As the 2023 general elections draw closer, the Nigerian electorate have been urged to prepare to exercise their political sovereignty by ensuring that they do not cede the power to decide who become their leaders to anyone else.
A lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Port Harcourt, Dr Emmanuel Wonah gave the charge in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt.
Wonah said it was not just important for the people to understand that political power belongs to them, but that they also exercise that power without being unduly influenced to surrender it or use it unwisely.
He therefore advised the electorate to scrutinize the candidates that are being put up for election by the various political parties with a view to determining the person that is best prepared to protect and promote their interest and giving their mandate accordingly.
“I think that the people should be able to understand that they have the political sovereignty. They’re the ones that need to decide”, he said, noting that, on the face of it, it was difficult to pick out the particular politician that can faithfully deliver on promise.
He said it was imperative for the people to engage the candidates and assess them on the basis of their antecedents in order to establish their capacity and commitment to the cause of the people.
“Given the crop of politicians we have now, it’s difficult to know who is the right politician to deliver us, but Nigerians should be able to look at politicians who have very good strategies. It is not about I’ll build houses, I’ll construct hospitals. They should ask them how they’re going to do it. What are the measures they will put in place to ensure that they achieve them”, he said, adding that “If they (the people) are satisfied with all that, then they can vote for that person and that is how we can begin to restore the political sovereignty of Nigerians”.
The university teacher accused the Nigerian political class of hijacking the political process with the introduction of too much money into the process thereby polluting the system and making it difficult for the people’s participation.
“How many Nigerians can afford the exorbitant amount except those who have been in the political circle and the fact that they have made fortunes from their former positions they occupied in the Nigerian political system? And that explains the fact that the state and its institutions have become means of enriching our political elite in this country”, he said.
Wonah lamented that selfishness and greed have continued to characterize the actions of those in the leadership cadre of the country, leaving the poor masses in misery and hopelessness.
“They do not have the interest of the people at heart, even though democracy is all about acting on the mandate of the people. Democracy is also about allowing the people to actually decide what should be in their own interest.

So, if people can afford to buy these forms because of the public offices they had occupied before, it simply means that there’s a group of people that have tenaciously held on to the political system in this country. Some of them have been past governors who had performed poorly in their different states; some of them have been ministers who have not done well; some of them are serving governors (and) if you look at what is happening in their states, it is nothing to write home about; what is happening in their states does not qualify them to vie for the presidency of this country, but because of what they think they will get and because of the impunity they’ve enjoyed in doing what they did in office or what they’re doing in office, they have the guts to say they’re going to vie for the office of president of this country”, he said.

According to the teacher of Political Science, democracy in Nigeria is still wobbling as much of the norms and standard practices that characterize the popular participatory form of government were yet to be allowed to be firmly entrenched in the country.

“I think that Democracy in Nigeria is yet to find its feet. The reason is that, in a democracy, it is expected that the people should exercise their political sovereignty in terms of deciding who should be their leaders. And again, Democracy abhors coercion, abhors undue influence. The people should be free to choose from among alternatives who should be their leader or the kind of political party they should belong to.

“And again, in a Democracy, there should be no encumbrances in terms of participation. The people are expected to participate in deciding who be their leaders”, he emphasized, maintaining that until political parties in the country are purged of discriminatory, unfair, unjust and inequitable practices, Democracy will continue to be a mirage in Nigeria.

By: Opaka Dokubo