By Lolade Sowoolu
Why are we like this? It’s just a postponement not a cancellation. Why we are like this? Nearly forty per cent of our family, friends and neighbours are yet to collect their PVCs. You ask why we are like this? Many of us can’t afford to relocate and some of us who can – have chosen that this fatherland remains our home. Why we are like this? Because we are upset with the status quo of managing incompetence in the name of brotherhood and are tired of rewarding failure with promotion.
It is very difficult to stay away from talking politics these days. Not if you live in Nigeria. The streets are littered with election posters; the highways and bridges too. You only need to listen to radio for two minutes and an election jingle will intrude your precious hearing. Vocal Party aficionados are roaming broadcast houses for possible appearances to speak for their candidates or against opposition. Of course we all know that traditional media rake in the biggest bucks during this season. And new media, yeah, political parties have been forced to create a budget for sponsored content and other forms of advertising on news sites, BBM and popular blogs. Micro-blogging sites like Twitter and Facebook have also been deployed to reaching and engaging the Nigerian electorate with several political messages.
Sadly, that’s all they think it is – politics. That’s all our lives and those of our children’s future are worth – politicking. And that is why a government would arm twist the country’s electoral body to postpone an election the populace has waited for; threatening insecurity should we go ahead. But we’ll show them the much we are made of. Postponing a burial does not resurrect the dead and according to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomole, only a debtor thinks tomorrow will not come. We will re-group, wait, watch and pray. In fact we will multiply and our hope will not wane while their desperation increases.
They have behaved like outsiders caring not about our unity or why else will they play up our differences, exploiting our sensitive topics to divide us further and make us enemies of ourselves. And then should you win the war, the greater battle that will be fought is leading a fragmented people. Then you will realize that you have lost more than you have won as the same people you have divided to your advantage, you will fight to unite.
But we will remain and fight because this is all we have – Nigeria. For when the election tides are settled, we will realize that people are living beings. Then we will regain our humanity, hopefully. Perhaps they will crush the terrorists that have afflicted our families in the North for so long. Perhaps we will be able to re-integrate our children and brothers who joined the terrorists seeing that they have more integrity than our government. Perhaps these six weeks will secure for us that undebatable, incontestable victory – the one that will entrench a leader, genuinely interested in fixing our land and rehabilitating our people. Yes, our many years of affliction have damaged our spirits, soul and body. Perhaps we will begin to heal again, laugh again, and our sun will shine again, because we have nowhere else to go.
