DEAR FRIENDS ON THE OTHER SIDE, ISN’T TIME WE ELEVATE OUR POLITICS?

I witnessed the February 25th Presidential and National Assembly elections with a rude shock. The country’s hope and faith in its electoral umpire vanished upon such an abysmal show by INEC. The result is the voter apathy that we now see in the State Elections. Nigeria’s 2023 election can only be described as a SHAMBOLIC SHOW! It is not befitting of democracy.

News from Lagos and other cities across Nigeria was no different from what we always knew: electoral violence, thuggery, intimidation etc.

I have a lot of you whom I hold very high and expected that you would naturally let out your better angels by condemning these bare-faced illegalities but you all disappointed me.

Beyond being insensitive to the leadership failures across the country and the need to price competence over ethnicity or religion, you've proven to be a willing tool for the enthronement of political recklessness manifesting as thuggery and all sorts of electoral violence.

How do you preach democracy and yet endorse killings, intimidation, ethnic profiling, thuggery and other electoral violence? Not to stress you, I have chosen to save you the moral question but to speak only to the political correctness or otherwise of your actions.

When, exactly, can we elevate our politics?

Anyone who truly loves this country, whether or not they are benefiting from the flawed system, should be worried about the future.

Over the years, we've compounded the errors to the point that we're in a state of inevitable paralysis. Each time we have a chance to turn things around for the better, we miss it. 2023 is another opportunity we've got to right our wrongs, and yet, we appear to be missing it.

Societies don't suddenly collapse; they take a slow wreck down the ditch, and we are quickly deteriorating. Political actors and their enablers have now taken full advantage of our fault lines to further divide us along ethnic and religious lines. Lagos, the so-called mega-city, suddenly can no longer accommodate the people they term the "Chinedus" because some people are running in an election.

I know we like to delude ourselves by saying that certain evils can't befall us. Look, we are no special human beings. If the world can cope with a dysfunctional Afghanistan, then they can function with a dysfunctional Nigeria. If we continue to do the wrong things, we would be like Somalia, or Congo or Afghanistan. But we could also be Germany or Norway or any of the Scandinavian countries if we do the right thing.

As you rejoice over the individual triumphs of the political class and the national tragedy that has befallen well-meaning Nigerians on account of these stage-managed elections, I just want to remind you that elections have consequences and soon, the manifestations of an illegitimate government would come to visit. When it comes, it shall not profile anyone.

Also, remember that at a time when Nigeria counted on you to help elevate her politics and put her back on the world as Africa's giant in the true sense of the word, you turned your back on her.

Dear friends, you will not rewrite history tomorrow because God willing, we will be here to remind you of the role you played.

Thank you.