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THEY ARE P WERFUL
ONLY WHEN WE MAKE THEM
- A M O S S H I L L I M
Introduction patriotism of many Nigerians, and indirectly
when we sit back unconcerned and
emocracy is a type of government in unbothered while they display their excesses.
w h i c h p o w e r a n d c i v i c
Dresponsibilities are exercised by all J ea n -J a cq u e s R o u s s ea u , a p o l i t i c a l
adult citizens, directly or through their freely- philosopher, in his attempt to salvage man
elected representatives. Democracy rests from his lost state of natural liberty, proposed a
upon the principles of majority rule and theory of Social Contract; which is a kind of
individual rights. The government in Nigeria association whereby ever y member
has failed in this regard. Political leaders are voluntarily agrees to place himself and his
equivalent to demi¬gods, as they possess possession under the direction of a sovereign.
extreme power, wealth, influence and even This simply means that all the members of the
immunity to the law letting go of the fact that association constitute the sovereign. Here,
they are powerful only when the masses make one and all pledges to submit to the “general
them. Thus, aiming at this backdrop is the will” – where “every member pledges to
main goal of this exercise. Politics is the way submit himself to the direction of the
that people living in groups make decisions. sovereign, he is really pledging to submit to his
Politics is about making agreements between own direction, and when he promises to obey
people so that they can live together in groups the sovereign, he promises to obey himself
such as tribes, cities, or countries, however, since he is part of the sovereign; and inability
other political systems aside democracy to then adhere to this brings about chaos and
include; totalitarian regimes, monarchies, and disorder”.
so on(web).
More to this, on the 18th day of October 2016,
A politician is a person who has political power the Nigerian popular writer Chimamanda
in the government of a state; a person active in Ngozi, in her article “Nigeria’s failed promises”
party politics or a person holding or seeking an spoke about the skyrocketed price of things
elected office in government. It is so appalling and the horrible situation in the country
that in Nigeria, politicians see politics as a handled by a weak government stating that “it
means to an end; the quickest way to make would be unfair to blame Mr.Buhari for these
money and gain authority. They go there with killings, which are in part a result of complex
so much prejudice, sentiment, bias, tribalism interactions between climate change and
and nepotism to mention but few. The fact is land use. But leadership is as much about
that most of the extreme authority and power perception as it is about action, and Mr.Buhari
wielded by these leaders were bestowed on has appeared disengaged” (web).
them by the citizens who support them either
directly by being unpatriotic or indirectly by Ideal governance is therefore a form of
being apathetic. Directly in the sense that leadership role that involves the exercise of
they buy the consciences, services and political, economic, and administrative power