Ideally, public office holders should be accountable to the people who they serve. It is even more important when these officials are supposedly elected by the people they govern. But one wonders why they blatantly take us for granted.
Recently the media has been bombarded with stories of the ill health and true situation of three Governors, Sullivan Iheanacho Chime (Enugu), Danbaba Danfulani Suntai (Taraba) and Liyel Imoke (Cross-River). While Suntai was flown to Germany after a plane crash, the other two Governors are reported to have undisclosed health challenges.
The reality on ground, however, is that the Nigerian people and the people of their respective States have a right to know the true situation of things. This position is further buttressed by the fact that the medical bills of these officials are being paid by state funds. When President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua passed away in office, members of his family (led by his wife) and his kitchen cabinet, misled the nation as to the true state of his health from the later part of 2009, until he finally died in 2010.
The conduct of the Nigerian ruling class is premised on the primitive and undeveloped state of our body polity. In a bid to hold power (indefinitely) at all cost, any information that is considered inimical to their interest is kept away from the public and people who in their opinion stand to benefit from the information.
Something is fundamentally wrong with our system, because it encourages people in power and their aides, who were not even elected, to mislead the people without any repercussions.
What can the KontriMan do about this?
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