A Season Of Endorsements

As 2015, another
general election year draws near, events have started unfolding.  The political atmosphere is becoming more tensed.  There are a lot of political alignment – defection from one political party to another, merging of political parties and all that.  The most interesting and worrisome is the wave of endorsements going on all over the country.
The media is daily inundated with stories of how one group or the other, endorses virtually all current serving elected office holders for either a second term in office or for a higher political post.
Curiously enough, one thing is that when one group kicks off the endorsement propaganda, every other group in the State, constituency or nation as the case may be, will be falling over themselves to  register their loyalty and support to the aspirants.  All kinds of encomiums will be poured on the persons vying for the seats even when these praise-singers do not believe in them.
A similar scenario played out in the recent past when some past governors literally turned government houses across the nation to political rally grounds as mobilised people from all walks of life trooped to the government houses to “beg” the governors to re-contest. We have not forgotten the one million-man-march orgnaised by Daniel Kanu and co, clamouring for the transmutation of late Gen. Sani Abacha to a civilian president. Traditional rulers and tribal leaders mobilised their followers for Abacha.  Religious title holders prophesied that he was God-ordained.
Endorsement is the act of publicly declaring one’s personal or group’s support for a candidate for elected office.  It is a potent tool to compel many people to vote a political candidate.  But the obvious risk associated with endorsement, which worries me, especially the way it is done in Nigeria, is that it can prevent  good candidates from emerging.  A situation where those in power use their political might to garner endorsement from left, right and centre leaves much to be desired.
Let truth be told, how many of these politicians clamouring for endorsement deserve it? What have they done for their people to make the people to willingly recommend them for either a second term or higher position?  Many of them during the last electioneering campaigns promised the people heaven and earth if elected only to dump all the promises and pursue their selfish interest as soon as they assumed office.
There is growing hunger in the land, the rate of unemployment soars by the day, our communities lack basic amenities –no water, no road, no electricity. The states and nation face serious insecurity challenges with the crime rate  on the increase, yet all our leaders talk about is 2015 elections.
A political analyst recently asked: when would our governors, lawmakers and even the President have time to govern when they use their first two years in office to settle down and the remaining two years to seek for re-election or a higher position?
I think our leaders should concentrate on good governance.  They should make life better for the people instead of  wasting public funds on lobbying and sponsoring groups to organise endorsement.
A golden fish has no hiding place, they say.  So, a leader who merits endorsement or re-election does not need to sponsor people to champion that cause. His good works will definitely speak for him.
It is high time the wave of endorsement was looked into critically by political parties and other stakeholders. It is gradually turning our politics to that of exclusion and hatred which is not good for our democracy.
Calista Ezeaku