I know of a fictional Politician who got into Politics with the idea of being the sort of leader who pays good attention to what the people he's leading have to say. The idea is that people generally want to be heard and they want to know that they have a leader who's conscientious enough to act towards the general good of the populace.
I don't know if we have Politicians in the real world who are capable of doing just that. They may be willing to listen and they may also be willing to act, but the chain of operation in Politics makes it hard for one person to step up and do things just the way he or she wants it.
While there are some sort of checks and balances that play out in Politics which are good, it becomes really hard when a leader or a prominent figure is surrounded by people who are only interested in Corrupt practices, lobbying, and embezzlement of public funds.
Ever wondered why some people who are seen as "good" suddenly get into power and fail to do the good things they planned to do? You may say it's because they got corrupted by power. I know there is an argument to be had there. However, it can also be because the person is the only one trying to do good amid other powerful people who are all about getting their personal gain.
I didn't know anything about these when I was a younger lad. I thought being the Mayor, Governor or President gives you the absolute right to make and implement life-changing decisions. Well, I'm getting older and from my personal experience, I've come to realize that the political playground is not as simple as my boyhood mind imagined.
Have I ever engaged in Politics before?
Yeah! I've dived into that playground at several points in my life. I've been there and I've done some ridiculously righteous acts out of my naive belief. Back when I was in the North, I witnessed their Gubernatorial election and I had the opportunity to take bribes from some Political parties to allow rigging and manipulation of ballot papers.
You know what's sad about that? Even when we were getting trained by The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on how to oversee activities on pooling units, I expected the training to be edged towards making us know that we have to stay independent and transparent in the electoral process. Instead of that, we were getting prepared to do things in favor of a particular political party. I couldn't have any of that and I ended up stepping out of the role.
The highest level of Politics I've gotten into was during the previous Gubernatorial election that was done in Anambra State. I was working as the Publicity Secretary of one of the Political parties that had a candidate who was running for the seat. I spent a lot of time and resources going to meetings and engaging in Publicity campaigns.
I had some situations that made me relocate from the State just before the main election and I haven't been active in Politics since then.
Would I pursue a career as a Politician?
Do you know what's funny about this part of the question? If I was asked this 10 days ago, I would have had nothing affirmative to say about my involvement with politics. However, the last couple of days have been an interesting one for me and I've had another rough taste of how those with power run the world.
At this very moment, I'm not ruling out any chance of getting back into Politics. I'm not digging around for any Political playground where I will get into. However, if an opportunity shows itself right now, I will step up and immerse myself in it.
Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop or Comma.
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