| Driving through another Transition |
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| Written by Halima Sadiya Mamud | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 02 April 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The election year is here and as expected election times are no fun times in Nigeria. It is one process of democratic delivery that comes with plenty of bloodletting. Having elections in Nigeria is like having a new born baby; it comes with plenty of blood and tears. But unlike babies, elections in Nigeria have never brought any joy to its people.
This time, I was tied up in a long trip to Bauchi from Abuja, one of those trips that anyone can label “crater –patrol” on our highways that reminds one of exactly the same promises made by politicians some four years ago. The conditions of the highways tell part of the story about promises that were never kept dreams that have remained broken and unfulfilled and aspirations that are shattered. As we drove through Jos, Plateau State, I kept wondering what the April elections would bring, are we going to see a new era? Is there going to be change, will there be a new Nigeria? Will politics ever mean service to the people? Will corruption ever end; will there be security for all, will the hospitals ever have drugs? Will university professors ever stop going on strike over broken agreements?
The answer was just around the corner, youth wielding sticks, cudgels and machetes were roaming Jos city free, I said to myself that if the youths of the city could be this reckless and violent for a party presidential rally, the final elections in Jos, if something is not done soon, will not be pleasant news. But it wasn’t in Jos alone that the Nigerian elections have reverberated as another epoch bloodletting event waiting to happen. There is something wrong with a nation where more people get hurt on Election Day that really votes.
Yes, our youth are the purveyors of the violence, the motor park moguls of violence, the campus gangs that have since relocated from campus dormitories to 5-Star hotels waiting to strike, and the street touts/urchins that never stop training to kill and/or maim. Yes, the politicians think they (youth) are not fit to work in banks, oil companies, or get a decent life, but they are always part and parcel of the political equation somehow, they are always good to get killed and kill for the politicians, but the politicians can never live or die for them. With their palms oiled with weapons, drugs and cheap naira notes, the “youth” cannot think nor forget their role, it has been scripted, and they are the ordained priests of electoral violence, not agents of change. Otherwise, they would have known that they will bear the brunt of the violence, only the poor suffers when there is crises, the rich fly their whole families abroad when it is rumoured there might be an outbreak of violence. All the European airlines are fully booked till June, I heard!
As we slowly drove through the crowded highways I became lost in my own thoughts. Where are we headed this time again? Where are we being led to? There seems to be no light at the end of this dark tunnel.
The questions have something to do with the future and I must confess that the future scares me. The safety of Nigerians in the hands of these leaders; be there violence or not in the coming elections is uncertain, the state of things still remains unclear, the electoral violence that accompanies the elections is just a shot of rain in the dark clouds that will remain after the elections have come and gone.
From the chants of the mob along the roads, came the reason why they were roaming the streets with cutlasses and sticks, chants like “Nigeria sai mai lafiya” (Nigeria for a healthy individual), “Nigeria sai Buhari” (Nigeria for Buhari), “Akashe duk PDP” (kill all PDP) in short the chants called for the total eradication of all PDP and its supporters. They stopped us at every post and asked for any PDP supporters in our bus, the driver replied we were all not for PDP. I was furious, but I could not show it in the face of those shiny cutlasses and huge sticks. I knew these youths were charged to do anything; I kept my cool because I would rather tell the story than is the story.
Are all these crises called for?
If the outgoing government and ruling party done things patriotically, we would have had a different country by this day? It is almost impossible to be impressed by the outgoing government; most of their officials are finally leaving their position worse than they met it, and their responsibilities either neglected or unattended to.
This government spent more time on propaganda than doing real work. Not only are the youths present on the streets, women and children were there on the streets, I knew these people were not standing in the hot sun because they were cold, there was a huge reason and it was simply because, once again, THEY ARE FED UP!
Fed up with empty promises, fed up with corrupt government officials who do nothing but oppress them with their ill gotten wealth, fed up with hunger and starvation, fed up with bad and inadequate health services, fed up with absence of electricity, fed up with dilapidated infrastructure, fed up with the state of nation that is turning their sons and daughters into armed robbers and prostitutes, fed up that their expected life span keeps reducing yearly, even though chances of reaching half of the speculated Life Expectancy means not being at the wrong place at a wrong time.
But question: Are Nigerians are finally standing up to what they believe is best for them, and is there some new awareness, or resistance in the land? If so, why are people still saying that there is no point voting because the elections will be rigged? I don’t know if rigging is going to work this time around, but why won’t they rig?
Formerly silent Nigerians have become crazy. Any attempt to force a candidate on them might not result to what was expected. As for PDP, what can I say, you dominated the political arena with assurances you could do best. You all had your chances but blew it, you gave your selves additional chances and you all blew it once again. Most Nigerians are not willing to give you another chance, and we hope you are not planning to give yourselves that chance, hmmm! I would not do that if I were you. Things may not always be rosy like you have always had it.
As we rode out of Jos towards Bauchi a bill board caught my attention on it were the same old messages, same old faces, same tired attires, same people, and same nonsense. It is still the loud promises about “Dividends of Democracy”. I think the nation must first reach a point where we have a country that is conducive to democracy, before we think about sharing its dividends, which is yet to happen!
Halima Sadiya Mamud , NVS' country rep in Nigeria plans to send weekly updates on the Elections
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 23 April 2008 ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Driving through another Transition 
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Posted by Robot| 02.04.2007 19:57