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Everywhere you turn its all talks about politics
and nothing but. It is not a bad thing but the politics that has taken
over the land is not politics of development or ideas. It is about who
gets what office and how to retain power.

Governors have abandoned governance to play
politics of 2011. Those of them that have served the maximum two terms
are looking into what roles they can play after their terms and thus
extend their political careers. These roles follow a narrow range from
wresting a Senate candidacy or something higher to jockeying to become
a political godfather, or have a say in who becomes president. In sum
politics has become an end in itself.

This jockeying for positions is not restricted to
the state level. It is perhaps even worse at the federal level. Since
Goodluck Jonathan assumed office on May 6 after the death of President
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, governance at the federal level has been in
abeyance. What has taken the centre stage since then has been the
question of whether Mr. Jonathan is going to contest or not. He has not
officially declared his intention but all indications are that his
first deliberate foray into elective office will be for the top post.
The president’s political journey thus far has depended on an
auspicious ticket, from deputy governor to governor and from vice
president to president. His ministers and aides have all taken leave of
their duty posts and are busy hobnobbing across the country currying
support for their principal’s ambition.

There is nothing wrong in seeking to contest,
either at the state or federal levels, but we all must survive these
elections and carry on our daily lives before and after 2011. As things
stand now most of the office holders are busy using government
resources to campaign to the disadvantage of other candidates. The
first casualty of this is governance, at federal and state levels.
Attention to administration has taken a nosedive as officialdom focuses
on politicking.

At the state levels governors are no longer
concentrating on the task of delivering dividends of democracy to their
people. Things that should engage the attention of those saddled with
the onerous task of governance are left undone. A case in point is the
cholera epidemic, which is sweeping across some states in the northern
part of the country. The latest is that the other parts of the country
are not going to be immune from the epidemic.

Other affairs of state have also been relegated to
the backseat as road construction and other infrastructures that should
be put in place have been abandoned until after the elections. The
result is that as no one is paying attention to these facilities, plans
to maintain them have fallen apart. Roads are riddled with crater holes
leading to avoidable accidents and loss of lives.

Last week Thursday President Jonathan was in Lagos
to launch his roadmap for power. His arrival at the airport was turned
into a political carnival. The roadmap created a road jam. Major
highways in the city were shut down for several hours leading to a
complete traffic gridlock that irritated a metropolitan electorate
already on a short fuse.

Why should a whole city be shut down just because
the president was visiting to launch a grandiose plan that may not see
the light of day? Haven’t we passed this road before? The Olusegun
Obasanjo administration after eight years spent over $16 billion for
the same thing. What did we get in return?

The general feeling is that the elections are
coming and politicians need slush funds to campaign. It is regrettable
that the electorate as always is at the receiving end of this renewed
absence of governance that has taken over the country. It is important
to stress at this juncture that this should not be the case. We should
expect to be deafened by examples of what has been achieved and what
more will be promised if we vote …

While we understand that elections periods are usually characterised
by a lull in serious government activities, those in power should not
allow this to deter them from their primary duty because at the end of
the day the Nigeria is the loser when there is no purposeful
governance.