by Wilfred Okiche

2015 represents a chance for us to rev the engines and smoothen out some kinks. If we are willing to take charge of the future, with the mistakes of the past as a guide, it could be the year when things began to change for the better.

The 2015 general elections, scheduled to hold in less than 5 weeks has thrown up a frenzied state of campaigning, electioneering and political manoeuvers. The long trek to victory at the polls has been characterized by subtle plugging of preferred candidates, political horse trading, cross carpeting as well as belated springing up of long delayed projects. The political atmosphere, already tense since the early days of the past year, has become even more electric with the official kick off of campaign season.

At the national level, the presidential race has come down to a gigantic face-off between president Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) of the All progressives Congress (APC). Gigantic not in terms of loft of ideas or quality of debate from both candidates, but as a result of a direct fall out of the present political system which concentrates too much power at the federal level, thus, creating an environment where it appears as if only the number one man has the ultimate power to create meaningful change.

And maybe this is a valid debate. The post of the presidency is indeed the most important political office in the land and the utmost scrutiny should be reserved for candidates vying to occupy the position. His decisions directly affect every aspect of the Nigerian life- from power to petroleum, economy to agriculture. And in a pervading environment of weakened institutions, this influence is stronger than ever. It is for this reason that the discourse around that office deserves to be elevated beyond the generic religious and tribal pettiness currently being bandied around by both major political parties.

But to focus only on the presidential race would be to ignore the bigger picture. Gubernatorial elections are scheduled to hold in at least 28 states of the federation and in the ensuing trigger happy world that has come to characterize the presidential race campaign, the governors are almost being given a free pass.

A lot of grass roots development is the responsibility of the state and federal governments, yet candidates vying for these positions are carrying on like its business as usual. Governors who owe workers salaries for months yet fail to see any wrong in heading to Abuja to donate millions of Naira to the president’s re-election bid are campaigning alongside those who have stood by ineffectively while their states burned and thousands of lives were lost.

Beyond the rallies and mobile stops, there is a desperate lack of engagement on the issues that matter. Even candidates hopeful of dislodging the incumbents have not shown a fine grasp of the hot button issues. Rather this campaign cycle has thrived mostly on personalities, parties and finances.

No democratic system can make important advances without an active legislature but the men and women who are hoping to make laws for the next four years are not being demanded by the citizenry to elucidate clearly how they intend to represent their peoples interests. How then will a lethargic legislature if elected, provide checks to an overenthusiastic executive?

Now is as good a time as any to raise the level of discourse on this political cycle. Politicians, aided by an uninterested and disenfranchised electorate have gotten away with so much for far too long. If this democracy will ever have a chance of taking root and thriving, there must be an ownership of the process by the electorate that goes beyond being at the receiving end of paltry sums and items.

The same amount of attention being splashed on the presidential polls should be extended to the various states, local governments and assembly men, knowing that if these levels are alive to their duties, the president’s job is made easier. The governing process should be all inclusive as opposed to the “us” versus “them” mentality that has been allowed to thrive. Political parties, encouraged by a vibrant electorate will be forced to present the best and most prepared of candidates for elective positions.

More importantly, the issues of the time should not be allowed to be neglected to the back burner while irrelevant matters are whipped up to stir up hate and encourage a culture of mediocrity. Candidates should be engaged based on what they have outlined as their points of action. Empty barrels among them should be treated as such while promising ones are encouraged to operate at the highest levels. The system has to be made to work such that only deserving candidates are thrown up each election cycle and elected officials need to recognise that they can be done away with when they aren’t performing.

It is a slow tortuous journey to the seemingly perfect democracies obtainable in western nations but we have to be ready to work towards attaining that utopia.

2015 represents a chance for us to rev the engines and smoothen out some kinks. If we are willing to take charge of the future, with the mistakes of the past as a guide, it could be the year when things began to change for the better.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.