In politics, you can never truly know the mind of your leaders until — if fortune smiles — you receive the staff of office. Until then, you are merely an investor with no shares… Politics is full of betrayal, advanced fraud, and abiku — projects that refuse to grow no matter how much you feed them. If you are not part of them, do not move near it. It is risky, dangerous, and sometimes fatal.
Have you just retired, or perhaps made a little money abroad after years of suffering in the cold, sending dollars home while eating noodles and pretending all was well? Congratulations — and condolences. You have officially entered the danger zone. You are now a moving ATM, a walking opportunity, a soft target wearing the badge of success.
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If the answer is ‘yes,’ then I have a proposal for you. Yes, a proposal — the type that sounds intelligent, looks strategic, and ends with your bank account gasping for breath.
The job, they will tell you, is very simple. Invest a small amount of money today and make billions tomorrow. No stress. No risk. No clear explanation. Just faith, hope, and blind trust. They will say the system works, even if they cannot explain how.
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They will confidently assure you that many people you know have reaped heavily from this business. They may not mention names, but trust them — everybody has benefited. Even the people you have never seen benefit. Evidence is unnecessary when persuasion is strong.
My brothers and sisters, if you agree, they will invite you for a meeting. Not an ordinary meeting, of course, but a strategic one. You will be taken to a so-called leader, who will then promise to take you to the party chairman. One introduction leads to another; one promise leads to another bill. Politics, after all, is a relay race of deception.
But first, you must let people in your area know that you are ready to work for them. Print posters. Share rice. Buy drinks. Spray money. Attend burials you never planned to attend. Smile until your cheeks ache. They will call it grassroots engagement.
You see that man who is now a member of the House of Representatives? They will tell you he once came to their house when he started his political journey. They will swear it was they who took him to party leaders. In politics, everybody claims ownership of success, but no one claims responsibility for failure.
This, dear reader, may be the beginning of your downfall in life. Yes, downfall. Be warned.
Your journey to an unknown destination begins the very day you meet that adviser with polished grammar, borrowed confidence, and empty assurances. From that moment, your account balance will begin to suffer mysterious spiritual attacks.
Before you ever meet the governor or the real power brokers of the party, you would have dropped a huge amount of money. They will call it logistics. Tomorrow, it will become mobilisation. Next tomorrow, it will answer emergency party needs. The names will change, but the drain remains the same.
And when you finally meet the head of the pretentious scammers — excuse me, leaders — you are officially on your way to oblivion. He himself passed through the same road you are about to start, and that is exactly why he knows where the potholes are and where your money will disappear.
He will advise you to go and start the work. Do you know what that work really means? It means you should start spending your hard-earned money without asking questions. It means funding hope, renting loyalty, and buying silence.
The governor or party leader might give you his blood brother as your campaign manager, just to assure you that you are an anointed candidate. Don’t fall for it; it’s just another scam from Agba Yahooze.
Many people have lost not only their lives but also their entire lifetime savings through this same path. Houses sold. Lands mortgaged. Families divided. All in the name of structure and relevance.
My brother, politics is deeper than you think. No one wins a primary election on the day the votes are cast. The list of successful aspirants is usually prepared long before that day — sometimes typed, sometimes handwritten, sometimes whispered behind closed doors.
The money you spent is what they casually refer to as “money for the boys” or “thank you for coming.” Translation: no receipt, no refund, no sympathy.
In politics, you can never truly know the mind of your leaders until — if fortune smiles — you receive the staff of office. Until then, you are merely an investor with no shares.
Politics is full of betrayal, advanced fraud, and abiku — projects that refuse to grow no matter how much you feed them. If you are not part of them, do not move near it. It is risky, dangerous, and sometimes fatal.
I know you have worked a 9-to-5 job all your life. You earned your money the hard way. Think twice before you join politics. It is dirty water — you can never see the bottom, but once you step in, it will surely stain you forever.
My advice for you as a brother: we all know how your job was a demanding one. When you were in office, your wife was the one looking after the children while you were away on the battlefield, looking for how the whole family would survive! Don’t you think it is now payback time to be with your wife and children? For them to once feel the fatherly and mother reunion? Go on holiday and enjoy your life before the end of your life.
Think twice; not everyone who is clapping for you is your friend. They just want you to be miserable towards the tail end of your life.
Wole Arisekola, publisher of The Street Journal newspaper, writes from Ibadan.
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