WHEN TRUST IS LOST

We Nigerians should have had enough by now! We are at a place where politicians exist, purely because they exist; purely because there is scope for them in our constitution. I am sure that whoever fashioned this system of government did not intend for the 3 arms to government to be a cancer to us, to our freedoms, to our security and to our prosperity. I am quite sure that the opposite was intended. But look at us, look where we are, we have been so ravaged by bad leadership that the connotative word for ‘politician’ is ‘deceit.’

We slide down a slippery slope to anarchy when, apart from breaking promises of delivery, leaders start to toy with our rights to give them a scorecard on performance, by not keeping to a timetable as ascribed by them, by whom I mean the federal government, INEC, the PDP. This highlights the impunity with which these same promises are broken. The very mandate, which elevated them to power, is what they toy with, for their own selfish interests. It is a disgrace. They are beneficiaries of our democracy and should defend it with their lives and not abuse the trust that we had given them.

INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, the man in the eye of the storm, is a personality. He is not INEC. We must build institutions. This body must be independent and apolitical. The pressure that has been brought to bear on that institution is a further indictment on the ruling party, and the president’s utterances that he was not consulted in this mess, shows how weak a captain he is in steering this ship to calm waters. INEC was bullied into postponing the elections by the combined forces of the Presidency, the NSA, the PDP and the military. This is unfortunate.

The PDP have gone from telling us that General Buhari did not go to school to alleging that more PVCs have been distributed in the north than in the south. They should however not forget that the whole country, including the North, voted overwhelmingly for President Jonathan in 2011. What has changed? A failure to deliver on the promises made. They have themselves to blame, so they should look inwards and hang their heads in shame, roll up those sleeves and look hard at what they got wrong this time. Bringing in orators like the forked tongued Fani Kayode as spokesman only exposes their desperation to hold on to power by any means possible. They would do well to be wary of the fragility of our democracy in bringing in the army into matters that do not concern them. They should reverse acts and understand that the country is bigger than they are and we all have a right to choose, whoever we feel. After all, we did choose Mr. President in 2011. That is democracy.

6 weeks to salvage the north east? This is the same region that the PDP is claiming has received more voters’ cards than the south. This is the segment of the country that has suffered most in the PDPs hands, why are they so suddenly concerned about their right to vote? We have refugees in Niger, Chad and Cameroun. They have lost their homes and livelihoods. They have lost their kith and kin. It is most unlikely they will vote for a PDP led government. Bakassi in Cross River State where we have the IDPs in the south have suddenly also come to the fore. They are suddenly important, I wonder why. Do they want to practice stomach infrastructure there too! Highlighting these areas only serves to highlight to us how much the ruling party has failed us.

When in 2011, the president was widely voted into power with a breath of fresh air, there was no issue of North, South, East or West.  He secured as much votes in the North as he did in the East. But this time around, desperation is blurring his vision of One Nigeria.  What we are concerned with is who is Boko Haram and how do we rid ourselves of this resident evil. Why is our economy suffering and what have you done with our external reserves? They have been mismanaged and we only see private jets on our tarmac as we watch ourselves getting weaker and poorer.  

We should however not despair. I am particularly impressed by how we have composed ourselves with dignity. We refuse to lose faith and have made calls for only peaceful assembly. Here on a platter of gold is the opposition’s opportunity to show true leadership by eschewing violence and not reacting negatively to anything that is thrown at them. As for the naysayers of our democratic process, March 28 will soon be here.