 Elections 2023. So what? We're all excited about elections 2023 and I must say again we are in the process of getting it wrong. Every election cycle we complain, we react, we accuse, we list out the faults of previous governments and the qualities we need in their new government and we turn around and make the same mistakes all over again. We end up choosing the wrong person. Now on the 25th of February we're about to make the same mistake. Let me say once again the power is not in the presidency it is with the states. Now considering our states, our current state as a country, irrespective of who wins the presidential elections, more important to you are the states and national assemblies and the state governors and this fact has been proven continuously, accountlessly over the years. Let's start with the state governors. The assemblies, that will be a topic for another day. When a governor decides to be effective, it dwarfs the influence and achievements of the federal government. Let's note this, the responsibility of the state governor is not to go cop in hand to the federal government for federal allocation. They have the same responsibility as the president within a control space called the state. In fact, they have more control. They're in charge of the land in the state. This means that federal governments, almighty federal government, can hardly do anything on land without approval from the state. They provide water, they're in charge of preschool and primary school education. They collect personal income tax, that is pay as you earn. The state is responsible for security. The law empowers the state to provide security for the residents. Yes, we use the argument that the police commissioner reports to the IGP, but the governor sits at top security funds and has heads of agencies, security agencies report to him within the state bi-weekly and monthly. Simply put, for every FG policy, there is a state involvement. You remember the COVID-19 palliative saga? A lot of the foodstuffs touched away were in the hands of the state's government. Many federal government policies are executed through the states. States where the governors provide adequate support for the federal government, security issues are easily mitigated. Case in sight, a do-state train attack. With the help of the state government, the victims were rescued and the criminals were arrested in record time. Another example is the scarcity of funds. Now, two governors have spoken and they're using their office to ameliorate the suffering of the people. Born-in-state governor, Professor Babak Ghanazulam warned banks operating in Born-in-state that he would revoke the lands they are operating on if the inconveniences persist. Last week, Governor Babak Jidesawolu of Lagos states directed the state's money transportation structure to charge 50% of all charges. There is relative peace in Lagos today, not because federal government is securing Lagos, but because the government is doing something's right. The cloud of insecurity, however, that is swelling up in Lagos could be ended by the state government in a short while, if it so wishes. If your focus, rather, is still on the precedence, you're missing the point. By the way, for those who feel it is the responsibility of federal government to manage the economy, you are very right. However, the state has a huge role to play in this. Southwest was built on the proceeds of cocoa, not was built on the proceeds of highs and skates, groundnut pyramids and other forms of agriculture. The southeast was predominantly red oil and other forms of agriculture. All three regions functioned on the proceeds of agriculture, managed by the region back then where you could see the states. What are the state's governments investing in currently beyond inflated budgets? God bless the federal republic of Nigeria. So that's my take on, what's your take on this? States. I tell people that the election is coming, even though everybody, the euphoria and excitement and agitations and interests and whatever you confusion is on the trial, let's say, top three candidates. Nobody is talking about who is the governor of my state, who is going to be, who is the local government chair and so on. So yeah, I understand that it's important. The presidential election is very important, but you know what? The president will not be able to function alone on his own without involving the states and other tiers of government. So let me extend it beyond just state governors. Let us also hold all our public officials accountable, whether you're elected or appointed. What are you doing here? If you're a minister, what are you doing in your office? A commissioner, what are you doing? A council, what are you doing? So let's hope and respond. You're still thinking through. I quite agree with your submission to a great extent. It's just that when we get to this period, I am very careful things I say, so I don't impact the other person. What I mean by that now, we're talking about why is the focus about presidency, presidency. Now we should be happy to allow just then because the number of interest for this particular election has increased compared to the last election that was 2019. So this was a call, awareness or consciousness will continue to grow. We will not get it automatically, but you'll find that over time, you'll find that the focus will move just from the presidency to other elections. And until then, we can't really get it right because you are not concerned about who is your local government chairman, who is representing you in the state house, who is representing you in federal, you are concerned that everything stopped within the presidency, which is wrong. But just to give a balanced support to people who are more interested in casting their votes in this presidential election, I think it's a good place to start. That is not the solution to it both. It's a good place to start. It's a good place to start. Because so persons have never voted here. But I think you should even remind them, that's why it's important to let them know that your vote doesn't stop on the 25th. They should continue of not match when that comes. I agree with what you said because I see these things as levels of detail. The higher you go, the less detail you get a hold of. But when you calm down, especially to the local government level, the level of detail is really sharp. You know about the people who are having issues with school fees, you know the road that's bad and all of that. And while you are right now saying that don't focus on presidency, it's good. Because what I hear is that this mass of attention, this focus, this energy that's focused on presidency, you know the presidential elections alone won't fade away vaporize if we don't start redirecting it to other important areas. So that you know some of that energy can carry over to help people understand that there's a lot more involved than just that. I think one of the things I say to people is that this particular election season, whether we like it or not, I don't key in quote who wins or who doesn't win. But what I know is that the political consciousness that we have right now is going to grow. The momentum is going to grow regardless of who wins the election. It's going to grow. So you find out that the caliber of candidates that will be coming out for election will be different. The truth of the matter is that I don't think the fact, like we're evaluating everybody but no big deal, I don't think the fact that the caliber of candidates will change come to an age of 27 has much to do with the people. It's just that the people that are in that game now have reached expiry dates. Because the truth of the matter is that whether we vote now or we don't vote now, the next set of people that come to an age of 27 will be different. The likes of the articles, they are all going. So you can hear it the Tambo Wows, the Togara, the L5, Zones. Those people coming will be aware that see, they knew what happened in the last second is not going to be changed. See how to up our games. No, I understand. If you say they are pro, I'm just saying that in terms of the change, the change is not really coming from us. I think it would defy a bit because whether you like it or not, if you check around the kind of people coming out for House of Representatives saying it right now, you'll find that people who don't even have any political attest to it. What's going to happen is that if for instance I contest for this election cycle and I score like let's say 2,000 or 5,000 votes, it tells me something. 5,000 people voted for me. So now it gives me like another four years to strategize and learn. Even though you don't feel like contested, before that you see that I was able to achieve this, you feel that you have something to offer. That also inspires you to want to come out. All right, I mean that's it because generally it's just we just need to focus a lot more on governance, be able to identify our strengths as a people, be able to look at how to make the nation better. And it doesn't, yes I've heard people say you have the fish rots from the head but the question I always ask is in this case which of the heads? Is it the federal head, the state head, the local government head, the family head, the community head because so many heads are rotten now. And I mean like you spoke about the guy, the person that is helping in the society with agriculture and all that, those are the things that make a nation. Because like you said, you said it all when you said that if the person at the top cannot know everything that's happening at the bottom, but does he have reliable hands and you know mouths that are telling him the right thing, not ah, but by do all, everybody likes you, you know, that's where it will flow. But hey, you know how it happens on the advocate and you know that the end always seems to come too soon writing on the advocate. 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