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I’m not a politician. I’ve never been one. I’m just a hobbyist writer and concerned Nigerian. But the first time I ever attended the meeting of a political party at the house of a prominent Senator somewhere in Lagos, I was amazed. I hadn’t planned it. It was my first, long holiday in Lagos and one of my most enterprising and adventurous cousins and his friends had come to pick me up at the bus-stop. Since I didn’t know Lagos that much, I couldn’t tell that we were not going home directly. But anyways, I had no option than to attend the meeting with them after I was given a low-down and assured of my safety. Apparently, I didn’t know what to expect so I had my second analogue camera on me. Though I hadn’t loaded the camera with film yet, I had to go and drop it in the car before I could be allowed in. Yes, we were thoroughly searched and I think that was a good thing. I do not remember the exact year this event occurred but it must have happened sometime between 2005 and 2008.
You might be wondering what my cousin
and his friends were looking for at that kind of meeting. Well, I did ask them
and got an honest answer. Basically, they often went there after the usual Lagos
grind to cool off, have fun and know what’s happening in that Senatorial
district. For them, it wasn’t about the money or refreshments. It was just
another adventure. And I believed them. I believed them because when I saw how
much was given to one of them who doubled as a representative, I knew they
couldn’t possibly be going because of the money. At least, I had a rough idea
of how much this my older cousin handled in his business on a daily basis.
Being a novice, I was taken aback by
the reality of how monies were actually shared to win people’s approval. I also
heard how various avenues were being exploited to obtain money to fund
activities. Some of the avenues were said to been existing without the
knowledge of the President (yes, the one in Aso Rock at that time). There was a
register of names of representatives. Each representative in attendance received
some preassigned amount of money, signed for it and was meant to go and share it
with other persons. So, yes, the Ghana-must-go-bags stories are real! I had
started reading about leadership and the problems in Africa at that time. So, they
actually showed me some of the bullet points I needed to add to my list of
problems in Nigeria back then.
Let’s make no mistake about it, it costs
money to do politics. Globally, it costs lots of money to do massive publicity
and win elections. Politics may involve lots of volunteering and networking but
those who will win elections must spend money; whether they have it or not. So,
what was happening that day was strange to a schoolboy like me. But to those
who organised the meeting, it was all about political strategies. None of the
things they did or said at that meeting needed to be reviewed.
These
days, I try to write shorter posts. Please click here to read part 2.
