I love my country, Nigeria. I love it so much that I can only travel temporarily to other countries to live if I’m offered the opportunity, but I can’t live and die in those countries forever. That’s to tell you how deep my love for my country runs. However, there are a lot of things I wish could change to make the country a better place. In fact, every one of us who is currently living in Nigeria, when asked to mention the things that need to be changed or done to make the country better, the list is always endless because the country is not in her right state currently.
I wish we could ever have a free and fair election.
From the look of things, I know that corruption in the political sector will not end, at least for now, regardless of who is voted into power. But I just wish we could have a fair election for once, an election that’s not jeopardized by the people in power, an election where the votes of everyone will count, and citizens of the country will see who actually won the election by votes and not through the rigging that’s usually done.
In the last general election, after the masses, in a form we had not seen in a long time, came out to vote, to vote out certain types of people in power and ensure power changed hands, what happened? After the whole movement, the election was rigged in broad daylight, with utmost ease by the people in power.
After the election, a lot of people, including myself, gave up on anything related to elections because what is the essence when, after staying under the sun, in long queues and hunger to vote, the votes won’t count?
A lot of Nigerians have given up on elections. A lot of us have shoved our voter’s cards deep away, only to be brought out when required for official verification, and nothing more.
Like I said, I don’t even care if corruption is going to continue even when a ‘righteous’ person is voted into power. I just want a free and fair election to be the norm in the country. With this, even if corruption doesn’t reduce significantly, it will at least serve as a means to vote in and vote out candidates who don’t keep to their words or don’t have the country or the people at heart.
Let the country be known for free and fair elections.