February 23, 2019/editorial/comments
As Nigerians decide their future today and look forward for a better tomorrow, it is expected that their votes will count. However, Nigerians have waited so long to see this day, indeed, it has come. Therefore, today remains very significant to the future of the country, and Africa as a continent. The outcome of the elections will determine if the country’s existence is substantial or mysterious in disguise.
Many have waited patiently on this day, and pray for the emancipation of the people, having gone through difficult and hard 4 years of President Muhammadu Buhari. Also, what should determine today’s election outcome should be, not by emotion but by what has happened in the last four years. Whether Nigerians are comfortable with their condition of living or the leadership style of Mr. Buhari.
When we look at the evolution of Nigeria during the last four years of President Buhari, we see that he didn’t come to build a united Nigeria, but to trade with hunger, poverty and insecurity. This alone is enough for reasonable Nigerians to vote him out rightly. His disposition seems self-serving elite and the cabals. And so, areas which demands urgent attention continue to suffer set back, neglect, deterioration, strategic corruption and host of others.
The interrelatedness of all things imply that as one area remains in shackles and deliberate neglect, others are certain to be affected, and this has been where Nigerians are since 2015 till date.
Elections in other part of the Western world is not a do or die affairs, it is just a selection process, so therefore does not see it as a war or conflict zone; like Africa countries that are prepared to kill, destroy any perceived enemy to their loose ambition, and they care not. Here in Africa, especially Nigeria, elections are war, it is like “either I win or I destroy everything” This is a bad omen for us as country that has refused to learn from history.
The security agencies that are supposed to be neural are becoming political traders, who dance to the tone of their pay masters. This has not helped the country too as nation- seeking for redemption and economic development. And that is why most politicians prepare their armies against legitimate army of the government, and at the end, they battle themselves.
As Nigerians go out to vote today, let them remember that they are not at war, but just an election, and life continues after it. The choice you make today would either mar Nigeria’s future or shape it positively.
Hence it is paramount to remember the word of Martin Luther King Jr. When he said, “I became convinced that non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. This should be our guiding principle while we cast our vote today”
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