This is the concluding part of the article published last
Friday.

Financial and other material inducements are very effective
in gaining political influence in the country and this will likely remain so
for some time. The primary reason for this is that the social institutions for
the allocation of resources and opportunities in the country have failed and
there is poverty and dependency in the land.

An indication of
the seriousness of the dependency problem in the politics of the country is the
fact that the National Assembly had to address the issue of demands for money
and material gifts by members of their constituency particularly during festive
periods.

In the South West, some people talk of the ‘Amala Politics’,
to describe the situation in which politicians have to continuously feed their
followers daily particularly during elections. There are several accounts of
how the  PDP government in the country
used financial inducement to buy votes during the April 2003 elections. At the
intra- or inter-party levels, contracts, financial rewards and appointments are
used to negotiate for political support.

The shameful behavior of AlhajiAbdulkadir, the former
National Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy, is an example of how material
inducements influence the political power game at the institutional level.

The financial inducement strategy is being used mainly by
the political entrepreneurs. This strategy as well as sentiment tends to shift
focus away from the issues and challenges in the country.

Therefore, one thing that the opposition groups can do is to
find ways to maintain focus on issues and problems. While financial inducements
and public service were designed to meet the material needs in a poverty
stricken society, sentimentalism as a political strategy to gain influence, is
designed to meet the emotional needs of the people.

Humanity in general places a lot of emphasis on their roots,
cultural identity and spiritual belief. Hence, ethnicity and/or tribalism and
religion are critical issues in politics in general. But it is particularly
more relevant in poor communities because in the absence of material holdings,
poor people always tend to guide their ethnic and religious identity as
essential resources without which their life will not have any meaning.

The political entrepreneurs in the country always take
advantage of these emotional needs by the people of the country while the needs
were most often neglected by the opposition groups.

Politicking is the last strategy of gaining political
influence. Politicking is essentially about socio-political relationships. That
is, the art of building political friendship and partnership based on
interests, goals and ideologies. This is an area in which I have come to
respect and admire the political entrepreneurs in the country.

The politicking that produced General Obasanjo as the
presidential candidate of the PDP in 1999 and 2003 is particularly  commendable. It shows that the political
entrepreneurs in the country are highly sophisticated and disciplined, unlike
the opposition groups. They have the ability to make very important critical
concessions and to defer gratification.

In my opinion, it is the ability to play politics
objectively that actually separate the political entrepreneurs from their
opponents, many of who often place personal interests and sentiments far above
group goals.

One major weakness of the so-called progressives in the
country is their inability to accommodate alternative opinions. Because of
their dogmatic approach to politics, they exclude many people and institutions
that could help their cause. The opposition groups are often unrealistic in
their approach to politicking.

Making politics is very much the work of opposition parties
and the opposition parties specialize in making demands and criticisms, but
extremely weak when it comes to offering suggestions of substance and
demonstrate a spirit of bi-partisan cooperation in the national interest.

The important point is to realise that good talk, principled
actions and sound ideologies are not sufficient to make realistic political
impact in the real world. Money and election malpractices will continue to be
the dominant factors in the nation’s electoral system as long as the people are
poor and lack the capacity to make effective demand from government. The
opposition political groups have to support their principles and ideologies
with well-planned actions that will touch the lives of the people directly.

The political entrepreneurs and their cronies always
deliberately overestimate the intentions of the opposition with the aim of
intimidating them while also enhancing their own scope of maneuvering in
negotiations. The opposition, on the other hand, always seem to define their
interest too narrowly, thereby reducing their power and influence. To be effective,
the opposition must always strive to maximize its powers and influence. I
believe virile opposition, not politicking with our commonwealth, will make
government function properly and give democracy dividends to the downtrodden.

Dr Akpogena, a Christian devotional consultant, lives in
Port Harcourt.

Lewis Akpogena