Money is a vital component for political activity, because nothing can be done without money; therefore, it is safe to say that political activities cannot be executed without money.
Money politics is a political system in which a politician is being supported by its party members in return for financial support.
We are trapped in a system where money has become superior to quality leadership.
Money politics as a means of funding political activities and participation has now turned to a case of the highest bidder, where only people who can spend are considered the best candidate(s). The capacity to deliver quality governance is now being determined by how much a candidate can spend on an election.
This by implication means that anybody can now be elected into power even if they are not qualified, so far they have the money to spend.
Little wonder the elected fail to carry out their campaign promises once they occupy the position of power. To them, being in the position of power has become a call to be served rather than a call to serve.
The humungous costs of accessing political power is the root cause of our current mediocre infrastructural under-development.
So, as we continue to bemoan successive inept, ineffective and clueless, moral and intellectually bankrupt political leadership, we must not lose sight of how most of our politicians got into power, in the first instance.
They spend huge sums of money, with some politicians having to sell some valuable physical assets, borrow money from banks, commit ritual murders or bend to the weird wishes of some powerful godfathers to get elected into office. Their allegiance, when they eventually succeed, would obviously be to their paymasters rather than the electorate. The piper dictates the tune.
We don’t need a prophet to tell us that a candidate that has spent the bulk of his wealth to convince people to vote for him would first see a call to leadership as a means of gathering back the large chunk of funds he has spent.
The gross lack of deterrence is another huge factor contributing to the rising cost of elections. Now is the time for INEC, the EFCC and the NFIU to look into background of candidates, their finances, their campaign spending and work together to help de-emphasize the prevalence of money politics.
As Ndimo approach the 2023 general elections, we need to de-empasize the allure of chump change and vote for intellectually mobile candidates in whatever party we can find them, that can provide opportunities for progressive growth and whose core values would be focused on how to lift the bulk of the states populace out of the “peculiar mess” of poverty, corruption and insecurity.
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