Facing The Reality Of Oath Taking And Voting Allegiance. BY DR.CHUKS OSUJI

Honestly, I was with an old friend, now late, who served this country and both today’s Abia and Imo State in various capacities when after the 1983 Presidential Election when his name was mentioned on Radio Nigeria as having been appointed Minister. After our initial excitement and jubilation, I turned to him to ask him some unexpected questions. “Chief, soon you will be taking another oath of office?” He looked at me with obvious sympathy as if I don’t understand anything about official taking of oath which he described as the function of political process leading to the formality of promising to serve the people well in any office you are given.

My next question was this, “since you have being serving the public, you have being appointed to more than 3 or even 5 political offices, and in each one, you had taken an oath of office?” He answered in the affirmative. From his explanations, it was not difficult for me to understand that indeed, that oath taking in Functional politics is a mere process and definitely not a spiritual condition to tie one to be honest, corruption free and to avoid embezzlement or not to tamper with constituency projects etc.
A glance at the numerous oaths which Political appointees or elected top middle or low officials were given before taking offices, one would have no difficulty dismissing those oaths as mere casual thing “to fulfill all righteousness.” Point blank.

That is the reason why many people involved in any aspect of Election processes are known to have quickly been involved in taking oaths promising to vote for an aspirant or candidate for election. In fact, as one potential delegate honestly told me, “if many aspirants come to me and ask me to take money, take oath and vote for him or her, I will take it but at the primary ground or inside the voting booth, I will vote my conscience for any of the aspirants which I consider would be more disposed to the interest of the people, he affirmed. Then I asked him, “don’t you think you are bringing a future curse to yourself for not voting according to the oath you have taken?” Without even quibbling for a moment, he retorted with a corresponding question, “those politicians, when they get into office, do they not take oaths? Do they not steal, deceive, embezzle, divert constituency’s budget and all sort of evils? Does the oath kill them?” How many office holders have you heard died in road or plane crashes? Even when they get accident, they come out unscratched as if nothing happened?”

In fact, he ended his statement thus, “those who want theirs to be eaten must be eaten, the money they are eating is our money, they must have gotten it elsewhere through corrupt practices or by cheating or playing fast one or the other in making money. They must have made with their hardest effort and sweats which they want to throw into politics. If na you, you no go take?”
My answer is simple and direct. “I will not take and at my level, no politician no matter how sane or insane would offer me money to vote him of her in any election.”

Recently, as it was in 2015, stories and rumors of those seeking for governorship ticket have started distributing delegates to places like Akwa-Ibom, Arochukwu, Igwekala or even to those shrines known to be effective such as Okija to offer them oath to tie their allegiance to guarantee for their votes. Without doubt, these are those aspirants who have too much money to waste or those whose sources of such money were perhaps, through dubious means. Because, such people they are offering the oaths believe that “they are eating them MUGU” point blank again.
Even on return from each highly celebrated shrine, those delegates would go to another shrine and take oaths for another aspirants because they simply don’t believe one bit on such oaths. Of course, that is how it should be. After all, according to one Igbo proverb, “Imo River does not swallow anybody it does not see his or her legs.”

Interestingly, as it was the case in 2015, many of those high profile aspirants reported for giving oaths to delegates, did they not fail? Even those who attempted at the primary ground to out pay other aspirants, did they not fail?

Even those who won and took oaths of office with the Bible as Christians or Holy Koran as Muslims, have they not been involved in all manners of corruption, cheating, embezzlement, short changing the people and their constituents at each level? The total summary of the whole thing is simple: Oath-Taking or buying of votes doesn’t win votes for anybody because the entire oath-taking exercise is a ruse. It is not different from traders, businessmen and other professionals swearing on minute by minute basis while entering into any transaction including buying and selling processes. Because according to Samuel Huntington, the society in which we live is a decayed society. It must be pointed out that in fact, there are so many Governorship Aspirants and other office-seekers for the Senate, House of Reps and State Assembly seats that cannot condescend to such a primitive and satanic behavior of taking people to shrines or to take any type of oaths because, they have conscience and some know that it is simply falling MUGU to the whims and caprices of smart delegates.

Finally, if we stop for a moment to think about it, if oath-taking works how many people would die after every primary or after elections? And how many of public office holders would die for not sticking to the oaths they took before taking office? According to one American Musician, Jim Brown, “brother, it is mere getting nothing from nothing.”

All those who are wasting their times administering oaths and distributing money can do it to sincerely and painstakingly get involved in actual grassroots mobilization and whispering campaign strategies including adopting numerous vote-winning techniques to win votes. Voters secured through these means remain loyal and firm. Indeed, that is the true process of getting into office.