Voting for the love of Nigeria

I’m writing this piece with some sense of uncertainty, yet I’m an incurable optimist when it comes to Nigeria becoming one great, indivisible country. There are many permutations already about how Saturday, February 14, will turn out. Some prophets have predicted doomsday and some have told us about a better country after the election. Clearly, no one knows what the day will bring yet.

However, the court cases and the street protests that we’ve seen in recent weeks are reminiscent of the events before June 12, 1993, presidential election and the eventual cancellation of the result of the election. I don’t want to bore you with the story of interim government and military take over that followed.

But I have decided to go over a piece I wrote on February 14, 2014 titled ‘The Damsel Before Us’ and I found it quite important to bring back some of the issues raised in that article.

We all know that Valentine’s Day is not an ordinary day. It’s a day to love and to cheer. The day of hearts, red roses, poetry, candies and romance. So close your eyes for a moment and imagine it’s a Valentine’s Day.

Next week, we will all face the true test of love. No thanks to Professor Attahiru Jega. He has cleverly chosen this year’s Valentine’s Day for Nigerians to demonstrate their love for the country. The election of Nigeria’s president for another four years will hold on that day.

Yes, we have seen a lot of stumping for and from the candidates of the two major parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), but how would you vote and to whom will you commit the soul of this great country when you go to poll next week?

Imagine that you are a lady and two suitors are asking for your love. What are the characteristics that will make you go for one and not the other? Can you think that way about these candidates? I’m not talking about physical features, but what defines the personalities of these suitors and their level of abilities to care for you.

We have been regaled with many tales about the presidential candidates already. Those stories are not unusual to many of us.

In some ways, those stories are about personal interest, while in other ways, they are about national interest.

So will you give your love to a selfish, egoistic, carefree man on February 14, 2015? God forbid.

You got me right. Verily, verily, I say unto you, what I want to do here is to help you give your love to the right man during the next Valentine’s Day that we now know and call the day of 2014 presidential election.

My bias is simply to consider the Office of the President of Nigeria and the qualities whoever will occupy that office should possess.

Now, one most important attribute that we should look out for in our suitors during the next Valentine’s Day, when we go out to cast our ballots for the new president of Nigeria is ‘presidential courage.’

I have reviewed the past presidents we have had and I have not seen a single of them that sets good example for a future president. For so long Nigerians have asked for some critical things in the polity, they even trusted God that after voting a particular president to power, he would do it. What is it? Nigerians desperately want a restructured federal system, but that has not happened, because we have not had a president courageous enough to do it.

Those who have had the opportunity bungled it, because of selfish interest. For some, it has been because of their re-election bids and to others it has been because of the money they are making in a federal system that oozes corruption day-in-day-out.

It is the reason we continue to go back to Confabs and National Conferences without solution.

One of American’s Presidential Historians, Michael Bacheloss who authored ‘Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989’ offers us an important lesson as citizens, politicians, professionals and voters combined.

He used the stories of nine past different American presidents to call our attention to this unique attribute called presidential courage that is often ignored by all of us, including the so called presidents who should do everything to possess and demonstrate it to the delight of the electorate. For instance, Bacheloss proved that fierce opposition by the political enemies shouldn’t deter any president in demonstrating courage.

One of the nine past American presidents he showcased as examples for the future presidents was Abraham Lincoln. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves in some part of America against the advice that it will work against him at poll. Lincoln was warned that by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation he would lose the support of voters serving in the Union army. But he ended up winning it by 80 per cent. He did not bow to public pressure, but was determined to do what was right. As Bacheloss said, “Had [Lincoln] caved in to the Radical Republicans, on one side, or the War Democrats, on the other, he would have shattered the coalition that ultimately brought him victory. Instead, although fleetingly tempted to backpedal, he stuck to his conviction that slavery must vanish before there could be peace.”

Now, can this sort of thing happen in our country, where there are many advisers both official and unofficial, and campaign organisations pretending to be non-governmental organisations with many spin doctors? I leave you to take care of that. But take it or leave it, there is no better time than now to think about how you can help Nigeria to attain greatness by voting for the best suitor, the man who can win your love during the next Valentine’s Day as the next president that Nigeria desperately needs.

This article first appeared in THISDAY