In barely 12 days hence, the much-awaited 2023 general election would be underway. Nigerians would be queuing up to elect President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in the make-or-mar election. Whoever is elected shall pilot the affairs of this prostrate country in the next four years and, hopefully, make its wobbly spine stand upright again.
This election promises to be a defining moment for Nigeria that has got choked by self-imposed limpness. This was a country so blessed but yet so profligate in frittering away its superabundant fortunes like the biblical prodigal son.
Well, now that it has got to the crossroads, it is yet to be seen if it would do what the prodigal son did. It is time for rectitude if we ever want to be where we want to be and should be.
Unarguably, Africa waits for Nigeria; because we carry within our wombs the destinies of the entire black race. If we get it right, there is hope, not just for Nigerians but also for all black people worldwide.
However, the run-up to this election has witnessed twists and turns that call for worry. There have been violence and threats of violence. There have been hate and volatile and inciting speeches, ridiculous accusations and counter-accusations, insults, and aspersions. There have been frightening voice notes, threatening bloodbath or banishment but the security agents seem not to be taking these seriously.
What one finds worrisome and difficult to understand is why anyone seeking to serve the people would want to kill and maim to do that. Sometimes, the same people they purportedly want to come into the office to serve become victims. So, where is the sense in killing the very person you want to serve; if we were all dead, would you serve an empty country?
There is definitely something untoward in all this if you must force people to serve them. Common Sense dictates that the most reasonable step a jobseeker would take is to apply for the vacant office and present himself for an interview. In this circumstance, sell your programme to the electorate and let them decide your suitability for the office. It has never been known that a job seeker imposed himself on his employers except in Nigeria, nay, Africa.
More baffling is that the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has become a formidable opposition to itself. In fact, it has done more harm to its hope of retaining power than the opposition parties combined. For indefinable reasons, the party is the chief opponent of the new naira policy of the APC-led Federal Government. However, regardless of the Supreme Court’s curious ruling, the naira swap policy shall affect the outcome of this election in one way or another.
The policy is not a bad one; it happens all over the world. The only reason this has become an issue is the perception that Nigerians may have stashed huge sums of money outside the banking halls for the purpose of compromising a free and fair electoral process. The way the policy has been opposed and sabotaged seems to give credence to this fear.
The induced scarcity and attendant hardship has turned the banking halls into theatres of the absurd. They have morphed into boxing arenas, kitchens, and bedrooms or strip bars. Even bank staff could be seen scaling high walls in order to escape the rage of intemperate customers.
Consequently, Nigeria has become a laughing stock before its neighbours, in fact, the world, which no longer finds the sordid displays amusing.
It is obvious that the avoidable theatrics should never have been without apparent sabotage, otherwise how come Nigerians can neither access the new naira banknotes nor the old ones, even after legal pronouncements? Where have all the banknotes, old or new gone? How come banks are defaulting in paying out the new naira to depositors but piling them up idly inside their vaults? Where do politicians and socialites get the one they are spraying at campaign rallies or shindigs whereas the languishing masses cannot get a whiff of the money? Why are they selling to the highest bidders?
Why cannot the Central Bank compel the banks to account for the monies given to them or make a punitive spectacle of defaulters? Why are security agents turning a blind eye to the public sale of the naira where a parallel exchange rate now thrives like foreign exchange? The posers are many but the answers are dancing in the wind.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t really matter who comes out worst in the end. What matters is that Nigerians are able to elect a president of their choice. If they have been clamouring for change and end up burning the chance they have because someone has bought their votes, they are the ultimate losers. Nigerians should in good conscience elect a leader of their choice.
Among the candidates for the office of the president, four stand out: Peter Obi of Labour Party, LP; Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC; and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.
It is worth stating without any ambiguity that these great Nigerians are individually qualified to preside over this country. They all come fully packed with enough qualities that, collectively, would transform this country from its current pariah state if well harnessed. They also have individual minuses like everyone else. How I wish this presidency is collegiate so that the quartet could pull their ideas and strength together for the collective good of our beleaguered country.
Since this wish is not realistic or realisable, as only one of them must emerge, it is now left for the people to, as we say in our local parlance, ‘shine ya eye wellu wellu’ amidst the political gimmickry in the garnished or varnished electioneering display so that the best of the lot gets elected.
Nobody should be deceived by propaganda. Voters should be intentional in their choice of candidate without monetising their votes. Nobody throws away hard-earned money and so if anyone offers you money to subvert your will, collect the money and still vote your conscience. All monies offered to induce voters are looted funds that originally belonged to the masses. If this is an opportunity to get part of it back, do so by all means but ensure that these people never get the chance to come near the nation’s till anymore.
It’s saddening to note though that some Nigerians would be disenfranchised because of the corrupt system that guaranteed that some voters never got their permanent voters’ cards (PVCs), in order to reduce the strength of the opposing candidates. This is painful because the evil act is being supervised by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Some were even caught on camera, demanding for gratification or brazenly selling the cards. This is a sad commentary on the competence and believability of the electoral umpire to give Nigerians a credible poll.
Personally, I believe that with all the innovations, especially the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which it has put in place, the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC is determined to make the elections free, fair, and credible. Nevertheless, it should erase people’s perceptions by actually convincing the world of its seriousness. This can only be done by dealing decisively with any of its officers caught contravening its code.
Knowing, however, that it is God that makes kings, all of man’s shenanigans shall come to naught. So, Nigerians should vote with that mindset.
However, before you cast your vote, let me repeat the prayer one preacher man said: “May your children become a replica of the man you vote for”. Somebody shout Amen, with your ballot…