Money is to [tag]politics[/tag] what gasoline is to automobile. Money runs campaigns whether in a first or third world nation. The difference lies in how campaign money is used. The United States midterm election is just days away. It is the time of the year when some gubernatorial seats are up for grabs, and candidates are elected (or re-elected) to the congresses in Washington D.C and the respective states.
One factor common to the campaign processes in the U.S and an under-developed nation like Nigeria is the role money play.
While a significant chunk of the campaign cash raised for the [tag]US midterm elections[/tag] – some $2.6 billion so far – goes towards running ads on virtually all forms of media outlets in the US; where candidates highlight their strength and the issues they care about, it is has become so common lately to see or listen to some forms of subtle and overt media attack and smear campaign financed by the candidates and their affiliate groups.
This year’s United States midterm campaign process has been hijacked by all sorts of attack ads that have gradually suppressed and made any decent discussion of issues irrelevant. It has been attack and counterattack all the way! Well, didn’t some wise guy say “attack is the best form of offence?”
In the some sense this is true of politics in Nigeria. The difference, however, is that campaign money is used to forcefully influence the outcomes of elections. And this is not achived by energizing the voters’ base in a subtle and calculated manner, but by using campaign money to cause mayhem either by outrightly buying votes, or by hiring thugs to intimidate or beat up opponents. And in some extreme cases, assassins are even called to clean up. Several political assassinations have occurred in Nigeria even though the next election is several months away.
Occasionally, one sees candidates that break out of the money and media attack-driven politics in the US. The victories of late democrat Paul Wellstone , a Minnesota college professor and social activist that won a Senate seat against an incumbent republican in 1990, and the Jesse “The Body” Ventura an independent candidate, a former navy SEAL, professional wrestler, and city mayor that became the governor after flooring the two major party candidates in 1999, are some examples.
As Nigeria moves closer to the 2007 elections, will the nation get to see folks like Wellstone and Ventura emerge and floor well-entrenched mainstream party candidates? Already some attack websites (against IBB and Senator Afikuyomi) have already sprung up, will Nigerians get to see more of this, and less of mayhem and electoral malpractice, the usual modus operandi?
[...] In my book, after the Illinois Senator Barack Obama, Keith Eliison has become another poster-child for what the politics of democracy is… and shouldn’t be: Not driven by money nor facilitated by media attack ads. And certainly not one characterized by mayhem and bully tactics. [...]
November 9, 2006 at 9:03 pm