2023 General Elections: Time to Deal, Heal and Seal Our Future -By Clement Uwayah

Nigeria has not had it good, politically speaking. Barely half a decade after independence, she began to experience upheavals in elections that ultimately led to maiming and killings. Eventually, the military in the guise of ensuring that peace and tranquillity reigns, took over power and remained for such a long time. During that period, so much also happened with the worst being a very bloody civil war that left an estimated 3 million persons dead. The post-civil war experience didn’t seem to have inculcated enough lessons as we carried on without the expected soul healing governance. The craze for leadership positions, especially at the centre (federal level) was rife and evidentially laden with high degrees of personal interests and idiosyncrasies. Genuineness of mind, selflessness and the citizens interests were always so much elusive, yet lofty plans and programs were never scarce. Our governance lacked sincerity of purpose and has always been characteristic of men of sweet sounding, well-constructed grammar. We were always subjected to and actually were succumbing to the excellency of speeches by both the military and politicians. Yet, the centre hadn’t really held us together as one indivisible entity, except in paper. Rhetorical speeches hadn’t at any time brought out the ingenuity required from our leaders.

One would wonder if Nigeria actually deserved to be an indivisible entity, because our being together has often been adjudged a false marriage of strange bed fellows. Our Colonialists arranged the marriage and unarguably left signs of ill-wishes for the country as against well wishes. This was in the form of wrongly laid or insinuated prepositions that birthed some wrong thoughts to the effect of a region being bequeathed with political/leadership birthright mentality. Besides the wrong seed sown, it is clear that our British Colonialists only came to milk our resources and leave us dry. Being aware of the abundance of resources herein and the potential to herald the nation into an envious entity, it positioned to continue to influence our policies in the wrong directions, pretentiously making us see them as aids to success. There was never any genuineness of love and guide from them. A recently published confession of an 80 year old Briton reveals their mission as that of destruction to the land and intent to perpetually truncate growth and development in Africa, Nigeria in particular.

Olufemi Adefolaju in a publication of May 2011, revealed the confession of then 80 year old Colonist, a Briton named Harold Smith. He said about Nigeria; “Their traditional rulers were to be made influential and superhuman. The northerners were given accelerated promotions both in the military and civil service to justify their superiority over the south. Everything was to work against the south. We truncated their good plan for their future. I was very sorry for the Action Group; it was a great party too much for African standard. We planned to destroy Awolowo and Azikiwe, the west and the east and sowed a seed of discord among them. We tricked Azikiwe into accepting to be President having known that Balewa will be the main man with power. Awolowo had to go to jail… British only looked after themselves and not after Nigerian interest. The British really let Nigeria down. When I see a Nigerian been accused of fraud and from what I saw on the streets of Lagos; the British were worse fraudsters”. The knowledge of Nigeria’s Colonialists’ antecedents entails that some form of retrospection be done to understand why we are where we find ourselves today. Such knowledge should enable and greatly enhance a deep appreciation of each other, with the intention to having a fresh start. This explains why the then National Constitutional Conference by the President Goodluck Jonathan led government remains laudable and the outcome very apt for implementation. We really needed and still need an avenue to deal, heal and seal our future.

Some schools of thoughts had long been predicting the breakup of Nigeria. Truly, it was very unlikely that Nigeria remained one united indivisible entity based on predictions predicated upon inherent mistrusts, violence, marginalization, nepotism, tribalism, corruption, insecurity, and other social vices. However, it does appear that a breakup is very unlikely. While it may be affirmed that breakups or separations into different independent entities or nations would engineer cohesion, competition and more purposeful governance of the different emergent of such breakups, it nevertheless also appears that nature has resolved to keep us as one nation. This owes largely to our ability to have been able to move away from total collapse, even in the face of evidential references and inferences. It therefore suffices to say that what is needed is any and every genuine effort to sustain the status quo.

To sustain the status quo of a united, indivisible one Nigeria, it is pertinent to state that collective measures from everyone is needed. No bad situation can ever be fixed when some elate to destroy instead of building. Sustainability attempts would require all to know that this should be a time of critical reasoning and needed actions. It should be a time for all to allow necessity to be laid upon each and every one of us, to enable them key in towards not only knowing the right thing, but doing it, and doing it rightly too, no matter whose ox is gored. It is a time for all to know that it takes a prize to institute a nation of pride. It is an all-hands-on-deck project. So, what are the expected deals that would heal all to enable a seal for smooth, better, and brighter coexistence? And when can the processes of the envisaged deal to heal and seal begin? Unarguably, the starting point for the above processes is now. This would entail a complete reorientation and mindset reset for everyone. Everybody cannot serve in government positions, yet all should know that they are indirectly, part of the government, especially by reason of actions or inactions during elections. Every adult has a constitutional role of becoming a kingmaker by way of exercise of franchise during elections. Thus, the coming 2023 general elections offers the best time for all to be involved in fixing leadership towards the envisaged betterment of the nation. This is the time for Nigeria’s political recalibration. There must be a paradigm shift from what we are used to. Old things must pass away and give birth to a new order of visionary leadership. It is often said that old wine in new jar does not change it, so it is time to think outside the box with respect to the political parties and politicians that have failed us or have questionable characters. We are in dire need of game changers in our polity.

The deal would be for us to close ranks and ensure that justice and fair play is brought to bear as we march towards the election year 2023. Agitations from the Eastern part of the country for them to produce the next president must not be waved aside. Since it is generally believed that Nigeria is standing on a tripod, tribally, in reference to the three major ethnic groups, it can only be in line with best practice to automatically support the emergence of somebody from that region to occupy the highest position in the land. This will bring a lot of healings and would definitely cause a redefinition of our shared values towards achieving an egalitarian society of fairness, equity and justice. The Northern politicians and elites as well as their Western counterparts must understand the place of sacrifices and compromises, even if they have the population and other means to subvert or determine otherwise. It is believed that an Igbo presidency would douse tensions in the land. Importantly, it must be known or brought to the fore, that the Igbos are not lacking in potential leaders that could turn the tide. Some of their past and serving office holders did not disappoint in comparative terms, and this does not also erode the traces of capacity to deliver from those that may not have tasted political offices before.  

To deal would be for all to pull off their garments of complacency towards leadership choices by becoming interested and participating in politics, elections in particular. Results from previous elections shows high degrees of apathy by the Nigerian people.  Unfortunately, those who refuse to vote in good leaders end up easing the enthronement of bad ones. To deal would entail discarding party patronages as against viable candidates as this has always robbed us of quality leadership. To deal would be for us to forsake our myopic views that pitches us against the processes that produces our leaders in the guise of a forced belief that votes do not count. To deal is for us to detest and vehemently resist and oppose vote buying that has now assumed a leprous dimension. To deal would be for us all to engage in the game changing opportunity at hand. It starts by ensuring you have your voter’s card ready. Our elites and religious leaders must come out of their shells and provide necessary education and guidance to people under them. To deal would be for the academia to tell themselves that enough is enough in terms of using them to announce false results. Until we deal with the various situations that cage us, we would not have something to heal us, to enable us to seal our future. I so submit!

Clement Uwayah writes from Delta State, Nigeria