We won’t have free, fair and credible elections in the near future

When I saw the outgoing governor of Bayelsa, Seriake Dickson on television, lamenting bitterly like a howling clairvoyant—about the governorship election that took place in the state of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan—on the 16th of November, 2019, I knew Bayelsa would fall into the hands of the opposition party. And when I saw Timipre Sylva also on television, commending the INEC, judging the governorship election (that took place in Bayelsa) free, fair and credible, I knew the APC candidate would win.

No one can truly know the true state of any elections in Nigeria. If an election favors the APC, they would say it is free, fair and credible while the PDP will say the same election is marred by irregularities and a lack of regard for fundamental rights. And on the condition that it favors the PDP, the APC will also sing a different song, fooling the naïve citizens of Nigeria.

When the results of the presidential elections that first brought GMB to power in 2015, changing him to PMB, the APC praised Professor Attahiru Jega to the skies while the PDP condemned him—bringing him down to Sheol. This has been the consistent pattern since the first time democracy was put to bed in Nigeria. Till this moment, nothing has changed. In this clime, politics isn’t for nation building; it is a source of income for those who know how to play the game. And the poor and naïve citizens of Nigeria are the pawns in the political chess-game.

I pity those who idiotically die for politicians. I do, because they are a bunch of naïve people. I looked at those (those who survived amongst them) who were shot in Bayelsa and the way they were looking in the hospital, and how the politicians—who went to greet them (for political reasons) waved at them from afar and the kind of hospital they were taken to, and sorrow filled my heart. Sons and daughters of the soil were not amongst them. The first thing politicians do during elections is to first send their sons and daughters abroad. I hope one day that the irrational ones amongst us in Nigeria will become clever, so they can stop to die needlessly for those who hate them.

Some years ago, I stopped worrying myself about elections in Nigeria, because I have come to a very painful conclusion that the poor folks of Nigeria are their own enemies. Instead of them to come together as one, birthing the Nigeria of their dreams, they are daily tearing themselves apart on social media. Fellow citizen, have you ever seen sons and daughters of Buhari attacking sons and daughters of Atiku on social media? The sons and daughters of stakeholders in Nigeria don’t attack themselves. It is the sons and daughters of small potatoes—who daily attack themselves on social media on irrelevant issues, fooling themselves for those who do not know them.

The poor only vote, while the rich get elected and share juicy jobs, smiling to the Bank on a daily basis. A week ago, the presidency gave us the reason while Buhari sacked 35 aides of Osinbajo, but when Buhari returned from London; he said they were redeployed, not sacked. Buhari’s government is going to be long remembered for being fond of speaking from the two sides of its mouth. A government popularly known for consistently blowing both hot and cold! 

I have no headache with whether those 35 aides of Osinbajo were either sacked or redeployed; my concern is actually the kind of people appointed by Osinbajo. They are sons and daughters of the soil. The common man’s destiny is to keep voting till he dies while the destiny of sons and daughters of the soil is to be given appointments. You won’t see sons and daughters of the soil being used as INEC adhoc staff during elections, so they don’t get shot like the children of the poor. I remember telling a fellow-citizen that it is a sin to be poor in Nigeria. For the sake of your children and generations unborn, kindly do everything legitimate to be rich and influential. The truth is; the poor ones in our clime are actually second-class citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria while the rich folks are the first-class citizens of Nigeria. This is not open to any fruitless-debate.

As I begin to coast home, it is imperative that I let you know that we will not have free, fair and credible elections anytime soon, because the one who calls the shots of our elections is mammon, not God. When our politicians ‘win’ elections, they need to stop going to churches and mosques for thanksgiving. Our elections have nothing to do with God. It is all about mammon! Let us stop using religion to fool ourselves.

Last of all, there is so much money in politics in our clime. And as an effect of this, politicians are ready to kill to either retain their lofty-offices or install their stooges on the inside of those offices, so as to keep accessing sweat-less-resources. If it is not about money and power, why is it that guns and bullets are always heavily imported into Nigeria during elections? The way our politicians behave during elections shows that we are far from civilization. Remember, until our politics truly become people-centered, we would never have free, fair and credible elections!