“Such a betrayed”
So let me tell you my election 2015 story.
Mid 2014: I was tired of Jonathan and all the corruption stories, the storm clouds of low oil prices were visible anyone who was watching. The man seemed a gross failure in all but a few areas.
To me, he had done nothing to restructure Nigeria, something key to me as any attempt to diversify will need us to rethink the current petro-state structure we had cobbled together. Confab 14 looked nice but didn’t seem like it would get the needed results. Something had to change.
Late 2014: The APC had come together preaching anti-corruption but I found it hard to believe that Tinubu (who may have other redeeming qualities), Saraki, Amaechi and Rochas could actually play a great role in any serious anti-corruption fight. But they had Muhammadu “Anti-Corruption Man” Buhari, so maybe… maybe. What were they saying about Restructuring though? Stuff that didn’t sound convincing. At that point, I realize I couldn’t be their supporter through and through but maybe we should give them a chance..
I figured Buhari was the best bet for the ticket and I was proven right, next step debates right? Right? Sigh…. Anyway Change will still be good.
Early 2015: Something nags me, I still am not clear about Buhari’s role in the ‘66 coup (not researching this properly will be my greatest mistake of the election period). Folks told me to not bother, that he was not in MM’s set of soldiers or was lowly ranked at the time.
I start to hear of GEJ projects from friends who I know support the guy and remember some like the railway to Ajaokuta that I saw earlier (2012 ish)…. “ehn it isn’t enough joor”. Some even argue about Madam Okonjo-Iweala’s work on ghost workers ( I realize I had seen this on TV years back) “it isn’t enough joor, let us see if Nigerians will choose change”
It strikes me that anyone who wins will inherit an economy under pressure, I tune to the debates to see if anyone was talking about changing our structure to make sub-national units more productive. Chekwas Okorie of the UPP is (I think it was UPP). Wow, now that dude sees it…. but no one cares; it was between GEJ and an absent PMB now. Chekwas won the debate to me by the way, aunty Prof didn’t have a good debate. I really was upset about PMB not attending any debate, I understood his misgivings about the National debates but the “ChannelsTV” debate nko? Wazzaldis rubbish? I must stay on the fence for this… I really can’t fully pitch my tent though change won’t be a bad idea.
No one is talking about issues, except the guys we don’t want to listen to. The AIT crew was not helping, Metuh wasn’t helping with the “janjaweed” bants either (Nobody cared though).
I decided that the elections would be a mess, with ethnic voting and rigging. I even thought that the loser wouldn’t accept and this may lead to widespread violence that may lead to something else. I wrote a few articles talking about the task ahead, maybe we may need both parties to agree to a “government of National Unity”
Election day plus one or two: Jonathan Conceded? What? What?? Wow….. Everything I thought about the man got turned on its head. I really thought he’d be the typical African leader and fight… but, but…. Wow. I mean this person the Media had depicted as a corrupt, power-hungry, drunk dullard…. TOO MUCH COGNITIVE DISSONANCE MUST CHANGE TOPIC…..
Buhari won, everyone was celebrating, I started to…then I stopped. I sat back down, I needed to figure out Nigeria’s position for a bit.Where does this leave us? We are a nation with a new government, no violence thankfully, subpar infrastructure, poor healthcare, dead education system, and a brewing economic crisis.
Well we had a big plus, I was really counting on this big plus: We have an assertive electorate, who would hold this government accountable just like it held the last one, who would even challenge the new, hopefully less corrupt government to higher standards of performance. Even if the guys in the APC weren’t saints, the fire we will put on their yansh will ensure performance.
WAS I WRONG!!!
WAS I FOKKEN WRONG!!!
First, some people (pronounced idiots) decided to celebrate the victory as an ethnic victory over the Igbos. This happened at the same time a drunk Oba was threatening Igbos in Lagos. What a wawu…. Such a wawu… but let us move on.
Then came the phenomenon: Political Taribo-Westism. People started to defend the small missteps of the new government like it was made up of a bunch of infallible deities… People who I stood side by side with in calling for higher standards of governance in the past started a series of complex maneuvers which involved: Lowering the bar, causing the bar to vanish, shifting the goal post, burying the goalpost and burning the goalpost.
Rather than call out the president for his unnecessary statement about “97% to 5%”. People manufactured transcripts, became stenographers and did some tongue twisting.
Rather than call for proper investigation of the “Zaria incident”, people beat around the bush, danced around the point and stood logic on its head… intellectual gymnastics (mat, floor and beam) got elevated from a sport to an art. Amazing stuff. Especially from people who knew what human rights meant for the past 20 years.
People who focused on principle not personalities and called a spade a spade were chased with intellectual pitchforks and were branded wailers by the cowboys who herded public opinion for the owners of the ranch.
I felt quite betrayed. People I looked up to stripped themselves on camera and on twitter becoming academic Kardashians just to justify decisions and statements by men less brilliant than themselves. Wawus, Wawus and more wawus
Anyways, I knew that most people who were doing this were in some broad categories:
- Pied pipers, piping and dancing for their dinner, Young men and women skilled in the arts of tracing their family trees to cows just to get milk.
- Those under the sway of the pied pipers.
- Brilliant and normal people just exhibiting human nature: Being less harsh on your friends and those you support, judging those you support on supposed (positive) intent and not actions
In the days to come the last few groups may become more objective. For the time being, I have decided to not listen to their voices for a bit.
Hopefully, Nigeria recovers from the tough times our serenaded FG have made worse by some obvious blunders. This may happen sooner if more people held them to a high standard.
I still wish President Buhari and team the best, but in me he will find no blind supporter. I will give kudos when kudos are due and raise my voice if I feel he is endangering my life and that of my children unborn.
God Bless Nigeria.
