When poaching – which means stealing any idea or person –enters the political lexicon, integrity, morality and social responsibility jump out of the window.
The sad undertone to avowals of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman recently, of course, that it is legitimate to poach aptly indicates the depth of our depravity. I hold firmly that it is not. It is even disturbing that a high-up in partisan politics should contemplate the subject, let alone boast about it as a principle worth considering, as an option for building credible adherents.
It subtly implies that there is chronic absence of philosophy or principle guiding the process of acquiring membership. This anomaly could be stretched to the absurd limit to imply that winning elections is the ultimate goal of party policy and anything done to achieve that objective is acceptable. That statement by the PDP chairman is laden with connotations that are both alarming and derogatory to democratic principles.
In any democracy, establishing the unalloyed will of the electorate is the goal intended. That expression of will is anchored in votes.
Votes are earned by evidence of nexus between seekers of leadership and the electorate who periodically express their will through votes. Once a party leader emerges, he bears the common will of party members in all parameters. He could rise or fall in leadership only when he deviates from or sticks with party constitution, party manifesto, policies and programmes. For such are the main planks on which support or rejection of parties are based.
It is absurd that a sound mind in a sound body should, after expressing preference for a party, accept intrusion into his inviolate will and be persuaded to move to another party for whatever reason. It dehumanises both the subject and object of the idea of moving. It is worse than that. There is a subtle implication there that political players are chattel with no will of their own.
To enlist in a party, one is expected to consider quality of people within the party who are presumed to make a choice conversant with the objectives for establishing a party. One who finds party objectives congruent with his aspirations joins a party to enrich such objectives. It portends disaster for the political process, if these are not the bases of party membership.
The alternative basis is horrendous. That people subscribe to parties for benefits which will accrue to them beyond effective leadership of a people is fraught with humungous distortions in the goals of leadership that are bound to crash the political process further down the road of democracy. It is an unpardonable offence for people to express their will to belong to a distinct party and jump ship to another without contemplating its implications on the image and radiation of both the guest and the host. Both are guilty of indecency, self and group abuse and inconsistency. In consequence, both the party and its guest should be rejected as unworthy custodians of power.
The party that contemplates poaching could be described as visionless. The poached could be described as a moron or zombie. It is even worse when such people have hugged political space for a long time in the evolutionary history of Nigeria.
Could it be inferred that membership of parties do not read the objectives of the party before they opt in? Could it be that there are other hidden objectives in the minds of protagonists of the power game? Could it be that people in power politics in Nigeria actually do not have a vision for the country which they aspire to lead? Could it be that the objective of Nigeria’s politics is different from providing studied and prudent leadership aimed at welfare of the people? It sounds appropriate to aver that the only objective of power politics in Nigeria is garnering resources for self-enrichment from the public purse.
And that is a damning objective in 21st century power politics. This faulty goal is the reason developmental projects die before they are completed. It is the reason downright stealing of the commonwealth has gone on unabated. People enter power portals to slash off a portion of national wealth for themselves, their relations and friends.
The cross-generational recycling of people in leadership speaks volumes of the purpose of Nigerian leadership. It has not been for altruistic ends. It has not targeted the welfare and safety of the people. Nigerians have always been taken for a ride through past elections. We have sowed Boko Haram thereby, and must now reap violence.
With the posturing of political power-seekers, we are yet in the morning of hardship resulting from pretences at leadership. Our salvation is not in sight, even with impending elections. Political leaders have other plans for taking power, without considering the will of the electorate. Machiavellians are agog in search of those who would help them subvert the common will and foist leaders on a hapless people who yearn increasingly for safety and needed room to pursue happiness and fulfilment.
