On Saturday, the 28th of March, 2015, Nigerians will troop out to vote in the first of elections that is adjudged to be the defining step of a long-awaited change. However way we look at it, this election will define the destiny of Nigeria, going forward, and beyond the business-as-usual that our leaders have made governance in the country.
As we so troop out, we should bear it in mind that we deserve change judging from where we are coming from. Be it a new regime of the incumbent or of an old or fresh hand, we demand new beginnings. Only hypocrites (and Nigeria boasts of many of them) would not admit that the country needs change. The contents of our meal tickets and plates must of necessity change, the outlook of our roads must change, the kidnap of school girls must stop, the delay of workers’ emoluments must change, the death of Nigerian citizens in the hands of insurgents must stop; corruption and stealing (whatever the difference) must stop, the continued devaluation of the Naira must stop, the blind dependence on oil at the expense of other economic sectors must change; bigoted political, religious and ethnic orientations must change and as a matter of fact, all things already stated unwholesome in our polity must change. Change must come.
It is too obvious that no one is leaving a stone unturned in ensuring victory at the polls for himself or herself and his or her party. This is gladdening because everyone seems to now know things must just be done a little differently. However by gladdening, I am not here referring to the fact of leaving no stone unturned as purportedly happened recently in Ekiti. From the postponement of the elections beyond February 14 to the last-minute helter-skelter, especially by the incumbent, a Nigerian should rejoice that the politicians popularly called ‘leaders’, who were hitherto concerned only about themselves and the welfare of their own, now have reasons to look at the Nigerian electorate as a significant albatross, who may (and who definitely will) prevent their perpetual business-as-usual and largish luxury, from which crumbs have occasionally fallen off to feed the Nigerian subjects, the ones for whom democracy was (and is) meant.
As evident from the foregoing, certain parties must have felt the pulse of the nation and arrived at the conclusion that they must up their game in order to remain relevant in the politRicKs of our dear country. Failing to do that, many potbellies will have to be trimmed before a fluent speaker (not to talk of a nauseating stammerer) is able to say, “Jack” or the worse, “Femi Fani-Kay” a name synonymous shamelessly with food and wanton recklessness. Even if the incumbency hadn’t been the one behind the postponement of an election, the fact that it is quite comfortable with such a postponement leaves much to the imagination. A big loss was lurking somewhere in the dirty gutters that were left unclean for too long a time and in the gaping holes right in the middle of abandoned bridges and express-roads.
Another peep. If any incumbent were to lose in an election, it would have to leave behind the treasures of state for the next government. “God (or whoever it is they believe in) forbids”, they would say. Therefore, time was the best factor to appropriate favourably to themselves in order to expend same state treasures for the purpose of ensuring victory AT ALL COST. That also is obvious, leaving them teeming helter-skelter everywhere. However, we should not be bothered about such; we should only increase the antennae at our security watch posts to monitor and safeguard legitimate votes, while preventing the creeping-in of illegitimate ones.
It is less than a week to the Presidential election in Nigeria and the electorate is prepared and willing to vote for their preferred candidates. And whoever that is, change is inevitable.
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IMAGE: Provided by author
