By Martin-Mary Falana, (Development Specialist)

The just‑concluded party primaries across Nigeria have offered more than a list of candidates for the general election. They have provided a rare moment of national reflection; a political audit of sorts. Across party lines, we have witnessed a quiet earthquake: many incumbents lost their bids to new aspirants, while a few managed to hold their ground.

For a development specialist watching closely, the factors driving these outcomes are not mysterious. They boil down to one powerful word: antecedents.

What did these politicians do, or fail to do, while holding government offices or serving their communities? That record is now speaking louder than campaign noise. For some, integrity has finally come to play; it has become an undeniable electoral asset. For others, I have watched in dismay as the highest spenders still could not buy their way through. Money, it seems, is losing its tyranny over memory.

I have also recorded an arm full of those who simply forgot their constituents the moment the swearing in ceremony ended. These are the representatives who vanish for three and a half years, only to resurface when reelection looms, bearing handouts and hollow promises. The people are watching, and they are remembering.

This brings me to a fundamental principle we must enshrine in our political culture. Political appointments or contested positions should never be about personal enrichment or distant authority. Rather, they must force the benefactor to move closer to the people, the true rights holders. The constituents should not need a magnifying glass to find their representative. They should not see them only when the election clock is ticking.

Representatives owe their officeholders a simple, not negotiable duty: regular town hall meetings. These are not ceremonial photo opportunities; they are accountability sessions where rights holders ask, “What have you done with the power we lent you?”

I am reluctant to single out individuals, but let me reference Senator Natasha Akpoti‑Uduaghan and her numerous constituency projects in Kogi Central. This is not about praise singing. It is about evidence. If even half of our representatives were doing as much as she has done, bringing development, presence, and tangible results to her people, then the poverty rate in Nigeria would have dropped dramatically by now.

That is not hyperbole. That is the mathematics of good governance: when representation is active, poverty retreats.

As we move toward the general elections, let this primary season teach us. Integrity is not a slogan; it is a track record. Proximity to the people is not a campaign strategy; it is a constitutional duty. The era of the disappearing representative must come to an end.

The rights holders are awake, and they are voting accordingly.