Parable Of A Messy Election Season -By Labaran Yusuf

The election season is at its peak and the electorate have been prepared. The battle line has already been drawn. Friends have become bitter enemies, while known enemies are shaking hands in the public – for now. This is the season when the idea of madness can itself be maddening.

The godfathers are at work. Alliances are ever-changing like shifting sands as a result of them. While the masses suffering from poverty, unemployment, insecurity, epileptic power supply, lack of access to clean and safe water are being mobilized to fight their battles, the real men with the chess boards are behind the scenes determining their fate. In our own part of the world, the old guard do not retire but instead become powerful power brokers.

Their character hitmen are at work – slandering and defaming anyone they perceive to be an enemy or poses a threat. Their spin doctors and con-artists are busy transforming sane Nigerians into becoming lunatics and fanatics on social media. They’ve created their alternate reality – where white becomes black, night becomes day, up becomes down, and good becomes bad, and vice versa. They will tell you all is well in politics.

They’ll package personal interest just to make them look like national interest. They are willing to sacrifice the last man standing to satisfy their desires. Surely, their greed and lust knows no bound. They beg for votes in Greek and Latin. They shed crocodile tears to deceive the masses. The same masses they will later abandon without accessible roads, schools, hospital or even decent shelters.

Although their children enjoy decent livelihood, they recruit our sons to be their thugs to snatch ballot boxes and spread terror and sorrow. They’ve turned them into uncontrollable monsters that kidnap, kill and maim their fellow brothers and sisters on their orders.

As the election season unfolds and the debate gets louder in the streets, buses, places of worship and canteens, our dear politicians, the so-called honourables, chiefs, and comrades: why don’t you do something good even for once? Why don’t you wipe away the tears you’ve caused others to shed? Why don’t you mend the hearts you’ve broken, the friends you’ve separated, and the careers you’ve ruined?

Nigerians deserve quality and decent livelihood. Provide infrastructure, power, accessible health care, and education. We know you know the problems and the solutions so stop pretending and do something meaningful for Nigerians – instead of turning them against one another.

Labaran Yusuf is freelance writer and researcher based in Jos, Plateau State