The Change We Need

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Mr Ray Banner

 

 

 

 

 

Election provides a people a wonderful opportunity to choose those that will leader them for a specified period of time. In many climes, therefore, when election is in the horizon, it elicits political consciousness and it is interpreted as a call to duty by the electorate – a duty to exercise their power to decide who comes into the field of governance and who should be pulled out. Therefore, election is welcomed with open arms by everybody.

In Nigeria, many also see election as an opportunity to vote out those who have performed below expectation and vote in those who by their calculation will deliver the goods. Certainly, they would want to exercise this power. But they dread the chaos, killing and threats of war that come with every election.

GEJ BUHARIThe activities leading to the first general election after long years of military dictatorship in the country in 1999 made the heartbeat of many Nigerians to increase by an incredible rate. There was mindless killing. Thugs took over the political space as they killed and maimed on behalf of their paymasters. Many saw war coming and therefore ran for safety. South Easterners living in the northern part of the country moved to their ancestral homes in the South East in droves. Some Igbo traders in Lagos closed shop, freighting their wares in chartered trucks to the East. They were not to blame. They had either experienced the civil war of 1967-70 or read about it in books. And they did not want to be caught napping. Those who thought that nowhere in the country would be safe when war breaks out voted with their legs, migrating to countries they knew next to nothing about.

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The elections came and we voted and winners emerged. Losers who could not take their defeat went straight to the election tribunals to challenge the results of the elections. But the country remained, intact. And we forgot all that happened. Four years after in 2003 came another general election. Once again the political firmament was charged and it seemed the country was going to implode in a matter of days. Drums of war sounded so loud that even the deaf could hear them clearly. This time, the prediction that war would break out sounded so real since, unlike in 1999, the soldiers had retreated to the barracks and had left all of us the ideal civilians to sort out ourselves. Those who feared for the worst sold their assets and migrated to areas they considered safe. Some foreigners in the country and foreign investors took to their heels. But the elections did not result in any war. However, businesses suffered. The economy plummeted. And we were all psychologically bruised as a people and our worth diminished. The next election saw a repeat of all these; it was probably worse, with General Muhammadu Buhari, the then presidential flag bearer of the CPC swearing that he would make the country ungovernable if the outcome of the presidential election did not point in the direction he was looking. True to his threat, the country was literally set ablaze when the result of the presidential election did not swing in his favour, as his supporters seized some parts of the country, killing and destroying as it pleased them.  Again, the country has been largely ungovernable, with the Boko Haram Islamic sect killing and maiming with reckless abandon. The North East axis of the country has been reduced to a battle field. The state of emergency declared in the three states in the region has certainly not helped much. Little wonder that the National Assembly could not touch even with a long stick the President’s request for extension of the emergency rule in the region for the umpteenth time.

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The country drifts with every election. It is drifting even more dangerously this time. Nothing resonated in the country from 2013 more than “2015”, in reference to the 2015 general elections, even when it was two years or so away. Some northerners have been threatening hell and brimstone if one of their own does not emerge president of the country in 2015. It is beginning to look like the country will come to an end after 2015, and therefore anybody that loses the opportunity to rule the country this year will never do so again. Certainly, the threat patent does not belong to the North. Niger Deltans are threatening that if their son, President Goodluck Jonathan is shoved out of Aso Rock they will blow up all the oil pipelines. Every day that breaks welcomes new threats. It is sad.

Every threat and counter threat creates atmosphere of uncertainty and reduces the viability of our country. This must change.  Elections must be seen as opportunity to elect credible leaders, leaders who will lead us to the Promised Land, and not a time to beat drums of war. This is the only way we can make progress as a people and as a country.

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Ray Echebiri, BrandPower’s Chief Editorial Consultant, is a respected economist and financial journalist, 

[email protected]