A SMORGASBORD OF BILKS

We're now well into the political cycle that matters the most in Nigeria, and it is hardly a surprise that intrigues, of all shapes and sizes, have been oozing their way into the already fetid political firmament. Another round of political realignment has manifested; the usual regrouping of persons (or non-persons, for that matter), with individualistic tendencies, has occurred and still occurring. This is one of the most important, if not the most important, elections of modern times. It is a stark choice between progress (albeit slow) and a rapid retreat to what brought us to these troubled, and troubling, times. It is a tale of a formidable army of revanchists and recidivists duelling it out with our, largely collective, future, hopes and aspirations of the Nigerian people. I say this without implying that those that represent that collective future are saintly, but most certainly less complicit.      

Democracy is hollowed out by the absence of meritocracy; democracy unaligned with meritocracy is all but codswallop and a façade. It is wholly demeaning to Nigerians when proven kleptocrats don the garb of democracy and prate spurious nonsense to lure, to woo and to trap. I am yet to see a leopard change its spots, and yet, we're being deluged with promises of utopia when dystopia is the glaring legacy of their sixteen years of misrule, and its unsalutary consequences. Their belief, or hope, that Nigerians are as gullible as during the dark years is symptomatic of their collective cerebrum atrophy. Their grouping is a patent anachronism that I am confident, and pray that, the Nigerian populace would roundly reject in 2019. I may be accused of being tendentious, or unduly catastrophizing the contemporary Nigerian malaise, but allow me to explain myself without being unnecessarily verbose. Here are the 'whys', my people:

The PDP were in government for sixteen years during which Nigeria recorded its highest rates of growth due mainly to the stratospheric average price of crude oil for much of that period. Can anyone, in good conscience, point to any discernible progress, both economic and social, that Nigeria made in those wasted years? Well, apart from their much-vaunted 'achievement' of mobile telephony! Is it unfair to point out the wretchedness of our schools, hospitals, transport systems, security and employment? Is it unjust to point out the insanely rapid growth of multi-billionaires in their ranks, most of whom had never broken a sweat in their entire sorry lives? What are we to make of the fuel subsidy scams? Isn't it ingenious to put all the blame at Buhari's feet, whose government has only been in power for less than four years? Has it ever occurred to the PDP brigade and their sympathisers what might have been if Saraki and Co hadn't hijacked the leaderships of both the Senate and the HoR?

So many questions that we, Nigerians, need to honestly ask ourselves in our bid to fashion out a better future not just for ourselves, but those yet unborn. It may be mistaken that I'm drumming up support for the APC, but that couldn't be further from the truth. All I need to do is look at the facts before me, and the experience behind me. All I need to do is look around me and see the height of misery, and the depth of forlornness, in my people's eyes. All I need to do is look at the decay in every facet of life, and imagine what might have been if most of our democratic life had been judiciously spent. I have my beef with Buhari and his government but I realise I need to cut them a slack, considering the relatively short period of time they have been in power. Is four years really long enough to undo and unravel the mess we were plunged into for sixteen forgettable years? 

I know what my choice is. I'd rather go along with slow and steady progress than with a government comprised of a smorgasbord of bilks. Nigerians should not, and would not, let the finaglers back in through the postern.

May the good Lord bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its beautiful people.

.