Making my vote count

BY ABDUL OKWECHIME

The drama started on Thursday, February 23, 2023. Very early, around 8am on the day, Dana Airline sent a message that my scheduled 2.35pm flight for same Thursday had been postponed to following day, Friday, February 24, 2023, at 8.50am. So I rescheduled and adjusted all other plans.

About 10.pm on same Thursday, another message came from Dana Airlines again, for another, time, postponement, to 4.50pm. I still complied. Like they say in Lagos, ‘m’o’gentle”. Then, came the shocker; at 10am of Friday, February 24, a day before the General Elections, Dana struck, the 4.50pm flight had been outrightly cancelled. I was traumatised. I tried getting onto other Airlines. Impossible . All were fully booked or cancelled. My booking agent thought it was sabotage, to stop people from coming into Lagos to vote. This wasn’t the time for conspiracy theories.

I tried to reach out to some of my colleagues to see if, by any chance, there could be a way out. Dele Alake wasn’t picking up his calls. Koguna Danladi Bako, gave a widows mite. Blessyn Okpowo, my brother, not a member of the PCC, couldn’t bless me, this time. Ali Ali couldn’t believe it was happening, he rushed into the Mosque for the JUMMA’AT Service and promised to get back after prayers. I am sure he prayed for me. That’s all I needed. I got to my Director in the Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, Adebayo Onanuga, who was already in Lagos and preparing to head to Ijebu-Ode, his voting location. He gave me a typical editor’s directive, “your best option is to hit the road”. This time was already 1.pm of Friday, February 24, 2023, a day before the d-day. That ended the rigmarole. I took off to the Abuja-Lagos Motor Park, Jabi, Abuja. At 4pm I was seated in a Toyota Sienna Bus, waiting for two more passengers to fill up the available sellable seats. Long story short, the bus carrying seven of us including the driver, departed Jabi, Abuja, at exactly 6pm, heading to Lagos, and very much aware of the movements restrictions that would commence by 12 .01am early morning of Friday, as part of the National Elections Safety measures.

Just immediately after the 12 midnight hour, the roads became infested with security operatives. The checkpoints manned by soldiers were more in number and surprisingly more humane in dealing with the road users. They, after the usual profiling, let you move on, usually saying, “go on, go and vote”, as if rehearsed. It clearly showed that this election 2023, meant the whole world to all Nigerians. The police were characteristically more verbose in their approach, always trying to remind you of the IGP’s directive of no movement after 12 midnight until 6pm after the voting exercise. However, they too, with a little more persuasions from us and convictions on their part, they let us go. Surprisingly it was at a military checkpoint situated at the Odogbolu Town Junction, that we experienced the most delay. The young soldier who kept reminding us of how painful he felt leaving his family, to be on a checkpoint duty on a windy cold morning as that, just to prevent people like us from breaking a “simple directive”, to stay at home, made us pay for his pains. He kept us waiting from 5am till 7am, when we suddenly realised he had a superior officer leading that operation, a Brigadier-General, seated in the military camouflage vehicle parked a stone throw away from the roadblock. We went to him and without much ado, he told them to allow us “to go and vote”. We finally got into Lagos by 8am. With a few more roadblocks and a plea with our Toyota Sienna bus driver, Mr. Francis, a very garrulous fellow, to drop us at our respective final destinations, beyond his designated Jibowu, Lagos Garage, I was at my Onikan, Lagos Island East, LCDA by 9am. I got accredited and voted by 11am.

As it’s customary, I had to wait by my F1 Ward, Polling Unit, Opposite the former Onikan Health Centre now Onikan General Hospital, till 5pm for the announcement of the results. This comes with some light refreshments for your party officers and loyalists on ground, also waiting for the results announcements. This entirely, is the contribution of the party elder, in this case, me, at every polling unit. Its not a task but morally justifiable.

At 6.30pm when I finally headed home I was barely able to carry myself, completely exhausted.

But I was fulfilled. I had voted for a new leadership in my country. I had voted for someone that, failure to so do, would have hunted me all my life. I have voted for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Above all, I have voted for a “Renewed Hope” In Nigeria.