Nigerians must begin to sanction bad leaders – Ex-Reps member

A former member of the house of representatives, Alhaji Isah Ashiru, at the weekend said Nigerians must begin to sanction bad leaders, to engender responsible attitude to work.

Ashiru said that most politicians make promises they knew they would not keep.

He canvassed for a legislation that would sanction political leaders who fail to deliver on their electioneering campaigns promises.

“Basically, if a politician fails to deliver on his campaign promises, he should be sanctioned.

“There should be referendum held at the end of each public official’s term for the people to decide whether the official they elected fulfilled the promises or not.

“If I hire someone who told me he would fix the leak in my roof and it just ended up worse I should be able to hold him accountable for it.” he said. Ashiru who represent Kudan/Makarfi Federal Constituency lamented that most politicians were corrupt and power hungry.

“It is as if there is a certain brain virus inside government houses that adversely effects the thinking and behaviour of some elected politicians.

“We see sometimes somebody who seems to be a good normal person become a governor, and the next thing we know he is behaving differently from the way he did formerly and especially differently from what was expected by those who elected him,” he said.

“This is shown in the way there is no difference between a senator or governor who did an extremely dirty campaign and one who did an honest, positive campaign. Once elected, the two are equal.

“As a consequence, it is not the most honest who gets to win, but the one who does all that is necessary to win.

“So the ones willing to use bad principles have an edge over the ones who stick to good principles and don’t do anything immoral in order to win an election.

“As a result, the political class is today infested mostly with people for which winning any competition is their most important guiding principle and not the ones for which ethics are more important.

“That is, in my opinion, why politicians are generally viewed as corrupt and unethical,” he added.

The ex-lawmaker enjoined Christians and Muslims to embrace the tenets of brotherhood as they celebrate Christmas and the coming new year, saying the yuletide should be seen as a season of love and meditation.

He lamented the habit of deliberate mischief by some power seekers and implored politicians to have the fear of God at all times while reminding those in positions of power, the dangers of breaking promises and betraying public trust.

“Those of us in positions of leadership should remember that they would one day be held to account for the trust bestowed on them,” he said.