The Lesson from the By-election
The by-election of August 16, 2025, is done and dusted, but the lessons remain with us.
The by-election of August 16, 2025, is done and dusted, but the lessons remain with us. Our politics continues to bleed, and our democracy has been reduced to a marketplace where votes are traded like cheap commodities. The system has been hijacked by moneybags, while thuggery is celebrated instead of punished.
As Mr. Peter Obi rightly says: “Nobody buys your vote or shoots his way into office and then goes to work for you.” If you sell your vote, you are no different from the armed robber who breaks into your home, for what is an armed robber if not one who steals your future?
My fellow Nigerians, every time you sell your vote, you open the treasury of our nation to looters. You deny your children quality education, you deny your families hospitals that can save lives, and you deny your communities water and basic amenities. Look around you, our schools are broken, our health centres are empty shells, our environment is neglected, and our young people roam the streets without opportunities. This is the true cost of vote-selling.
Let us say it without fear: every vote sold is a bullet fired at the future of our society. Every naira taken for your conscience is a nail driven into the coffin of good governance. Until we rise above this destructive culture, Nigeria will remain trapped in poverty, bad leadership, and wasted opportunities.
The lesson is clear, democracy cannot thrive on the foundation of money and violence. It can only thrive on the conscience of the people. The power is in our hands, but if we continue to mortgage it cheaply, then we should not complain when those who bought it use it as an investment to enslave us further.
But hope is not lost. Democracy does not belong to money or violence; it belongs to the people. The future of millions of Nigerians rests in our hands. If we stand firm, refuse to sell our future, and vote with conscience, we can rebuild our communities and restore dignity to our people.
-DrMo (MosesPaul, PhD)
Chairmanship Candidate, African Democratic Congress, ADC)
Abuja Municipal Area Council ,AMAC), 2026 Elections
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