Grassroots’ Involvement in Politics: A Requirement for Effective Democratic Representation

Man is essentially not accidentally a social animal. This intrinsic social character of man necessitates interactions among men in any particular society or setting. Therefore, man, by his social character, is condemned to living in a society. This goes to justify the 4th century BC Aristotelian dictum espoused in the politics that “man is by nature a political animal”. One category of social interactions is politics or what we shall herein refer to as political interaction. The term politics, though bereft of any definitional homogeneity, is the dynamic activity of acquisition of power and authority which process is done following laid down rules, for the purpose of allocation of resources and benefits. Since it is in the nature of man to be social, since man is by nature a political animal, de facto, every man, at varying degrees, gets involved in politics or some form of political interaction. Total political apathy is anti-thetical to the nature of man. Because political apathy is anti-thetical to the nature of man, it goes with iconoclastic and catastrophic consequences. Very often, that sacred duty of exercise of political authority and power is left on the shoulders of misfits. Political authority and power are fiducial in nature, held in trust for the people of a given society or setting. Therefore, the donors of this authority and power cannot afford to remain aloof in the event of misuse of such authority and power. This implies that the donors of such power and authority, the masses of a given society, the grassroots in a particular setting, in the Nigerian setting the ones that the preambular provisions of the 1999 Constitution refers to as “we the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…”, cannot adopt the attitude of political apathy. The grassroots must get involved in politics because political authority is held in trust for them, and that it is in the nature of man to be political. It is the case that political apathy in Nigeria is wanton and ubiquitous. Quite a number of causative factors are attributable to the levity and indifference with which the grassroots treat politics in Nigeria. Given the premises adduced earlier on herein, it goes without saying that grassroots’ involvement in politics is a conditio sine qua non for effective democratic representation. There is a tension here: the necessity of grassroots’ involvement in politics, and the widespread political apathy experienced in Nigeria. We therefore recommend political mobilisation for the resolution of the political tension scenario enunciated herein. Political mobilisation is not utopic, it does not exist in Plato’s world of forms. Political mobilization is existential, therefore realisable in Nigeria. To buttress the realisability of political mobilisation, we call in aid the EndSARS Movement, and the ongoing agitation for the adoption of direct primaries for political parties in Nigeria to enhance grassroots participation in political parties.

Keywords: Politics, Democracy, Grassroots, Political Mobilisation, Endsars, Direct Primaries, and Political Apathy.