Election Is Not An IPO -By Gimba Kakanda

Election is not an IPO. Your stake in your country remains unchanged and the same as that of those chosen to represent you. You are the employer of your government, and so long as that remains valid, you reserve your right to demand how you want to be governed. It’s that simple.

In the absence of robust opposition, what has keep functional countries going amidst their challenges, is their citizens’ refusal to excuse and defend ineffective governance. So we must keep on yearning for a government that’s fair in its use of public trust and fund.

Nigeria needs us to protect her from the politicians, and that struggle we are going to intensify as we prepare to witness another regime the over “11 million” voters rejected last week against the wish of a “higher” proportion of voters. There’s no better time to demand good governance, especially to save Buhari from himself.

I sat down with a few Nigerian students in London today, and they all said they’re no going back after their studies, having unfairly concluded that it’s impossible to disrupt a problem like Nigeria – a system where the children and relatives of the elite are compensated with jobs at well-paying federal agencies while the poor find themselves as pawns of populist gimmicks, underpaid and used. Such mindset, that it’s impossible to have a Nigeria of our dream, is enabling of a dysfunction we cite as the trouble with Nigeria.

The task to build Nigeria is a responsibility of all of its citizens, whether loyal to – or critical of – the powers that be. There’s high reward in being loyal to the government, but the implication of loyalty to a slumbering government will always return to haunt us.