Day 233 (Two-Hundred & Thirty-Three) of 365 days

For many Nigerians, names like Harry Marshal, Chuba Okadigbo, Funsho Williams, Bola Ige, and many other victims of political killings will forever remain in their memory. These men were gruesomely murdered in cold blood because “powers that be” considered them a major political threat, hence, the need to eliminate them before. No need to discuss how these men were murdered in cold blood because we all know the stories behind their deaths.

So, for many Nigerians who know the precious value of human life, they believe that political ambitions that never last forever are not worth destroying the life of a fellow man. Therefore, based on these politically motivated killings they consider Nigerian politics a dirty game.

However, Politics is not a dirty game, but the players have made it dirty because no stringent rules are guiding how it will be played. Politics is a game in the true spirit. It has two or more parties contesting each other, each being equally dedicated to win. Each maintains a team, whether close knit or not may be circumstantial, and has a lot at stake. Like any other game, it has not only the player taking an interest but also a large audience to watch its every minute movement, cheer its wins and boo its losses. It has its own set of supporters, who may however be divided on their favorites from the team. Any game requires a balance of the mind or the physique or both and politics requires both. One has to not only have a sharp mind but be also physically resilient enough to fight elections, do campaigns on a day and night basis, listen to a thousand voices at the same time, and so on.

Just as in any sports, the match or game may last for a short while but the preparations go on for months or even lifetimes. Practice makes a perfect sportsperson and so also practice makes a mature politician. Any sport lasts or is popular till people have an interest in it, and politics scores very well on this front. People are addicted to politics and there is no drawing-room where heated discussions over politics have not taken place. It is in acknowledgment of this fact that the media today focuses mainly on politics, relegating everything else to the background.

The game of politics is played as passionately and as meticulously in any part of the world. Theories do not alone suffice one to become a good politician. One has to live through the twist and turns of a political career. Maturity comes with time. The realpolitik continues though in a more subtle manner but its vicious inclinations remain the same. Today's politician has less conscience and more greed for power as well as money and will go to any extent to reach his goals, even if he has to declare war and walk over the bodies of the thousands that die as a result.

Students are the backbone of any economy. They are the future of every nation. It is their responsibility to apply everything they learn, practically and thus. We cannot build an apartment just because we have bricks and laborers. There should be someone, in this efficient leader can take a nation forward, that is the reason why we conduct an election to choose our representatives. Students have a burning zeal to excel. The power of the youth is like a mighty river, waiting to be channelized. If it is utilized constructively, progress can be made.

However, Power is never given, it must always be taken. Politicians who don’t play the game in this manner and attempt to stay on the high road will always come up on the short end of the ballot box.
There’s a saying that if you saw how your food is made at the factory or cooked in your favorite restaurant, you would never eat again. The same is true for politics. If you saw what goes on behind closed doors and in the back rooms of our political establishments, you would never vote again and become an anarchist.

Politics are a reality that we all have to face, and avoiding them altogether risks not having a say in what happens. It also allows people with less experience, skill, or knowledge than you to influence decisions that affect you. "Good" politics can help you to get what you want without harming others in the process. The right to vote is what matters in the long run! Learn to cast your vote wisely.