The scenario that played out in the Lokoja / Koto Federal House of Representatives Bye Elections in Kogi State have since left an unpleasant memory in me hitherto now.
While observing the elections, I wished I was day dreaming, but No! reality was starring gallantly at my face. I vividly saw and can recount how some residents of Lokoja / Koto Federal Constituency who were the electorates to that election openly and shamefully sold their votes for N2,000 (two thousand naira only), three pieces of onions, 7 cubes of Maggi and 2 pieces of plantain to a Political Party and its candidate.
Unbelievable you may think, But it happened.
“Yeye” is a political sickness where an electorate who have being suffering economic hardship for years decides to sell his or her vote for peanuts to those who in the first instance foisted the hardship on them, hoping to get cured from the same hardship which they suffer in the future.
The “yeye” sickness is prevalent during elections as most electorates with the sickness can sell their vote for money ranging from N5000 to N500 or sometimes on mere monetary promises as the case may be depending on the desperation and financial capacity of politicians.
Politicians who see public office as a business inflicts this sickness on the electorates who are surprisingly, willing and ready to be inflicted with it although to their until disadvantage.
The sickness is not limited to a specific geographical location in Nigeria as it ravages the minds of its victims from the north to the south, east and the west. The “yeye” sickness sometimes guarantees electoral victory into public office, not by the credibility or capacity of a given candidate to deliver on a good and accepted mandate, but by vote buying.
Vote buying which I have termed “yeye” is a useful strategy and a potent weapon at the disposal of wicked and desperate politicians in today’s Nigeria. These politicians impoverish the electorates in so much a level that makes them loose their human dignity thus turning them into political pigs for easy manipulation. Unfortunately as it is seldom asked, what is a jewel (good governance) to pigs?
Vote buying has become the bane of sustainable development in Nigeria and of particularly interest in Kogi State; as it denies credible candidates the opportunity to serve the people satisfactorily.
One pitiable and regrettable consequences of vote buying is that politicians who buy votes from the electorates sees his position and office as a right bought with a price rather than a trust conferred on him by the electorates when elected. This is the reason why most political public office holder do not care about the plight of the people whom they represent no matter the level of their sufferings. They treat the people with outright disregard and disdain.
Not until the electorates begin to shun the politics of money played by these desperate and wicked politicians and concentrate on the credibility and capacity of a candidate for an election, sustainable development and progress will continue to elude our communities.
Whenever you notice the “yeye” Sickness in a friend, colleague or family member, please try to give him or her a dosage of education on the dangers and implication of selling his or her vote perhaps it may help heal them of the sickness.
Together Let’s say No to vote buying. Our vote is our future.Lets secure it by voting rightly. Please help spread this message until we can establish an affirmative action against Vote buying.
For Man and Society,
– Sani Idakwo Philips.
SDP Candidate For Dekina / Bassa Federal Constituency.
