POLITICS is steadily being reduced to the contest for power at all costs. The biggest casualty to date is the people. Politics should be about service to the people through enhancement of opportunities that should sustain society.

It did not take long for the politicians to realise that in the quest for power, the most important thing is service to the power centres that would aid their ambitions. The emphasis on party loyalty over service to the people who elected them is at the centre of growing contentions among the peoples of Nigeria and their representatives. Politicians think their control of Nigerians, better still, the resources of Nigeria, is divine. They are reluctant to answer questions about their loyalty to the electorate, who they swear at inauguration to serve.

There are only flashes of possibilities of using politics to serve our peoples who have suffered neglect over the years, under the watch of those who at election campaigns promise to change their lives from poverty, illiteracy, disease and deprivations. Politicians see politics as the veritable platform to place themselves above the people, far from their challenges. Our servant-leaders serve themselves; they disregard the dictates of democratic governments. They cannot digest the tenets of democratic governance.

Elected officials and political appointees have become mini-dictators who act as they please across party lines. Even local government chairmen arrogate the title of “chief security officer” of their domains to themselves, and act accordingly, though the Constitution does not provide any security role for that tier of government.

Party politics for all its  importance to the growth of democracy, has been a growing challenge, essentially as party officials hold self-serving positions on issues. The parties are less democratic than some authoritarian regimes. Nigerians’ interests are distant considerations for most of them.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal once told a gathering in Benin City, “What concerns us as a House is the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The moment you are elected a member, you are expected to serve and represent that particular constituency irrespective of which platform of the party you have contested the election and won. Whatever we do in the House, we consider the federation of Nigeria as a basis of our decision”.

What decisions in the House of Representatives reflected these ideals?  Granted broader platforms are required for attaining national objectives, how has the House done this?

Elections are drawing nearer. Politicians would make more promises without committing to the point that service to the people is the essence of governance. It is up to the people to use every lawful means to extract a constitutional democracy from these self-serving leaders.