Governorship (s)elections are being held in Baylesa, Imo and Kogi States today and for those that bother to vote, it is a choice between a rock and a hard place.
Whoever “wins” will swear an oath to uphold the constitution when they take office, but no single governor has come close to doing that since civilian rule returned in 1999. The Nigerian constitution states that the security and welfare of Nigerians is “the primary purpose” of government at all levels.
“Primary purpose” means that the most important reason for the existence of government is to guarantee the security and welfare of Nigerians. Every president, governor, etc swears to uphold the constitution when they take office.
Yet, all of them have failed with a capital “F” in this “primary purpose” of keeping Nigerians safe and taking care of their welfare. There is insecurity in all parts of the country, no public hospital, public school or university is adequate. Millions of Nigerians live in inadequate accommodation, have no running water in their homes, everyone is on their own if they encounter any mishap, accident, sickness, etc.
In this climate of ineptitude and failure of governance, it beggars belief to see Nigerians praising governors that allegedly “saved” money for their states or “invested” public funds in a private business. Other misguided people claim that an ex governor was a success because he increased his state’s “internally generated revenue” (IGR).
Raising more funds from taxes on long-suffering people in your state can only count as “success” if it helped deliver on the “primary purpose” of government – the security and welfare of the people. American colonists before their war of independence against Britain had the slogan: “Taxation without representation is tyranny”. Increasing taxes without the people having a say in how the revenue is spent, and it not being spent on their security and welfare is not success, especially when it just increases the public funds to be looted.
By singing the praises of abject failures in the political space, many Nigerians continue to demonstrate an ignorance of what constitutional rule is all about – fulfilling the basic requirements of the job in terms of security and welfare.
