There are few things that set friends and family alike against each other like politics due to party affiliation or just a difference in interests.
They say in politics there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies but only permanent interest. But that is only for the politicians as the players, not for their followers who are pawns and inflict damage to themselves on behalf of the politicians, who in most cases may not even know them.
Therefore, when the Governor of Oyo State Seyi Makinde said no one should die supporting politicians, he was stating the obvious, but if only the politicians would not use the people by offering them money and other items and the people themselves would become wiser.
Makinde said this at the wedding ceremony of the son of former Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose in Lagos on Saturday.
He made the statement apparently in regard to the guests from different political parties or rivals from the same party, but they have converged in one place for celebration.
The wedding was attended by Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and former Governor Segun Oni, both political rivals in the last APC governorship primary in Ekiti.
Makinde also said that the political rift between him and Fayose had already been put behind them.
In any case, while some take politics lightly, some people take it to heart and would not tolerate any opinion outside their own.
There are stories of a brother against a brother due to political differences. While one pastes posters of his party the other would deface them or remove them and paste his own, which is not healthy for blood brothers to fight over politics or politicians, who once they win the election may not have anything to do with you again until they seek re-election.
In one such case neighbours that were on good terms and used to visit each other stopped talking and became enemies.
After a heated argument one day, one woman found that her sister was avoiding her. She wept and begged her, saying, “we are of the same parents, why should we let politics make us enemies, what is our gain in this?”
After the 2019 elections one woman said she was tired of politics because she made enemies of friends, neighbours and colleagues as her brother contested. People that she thought would like him didn’t and she fell out with them.
There are also instances of husbands forbidding their wives to go and vote if they would not vote for the candidates they support.
Politics is a huge business of creating enemies as a mere supporter, but with the tacit support of the politicians. They call women and youth groups and social mobilisers. They distribute money, food items, textile materials, toiletries and so on to induce the people.
Even though people are told that collecting these things is akin to selling their votes they still collect due to poverty or feel that it might be what they would get even if the candidate gets into office. So they may as well get their share now!
However, the greatest injustice in this is in using the youth as political thugs to carry weapons and attack opponents or disrupt elections. This leads to loss of lives.
If only such youth have heard what Governor Makinde has said, though some would abuse him even if they heard him because they are on drugs. They are the sort used to cause mayhem by politicians directly or indirectly in the guise of supporters.
While their own children are at home, at school or even abroad they use other people’s children to die for them, or kill as the case may be.
If people should not die for politicians, then the politicians should do the needful. They should do away with political thugs, help and rehabilitate the drug addicts instead of giving them drugs or encouraging them to take drugs.
It may not be easy, but they can do it if they want. There was one politician who said he would not give his money for the youth to buy drugs because he would not do so for his own children. So he would talk to them and encourage them to go back to school or do other things to better their life.
They were not happy and they stopped going to see him. It means they want to be where they would be given drugs, encouraged and instigated to commit violence in the name of being supporters.
As long as things continue as they are, people will continue to die for politicians.
