A Country Holds Its Breath -By Kene Obiezu

After four years during which the All Progressives Congress and President Muhammadu Buhari have ridden roughshod over Nigerians ,the country is in the pangs of childbirth, with anxiety washing through many people about what a difficult birth will bring forth.

On Saturday February 25 2023,Nigerians descended like locusts  upon different polling units across the country to take their destiny into their hands and decide their fate. Armed with their voter cards and  possessing faith in the power of a vote, many Nigerians braved the inclement weather, their suspicions of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and their  residual fear of electoral violence coming from previous elections to insist that their votes must count.

With corps members serving their country in uncertain times conducting the elections, many Nigerians besieged their polling units until late in the day and were simply overjoyed just to vote. For many, the mark of ink on their thumb was a stamp of approval for democracy, a nod to change, and a tribute to the extraordinary power of free and fair elections to give a voice to people power.

The election results have since continued to pour in and while Nigerians eagerly await the winner, it takes no rocket science to discern the gains democracy has made in Nigeria since 1999.

It is in times like this that people appreciate the gifts democracy brings to the table and the  impregnable light it sheds into hitherto impenetrable darkness. That people are able to express themselves so clearly and trenchantly through the ballot box while their enemies look on flummoxed into helplessness is just one of the many mockeries democracy heaps on other limited forms of government.

For Nigerians, it is either Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar or Bola Ahmed Tinubu. One of these men is on their way to Aso Rock. Which one of them it will be really matters to Nigeria because it is clear from all indications that Nigeria’s arduous journey will either get easier or harder depending on who wins.

For Atiku Abubakar and Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it appears that it is now or never not just because of their age but because of what has been unearthed about the duo since they stepped under the merciless scrutiny of Nigerians when announcing  their intention to run for the country’s highest office. For the duo, it appears that each new days drills a new hole into the increasingly deflated balloons of their credibility.

For Peter Obi, the undisputed choice of many young Nigerians, if he looses, it is unclear whether he will want another go in four years time or eight years as the case may be. But his teeming supporters across the country would want him to. They would want the ‘people’s president’ to have another go.

If there was never anything like a political miracle, Peter Obi  has worked one in Nigeria since May 2022 when he swapped the Peoples Democratic Party for the Labour Party. Nigerians home and abroad have without hesitation bought into his message of  hope and transformation. For the first time in a very long time, Nigerians saw  a Nigerian who held a prominent  public office but remained largely immune to  the incurable avarice that afflicts public officers in Nigeria.

His gripping vision of transformation  for Nigeria starkly and riotously as  the difference between  hope and despair for many Nigerians who have been burnt by the country since 1999, but especially in the last eight years.

In many places, the elections  have been met by widespread allegations of electoral violence and fraud but how gratifying it is to see that with each election that comes around, Nigerians take yet another step towards strengthening their democracy and the institutions which support it.

There is no missing the waves of change washing across Nigeria at  the moment, rousing even those hitherto crippled by hopelessness and apathy. By the time the waves make their full  rounds, those left all at sea will be in no doubt that Nigeria is not for them.

Kene Obiezu,

Twitter:@kenobiezu