“No Tazarce” our collective shame

The surest way to lose it all is to try to pull down another by all means; usually the fall is heavy that it collapses on everything and everyone. How would that be? You may ask. When a people lose reputation it takes nothing to neglect them because recognition is based on reputation.

The recent happenings around Ganye Chiefdom is a cause for concern to every well-meaning indigent of the land; irrespective of religion or even tribe because the chiefdom is fasting losing a virtue of following the elders. Now is becoming the other way like ducks and ducklings finding the way is taken over by the inexperienced young ones.  The worry is the way our youths have resorted to open disgrace and hate for political office holders or elected representatives.

First of all I would like to put it straight that I am not patronizing any politician here. In fact some of them I have not met or known them personally not to talk of speaking about their character. But honestly I respect them, not because I think they have done greatly but because I see it an obligation to give them due respect as the wish of the majority of us who voted them into office. Our personal vote for or against them cease to matter the day they were declared elected. They become for us and represent us all.  What I wish to achieve with this writing is to call our attention to moderation and save our face from unredeemable shame and embarrassment.

If we elect someone and he/she fails to deliver the electoral mandate, it isn’t reason for us to insult the person or disgrace him/her in the presence of strangers.  The better and the most civil is to campaign against such person without making it a thing of image damaging. It is not to the good of us as a people when we openly reject our own elected representative simply because we think he/she did not fulfill what he/she should. Are we not forgetting that those people in one way or the other have achieve something (no matter how little) that we could applaud them about?

You see, if your brother comes home with a stranger and you rise to stand at the entrance of the house and started to say all sort bad things your brother have done or have been doing, what will come to the mind of this stranger right away is that your family is divided and undependable. Now it isn’t about your brother alone, it is about all of you in the family. You have proved that you don’t have manners and you are at war within your home and you do not have collective bearing therefore cannot be trusted. That singular act can ruin your brother’s reputation among his friends and will deny you acceptance that you be gunning at.

If our youths continue to humiliate those we elected and chant hate in the face of the world while our elders stand and watch, we must be rest assured that we are drowning with them. Those from outside will not take us seriously.

What are we losing here? One may wonder. We will lose respect, recognition and opportunities will slip away. We will lose identity and possibilities of honor. Are we not crying about political marginalization and lack of recognition in Ganye Chiefdom?

If for instance youths hold out placards with inscriptions “No Tazarce) what message are they sending to the outsiders? What are they communicating to those who would have high regard for our representatives? Are they saying that such person will not be allowed to contest in an election or what? As much as “No Tazarce” will represent the opinion of some people, it cannot be everyone’s opinion; and who knows if it is actually the opinion of the majority? So such propaganda should be seen a distraction to communal serenity and sanity.  This is not a campaign against a person but a deliberate taunting of an individual and an act of disrespect, insult and hate.

If we think we presented the worst to the Senate, Federal Representative and the State House of Assembly or even the executive, who should then give us the chance to present the best that we have? Are we not supposed to go back to the drawing board? (That is if we have one drawing board)

No society gets it right by pulling down its own. If we must get it right we must then learn to be calm and sort our situation without unhealthy rivalry and character assassination. We must be willing to treat our politicians with respect; we don’t have to attack persons but confront political issues and get to elect the right candidates. Four years is not too long a time to wait patiently, if a candidate fails to deliver, don’t insult him or threaten him, simply vote him out.

Until we realize that those voted into political office(s) are to serve us and not to service us we will not stop crying about their inability to attend to us all. Now for instance, we have Abdurazak Namdas as our representative at the National Assembly, he represents us, he is our image at that level, whatever he is able to do we are the ones to be proud of; either he did it at the national level or international level. Because we gave him the chance to do it, he is able to do because we voted for him. So if we want to measure his achievement as a representative we must be able to look beyond how many people Namdas gave money to, because as far as we are concern we made him who he is with our votes so we don’t have to collect money from him or wait for him to attend our marriages and other ceremonies but expect that he attend to functions and responsibilities we voted him to do. So also the others.

The best way to disagree with a political office holder is to call his attention to your rights and his constitutional duties and if he/she becomes unbearably useless then there is provision for a recall or if he can be tolerated for the four years then you campaign against such person by presenting a more credible candidate and vote out incompetence and mediocrity.

The elders and parent must call on the youths to pay attention to the rhythms of the time; they must not allow themselves to be used against one another. Let the political landscape be descent and honorable so that people from outside will respect us and give us our dues as a people with a high number to deliver credible votes. Let the youths also shun political gibbering and embrace orderliness and be the vanguard of peaceful election comes 2019 at the end Ganye Chiefdom will win.