Nigerians, no hope in choosing between Herod and Nebuchadnezzar

Fellow citizens, the choice we make this Saturday will either accelerate or decelerate our unhinged decline.  We do not have to continue on the path of certain perdition, and we do not have to return to the hills of vultures and scavengers.

We can veer off this path of doom and resist returning to a past of locusts and leeches by not voting for the candidates who typify this.

Do we replace a problem with another problem? We are exactly where we were in 2015 when desperation for unreasoned change blinded us to replacing a lethargic government with an insular, nepotistic and repressive regime.

Nigerians, we cannot win this election if we narrow our choices down to only two failed candidates. Those, who destroyed our past, cannot make a better future for us, and those currently destroying our future cannot guarantee a brighter day for us.

If at the end of day, either of the septuagenarians wins, Nigeria has lost. Do you see a better country with these two? Do you see an end to cronyism? Do you see an end to nepotism? Do you see an end to corruption? Do you see an end to poverty? Do you see an end to hunger? Do you see an end to killings? Think on this?

These candidates want power for provincial purposes, and not for the sake of ameliorating the sufferings of citizens. I watched an interview in which one of these two candidates admitted that the funds to fix Nigeria’s decrepit power infrastructure were stolen while he was in government.

The sheer audacity of the admittance jarred me. It is only in Nigeria that brazen thievery happens without consequences.

It is convenient to join the herd and support any of these two candidates, but history will not be kind to me if I do so. These two represent the worst of us. We cannot claim to be progressive and support this team of accidie.

Let us make Nigeria win. Nigeria will win, if we refuse to be used for political violence. The country will win, if we do not replace one problem with another. We will win, if we go out and cast our vote. And we will win, if we do not sell our votes.

Nigeria is not in short supply of great leaders, but often, we citizens seal our doom by voting along the lines of “big names”, ethnicity and religion, inflicting deep lacerations on ourselves in so doing.

Choosing between these two septuagenarians is choosing between Herod and Nebuchadnezzar.

Buyers beware.

Fredrick is a media personality.

Facebook: Fredrick Nwabufo, Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo