Anambra Guber: Anglican Bishop Urges Politicians to Focus on Issue-based Campaigns

By Praise Chinecherm

Anglican Bishop of Diocese of Ihiala, Anambra state, Rt Rev Israel Okoye has cautioned politicians against taking advantage of voters’ vulnerability to exploit them during elections.

He warned them to desist from such acts or face the repercussions.

Speaking during his presidential charge at the third session of the fifth Synod of the Diocese, themed, “Fear Not”, the Bishop lamented what he described as “use and dump” attitude of politicians with the desperate electorate.

He insisted that advancing state of poverty, unemployment, parochial chauvinism and frustration via the electoral process remained ill-wind that blows no good to anyone.

The Prelate however urged politicians to insist on issue-based electioneering campaigns as they shun hypocritical heroic songs.

He said, “Preparations for the election of the governor of Anambra State on November 8, 2025 are on course.

“In democracies, election periods provide electorate the opportunity to interact with prospective electoral candidates with a view to assessing their campaign manifesto.

“It provides an enlightened basis for ascertaining the candidates that are better equipped to advance the course of development in the interest of the citizens.

“Unfortunately, it has been observed that the strategy of populating campaign venues with a rented crowd, preparatory to paying for their votes is rife.

“Desperate politicians and their allies exploit the widespread unemployment and hunger in the land to turn vulnerable members of the electorate into political objects that are purchased, deployed for a defined purpose, and dispensed with after an election.

“That inhuman practice, masqueraded as electioneering politics in the Nigerian political culture is, in fact, a deliberate dehumanization of vulnerable citizens.

“People who vote for candidates because they have been paid a paltry sum, sometimes as low as N2,000 or less have been turned into political toys. To such people, they do not sincerely care if their votes count or not.

“We urge all the electoral candidates to be issue-based in their electioneering campaigns.

“All those singing hypocritical heroic songs in favour of individuals seeking electoral support do so at the expense of the wellbeing of the people on their palms subvert the future of the populace.

“It is an ill-wind advancing the state of poverty, unemployment, parochial chauvinism and frustration via the electoral process.

“We, therefore, urge all the electoral candidates, their political allies, and those that have turned either their voters’ cards or public offices into commodities for the highest bidder to be mindful of the repercussions of their debased actions.

“No sensible person can afford to supervise his own liquidation. November 8 is the date for the choice of the tomorrow we yearn for in Anambra State.

“We have the option of going for the best at our disposal, based on our rational assessment, or we go for contraction with woes.

“God forbid that we shall allow whatever pittances that characterize electoral campaigns to rob us of a brighter future.”

On party defection of elected government officials

The Nigerian political environment is awash with inglorious political adventures, all in the name of freedom of association and fundamental human rights.

Nigerians are being negligently taking for granted by politicians that have supposedly received their votes to serve in government on the platform of clearly defined political parties are now selfishly transferring the mandates they received from the electorate to other political parties where, they believe, their self-regarding interests will be assured.

It is ironic that in spite of the judgements of competent Nigerian courts that votes are cast for political parties and not for the individual candidates, elected candidates transfer the mandates they possess on behalf of their political parties to other political parties without the approval of the parties that provided the platforms on the basis of which they contested for the offices they occupy.

We have witnessed with utter dismay, the defection of state governors, members of state and national assemblies, and local government legislative and executive officials from one political party to another.

The reasons they have consistently articulated to rationalize their self-serving political adventure are basically insulting to the Nigerian electorate.

What may be regarded as their often paraded reasons are that their parties are burdened with leadership crisis and that they desire to align with the political party that produced the president of Nigeria.

The two reasons appear to them as socially acceptable reasons while in fact, they project their socially unacceptable behavior.

If they cannot unite in resolving the internal crisis of their respective political parties, what contributions do they think they can offer toward resolving more complex problems in the wider Nigerian polity?

The issue of aligning with the political party that produced the president of Nigeria in order to benefit from the federal government makes nonsense of our multi-party system and principles that are expected to differentiate a political party from another.

No doubt, the formations that are regarded as political parties in Nigeria are basically associations that provide platforms for peripatetic or internally displaced politicians.

They are bereft of principles, people’s trust, people-oriented leadership, and similar other virtues.

As long as they have at their disposal, large number of people, particularly youths that are willing to be rented for self-serving purposes, they will continue to take Nigerians for granted as they plan and execute their self-regarding agenda.

Relying on technicalities to tolerate the flagrant abuse of the mandate of the electorate is not only disheartening, but also a time bomb.

Nigerians must rise in defence of their today and future being toyed with by parasitic politicians. It may be utopian to expect parasitic politicians to desist from sucking the blood of unsuspecting Nigerians.

Until Nigerians are ready to extricate themselves from chauvinistic postures and alignment with politicians that offer them pittances in order to subject them to socio-economic and political bondage, there cannot be any meaningful transformation in the country.

It is pertinent to note that any political party that is celebrating frequent reception of politicians that have decamped from rival political parties is unwittingly laying the fragile foundation for its own political tornado.

In that way, the cycle of political instability and failure of governance will continue. This is not sustainable.