THE COMING YEARS SHOULD NOT FRITTER AWAY

 

Kamaran Ihsan Salih said; the world is on the basis of lies, thus he who knows how to decorate the lie is truthful. Politics may be premised upon lies and the person who sugarcoats his lies with sprinkles of truth may be the most preferred but because this is our reality does not give us the room to attach sentiments to it and tag it as the activity of a selected few. Politics should exist for the good of the people and that leads us to the most crucial issue in Nigeria currently – the 2023 Presidential Election.

One of the most important attributes a Nigerian should have is logic. We have found ourselves in a situation where there are many choices with varying qualities and philosophies. There is Tinubu, the man who has played Godfather for many politicians and the one who thinks it is his turn and probably his birthright to be the President of this country. There is Atiku, the man who is coming to unify the country but has failed to unite his political family – PDP. There is Obi, the man who has won the love of the youths and pioneered the massive ‘Obidient’ movement – a movement with similitude to the ‘Sai Baba’ movement. Judging from the profiles of the three leading Presidential aspirants, it can be deduced that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the candidate with the biggest political stature. Atiku Abubakar is another candidate with great influence, especially in northern Nigeria. These two candidates also have the privilege of being the flag bearers of two of the biggest political parties in Africa and the two biggest political parties in Nigeria. Peter Obi, the bride of the season and the seeming ‘Saviour’ of the nation is the third contender in this horse race. Though a long-time politician, he cannot boast of equal political stature and breadth as his opponents. Listening to their manifestos, it is visible that none of these candidates has a holistic idea or approach to solve the numerous struggles bedevilling the nation. 

“Every man shall proclaim his honour but a faithful man, who can find?”

This is the begging question in our current political space. Each candidate has come to advertise himself as the best choice for the nation but a critical look into their promises cannot help but send some of us back to 2014 when President Muhammadu Buhari spoke in sympathetic and emphatic tones that he is coming to give us a country we would be proud of – a country where we will buy our petrol at 45 naira per litre. We vividly recall the man crying that the cost of Spaghetti was outrageous (70 naira). We remember all the talks on eradicating corruption and how he was going to restore Nigeria from the hell that PDP and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan have sent her. There was also the promise of a total extinction of terrorists. All these promises not only did not get fulfilled but we receded into worse situations and our hero became our foremost enemy.  

This writer cannot help but wrinkle her nose at the fresh promises on the lips of these aspirants because a faithful man, who can find?

They have said that politics is a game of numbers and that theory is about to be tested. We would see which among the raging Obidient chants of the angry youths, the multitude who run after the five loaves of bread of the ‘Emi lokan’ trendsetter, and the fine gentlemen of Nigerian politics who have chosen to begin their numerical calculations from the eleven million votes they got in 2019 would win this game. 

However, despite all these uncertainties, a winner must emerge and the onus falls on us to choose who would perform better than the others. There are other aspirants with good political philosophies apart from these three leading men but we choose to see what we want to see. It is not a time for us to fold our hands and watch like hapless people. It is certainly not a time to act righteous and conclude that no one is deemed fit for the post among the 18 aspirants. 

Finally, Nigerians should know that the next time they hear a loud sound "paw!" there should be no assumption that it is a gunshot or explosive as it will then be too late to salvage the fall of our country. It will be unfair to our souls to have more years fritter away as the previous ones have done.