Post by UCHE (@ORIUWA)

Spectators or Stakeholders

One thought has been bothering me.

Why does politics so often feel like a conversation among politicians, rather than a conversation with the people?

Election seasons are filled with declarations:
*"We will take this state."*
*"We will control this region."*
*"We will capture this seat."*

Listen carefully to the language.

It often sounds less like public service and more like the negotiation of territory.

The citizens—the very people in whose name power exists—can begin to feel like spectators while political actors debate who gets to occupy the offices.

It reminds me of trustees arguing over how to divide and control an estate, while the rightful beneficiaries sit quietly in the corner, almost forgotten.

In any healthy democracy, politicians are not owners of power.

They are temporary custodians of authority entrusted to them by the people.

The moment public office starts feeling like private entitlement, democracy begins to lose something essential.

Perhaps the greatest test of any democracy is not whether elections are held.

It is whether citizens genuinely feel they remain the principal stakeholders between elections—not just on polling day.

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