By Bunmi Ishola
DEAR elected public official, congratulations on your recent victory at the 2023 elections. It is public knowledge that winning the presidential, National Assembly, governorship and House of Assembly elections is not a game for the fainthearted. The energy, the money, the rigour and the manpower need the resilience of people who can fight with zeal and give all it takes to win. That aside, it is also a known fact that this is not a job only the aspirants can do. It takes the commitment of people who can stand their ground to fight for justice and work without prejudice to make the goal of their parties come to fruition. It also takes the efforts of men and women who can work with great energy, go round to campaign and canvass for votes their candidates of choice and sell such to the people at large. This set of people do not sleep in their houses for days or weeks, working round the clock to make sure their opponents do not defeat their parties in the election as a failure of one is the failure of all. On the part of the masses, they took the pain to go out on election day to cast their votes for you, the candidate of their choice, in the hope for better days ahead and a better society.
Many voted with the aim that their candidates, if elected, would alleviate any pain their community is enduring at that time. They hope the promises made during the campaigns will be fulfilled just as promised to make life better for them as a people. They voted for you with the utmost zeal and with the hope that you will make their communities, their states and the country as whole better. I would like to remind you that it has become a norm in this part of the world that once people get elected to the post you are in now; the people who campaigned and voted for you cease to be important. Some of you change your location and stop communicating with the people in your constituencies. You stop picking calls, you stop going to your local governments and even refuse to fulfil your electoral promises. Your personal assistants refuse to allow people have access to you and even those within your parties cease to be anybody as far as you are concerned. Many of you close all means of communication till the next election year when you think you need the favour and votes of these same people you ignored.
What you should know at this point in time is that you are called a public official for a reason. That post is not created for enjoyment but for service. Your life ceases to be yours only for as long as you hold that office and once you get the mandate of the people to serve them. They have confidence in you as a person and putting their trust in you to serve them despite having many other options should mean a lot. You should put aside ethnocentrism, nepotism and favouritism once you are declared the winner of any political post. The people did not vote for your relatives, your wives, your husbands, your children or for your friends. So, the juicy parts of the dividend of democracy should not be for you and yours only but for the people who chose you. You should also know that as a public official, you owe the people feedback at least every quarter. Make them know what you are doing at every point in time. You should not be keeping mute when you should be talking to them. You need their trust and cooperation to make the work easy for you. Do not go to into office with the purpose of amassing wealth for yourself but with the thought of serving your people. You owe them that much.
Select the people that will work with you carefully, based on competence. Competent people and cerebral minds are the best hands you need for you to make your promises come to fulfilment. Try not to fill your cabinet with friends and family who will mess up your handwork. Find time out of your busy schedule to go out once in a while to ‘feel’ your people. You do not need to move away from the people you lived amongst before elections. Being with them will make whatever plan you have for them to work faster as you will be able to keep feeling whatever they are feeling too. Do not create a wall around yourself. Remember how you went all the way to beg for their votes when you were eyeing the post. Remember it is their votes that gave you the chance to be where you are now. Be accountable. Be consistent. Be accessible. Be conscientious.
There is no need to hold grudges against anyone after the elections. If there is anyone that can add value to your dreams and aspirations on how to better the lives of your people, do not hesitate to ask such person to join you to work for the betterment of the nation. The betterment of each community will make the local government beautiful and this will extend to the state and the country as a whole. The time for bitter politics is over and the aim of any office-holder should be how to uplift the people and push the nation forward at this time. Go with the thought of building the best country every Nigerian will be proud of. May Nigeria be a better place during your tenure.
- Ishola is on the staff of Nigerian Tribune
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