
Vote buying has become a political tradition unabated in Kogi State and indeed Nigeria.
One pitiable and regrettable aspect of vote buying is that a candidate for an election who buys vote from the electorates sees his position when elected as a right bought with a price rather than a trust conferred on him by the electorates. This is one reason most political public office holders in Kogi state do not care about the plight of the people whom they represent, no matter the several levels of their sufferings. They treat the people with outright disregard and disdain. This to me is a new approach to the slave trade practice of old.
Not until we the electorates begin to shun the politics of money being played by these very wicked and desperate politicians irrespective of our sufferings and concentrate on the credibility and capacity of a candidate for an election not minding his or her political party and gender knowing that by this decision we will get it right sooner than expected, development and progress will continue to elude our communities.
It is my hope and prayer that the people of Kogi State would turn a new leaf in the November 16 Governorship election and take responsible decisions on who governs them for the next four years.
Personally and from my practical experience; I have lost faith in the Independent Electoral Commission and the various Security Agencies in stemming the tide against vote buying in Kogi State.
Your Vote is your Future!!! Your Vote is not a Market!!! Secure it by voting Credible Candidates irrespective of Political Party and Gender. Let’s say No to Vote Buying.
Please help spread this message until we can establish an affirmative action against Vote Buying in the coming Governorship Elections in the Kogi State.
For Man and Society,
– Hon. Sani Idakwo Philips.
