SIR: Politics, as coined from the Greek word ‘politika’, refers to the affairs of the city-state . Politicians are, therefore, those who seek to influence and direct the affairs of a nation. Participation in politics can thus be hinged on political orientation, which, according to Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba, can be viewed from three major perspectives, parochial, subjective, and affective.
Subsequently, politics is either a service to ‘self’ or the ‘collective.’ When it emphasises self, it is hinged on ‘survival’ and the exploitation of others for personal gains, as enthused by scholars such as Harold Lasswell – who gets what, when and how. In this case, the society regresses towards the Hobbesian state of nature where anything went, a banana republic: an appellation used by many to describe the Nigerian nation.
Can they be so faulted in a society ridden with broad-day bribery and corruption, with the monetization of everything including votes, and even, human life and freedom is now a function of ransom. The sorry state of the global economy does not help either, a survival race, which has turned many Nigerians to enemies of state in the poverty capital of the world.