2019: The ideal candidates for Nigeria, by GBEMIGA OLAKUNLE

“When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy GOD giveth thee, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therin, and shalt say, ‘I will set a king over me, like as other nations that are above me. Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy GOD shall chose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses. Forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, ‘Ye shall henceforth return no more that way’. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself that his heart turn not away, neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold…..”Deuteronomy 17: 14 – 20, KJV.
Politics is an activity for promoting public interest, according to Greeko- Romanian conception of politics. People go into politics for three reasons: to serve selfish interests, to serve communal or tribal interests and, to promote public interests. According to the above Biblical injunctions, God charged the Israelites about the qualities of characters to look out for whenever they wanted to move out from theocracy to monarchical form of government or democracy. God frowns on characters who vie for public office mainly to pursue or promote their selfish interests at the expense of public interests.
God specifically warned against voting for people or choosing characters who go into public office to amass wealth for themselves at the expense of the masses. This group of people goes into public offices by deceit, manipulation and false promises to the electorate. Sometimes they perpetuate themselves in office through coercive force of the state machinery to subvert the collective will of the people. Unfortunately, there is the preponderance of this group of politicians in most African and Asian countries. Some of these rulers/public office holders sometimes looted their nation’s treasuries into economic recession as in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, and several other developing countries where the political elite are richer than their states. This is the category of leaders that ancient Greek philosophers term idiots.
They are idiots not because they are mentally defi cient or retarded, but because they are self-centered and selfish – they are always out for personal gains or interests. They have no public philosophy, no knowledge, no skill, no character and no virtues to contribute in a flourishing society. According to Greek philosophers, the idiot is just an upgraded barbarian. Still quoting the philosophers, Dr. Kethoser Kerichusa, in a recent public lecture, called the second group of people the tribes’ people. They go into politics to pursue and promote the interests of their communities, tribes or religions against the public interest.
These are people who have tribalistic mentality. They are not able to think beyond their small tribes or small groups. Their only and ultimate allegiance is to their tribes. Their tribe is their god and their religion is tribalism. The tribe people, according to the Greeks, are always afraid of things that are different to them. They are always suspicious and fearful. They always dealt with different people at difficult times with intimidation, with force and finance. The ideal person for the tribe people is the “Warrior”, because tribes people are war-making people.
This particular second class of people also typifi es the kind of political elite that abound in most African and Asian societies. Lastly, the third category of people who go into politics in any given society are those who seek public office to pursue and promote public interests. This group is called the ideal-class whom the Greeks term the Citizens.
They are not called Citizens in a legal or political status. The Citizen is someone who has the skills and the knowledge to live a public lifesomeone who is able to live a life of simplicity. The Citizen recognizes that he or she is a member of the commonwealth that strives for the common good. The Citizen knows his or her rights in a society and at the same time he/she knows his/her responsibilities to society. The Citizen can fight for his/her rights but always with an awareness of and with the respect of the rights and interests of others, of their neighbours and of the smallness of the minorities.
The Citizens made and make-up civilized societies because the Citizens settle their differences with civility thereby producing a civilized society. Society, according to Kerichusa, literally means friendship and friendliness. So, as we approach the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states later this year and the general elections in the first quarter of 2019, the choices enumerated above are open for the Nigerian electorate to make. If we continue our business as usual, we will continue to get the same results.
But if we choose to break from our idiotic and tribalistic cocoons and choose to be the ideal persons called the Citizens in a civilized society, we shall get better results and commensurate dividends of good governance. This is the holistic way to put an end to frequent cases of inter-ethnic rivalries, betrayal of public trusts, looting of public funds and corruption in every facet. As for me, I choose to be a Citizen and wish to vote for fellow Citizens with a hope to make up a Civilised society called Nigeria.
How about you? Joshua, the good successor of Prophet Moses who led the Israelites to their Land of Promise in his valedictory charged the children of Israel to make their own choice between good and evil. “…but as for me, and my house, we will serve the LORD”, declared Joshua to the Israelites (Joshua 24:13-17, KJV). We sincerely hope that the ongoing political process and realignment of forces will throw up the Ideal persons the Citizens so that the Nigerian electorate can have an option of voting them into power for our society to accelerate its pace/strides as we march in the direction of our own Canaan land. May God help us, in Jesus name

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