TEN QUALIFICATIONS/CONDITIONS FOR THE CANDIDATES

"Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people." - Abraham Lincoln 

"People despise the lust for power that originates from a craving for homage and for the attributes for power" - Konstantin Ushinsky

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.  This expresses my idea of democracy" - Abraham Lincoln

"Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt" - Harvey Mackay

"The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy; the best weapon of a democracy is openness" - Edward Teller

"Without a vision, a nation perishes" - The Bible, Proverbs 29:18. 

Prima-facie qualifications for our next set of candidates in Nigeria should be:

(1)     success in earlier identical, similar or other endeavors.  For example, a qualified incumbent – that is, one not illegally seeking extension of term - should be able to defend his or her tenure fully and confidently. A vice-president or governor seeking higher office must be able to show with facts and figures what he did with the resources available to him in the lower office.   A newcomer cannot be a failure as a businessman, a student, a civil servant and so forth, and then expect citizens to give him their support for high office.

(2)     Existence of vision – the primary purpose for a candidate to seek an office is to "do something good" for those who elected him, not just power for power's sake, or because "it is the turn of my people."     A people-centered government should lead to long-term, widespread improvement in the human condition of the people.   The specification/implementation of means and strategies (legislation, policies, etc.) that will enable the mobilization and transformation of financial, material and human resources to provide services and products for the satisfaction of the physical and spiritual needs of citizens is paramount. A candidate must be able to share his unique vision for the new office.

(3)     ability to verbally articulate the vision – this is in order to demonstrate originality and personal commitment to the vision outlined, and to assure the voters that the outlined vision is not simply a borrowed one.

(4)     experience as a team player – this is in acknowledgement of the fact that these huge responsibilities of governance cannot be carried out alone, but must be in concert with others at various levels of executive, legislative and judicial capacity.

(5)     ability to lead a team – an elected person automatically becomes a leader of some sort  in society.   Hence a candidate must have demonstrated ahead of time some leadership qualities commensurate with the position that he is seeking.

(6)     transparency and openness – candidate must be prepared to anticipate and publicly answer all questions put to him or her about his finances and other assets, past political and personal life, and on all matters of conscience.   He must be prepared to publicly DEBATE other candidates.

The above qualifications should then be supplemented by the following conditions:

(7)     network of contacts – essentially, these are "references" (some of them might be pejoratively called "godfathers" or party/society "bigwigs")  on the candidate's character and personal integrity.   Others may simply be financial sponsors.  Voters should however be wary of the company that candidates keep and the self-seeking propensity and possibilities of such contacts.

(8)     party affiliation – a candidate, unless he is an independent, must be subject to party ideology and discipline, except on matters of conscience. Personal manifestos of candidates must be consistent with party manifestos, not substitutes for them, the occurrence of which is a recipe for the personalization of power and lack of continuity of policies.

(9)     campaign strategy – a candidate will have to reach voters and then convince them that the prima-facie conditions that he has satisfied place him above other   competitors in the race.

(10) money/finances – Money is always needed for travels, security, camp media adverts, campaign staff and "entertainment" of supporters, both actual and potential.   However, it is deliberately listed LAST here, rather than first, in order to limit its prominence, while acknowledging its importance in financing the efforts to get information about the candidate across to voters.  

EPILOGUE

"It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting" - Tom Stoppard.

"A democrat need not believe that the majority will always reach a wise decision.  He should however believe in the necessity of accepting the decision of the majority, be it wise or unwise, until such a time that the majority reaches another decision" - Bertrand Russell.

Elections should be considered by all as sacred acts of modern democracy.   Thus, individuals who offer themselves up for elected office should be considered as candidates for the "priesthood" of democracy.   Consequently,  acts that violate elections – like thuggery and rigging (which is a theft of the collective will of people) – are sacrilegious desecrations worthy of condemnation by all.

Nigeria in 2007 has a unique opportunity to arrange for and obtain the freest and fairest elections in its history.   All citizens should in parallel work towards getting the best candidates, and also letting the people decide in free and fair elections without pre-judging the peoples' decisions ahead of time.