Adeola Aderounmu
The Day Before The Election
Nigerians, Take The Risk. Change A Bad Product.
I have been silent about the Nigerian elections because as early as 2011 l wrote that 1999-2015 PDP years will be the worst years of the Nigerian life. I am talking about the life of more than 90m people living in extreme poverty.
It was an easy prediction when l saw the fools, nonentities and idiots that emerged to power. It is sad because that outcome maintains an unfortunate pattern.
There is nothing l write here that will be enough to cover my thoughts on Nigeria which are already expressed in hundreds of articles spread on my blog, the Nigeria Village Square and tens of other blogs and news sites around the world.
This short post is not directed at those who directly and indirectly are beneficiaries of a system that is still built on fraud.
I thought that the thing l missed most when l look at Nigeria (a paradise turned hell for more than 90m people) is social justice.
l have suddenly realised that lack of common sense is even worse. It invariably explains why social injustice is rife.
Hence, in recent times l have restricted myself to posting my articles only and almost not commenting on Nigeria on the social media. As the level of foolishness increases, I decided to thread carefully.
The 2 major things l have enjoyed on my portable touch screen computer are the scroll down and the delete buttons. In the old days of yahoo chat rooms we called it IGGY. Some of you are too young to grab that, sorry.
Anyhow, in many countries around the world, when you buy something, say a mobile phone and it is deficient, you go back and return it. Then you get a new one. It is called CHANGE.
Sometimes you just CHANGE so that you can see what the other side looks like and to be able to make fair comparisons.
But definitely when a product is bad, you must change it. Then, if the new one is not working well, you still go back again and change it even if you have used it for a while.
Until you get something that works as you had expected, you have the right to change the product.
This scenario is the same with the principles of democracy and common sense.
A man who stick with a known bad product for whatever reasons at all is a complete fool.
If a group of people decide to continue with a crazy government led by a weakling drunkard, they may all perish in one swoop. If the majority allows go with this negative flow, a new research needs to be done on the entire population. Geneticists should be called in.
Nothing in this life is going to be perfect. Nevertheless change is constant. It is desirable because even boredom can kill both mentally and physically.
It must take one of the biggest levels of known human stupidity to be afraid of change or a new chance.
A word is enough for the wise.
The problem is, what is going to be enough for the foolish?
Post 1. What The IGP Said
The inspector general of police said the Nigerians should go home after casting their votes. He is not entirely wrong on this point.
There are many angles to evaluate the statement. It also depends on whether one wants to be civilised or barbaric in approach.
I have cast my votes a few times in Sweden. I go home after doing so. The results are announced and life goes on.
Nigeria is not like Sweden even though both countries are inhabited by humans.
The Inspector General of Police spoke like he is living in an organised society. For, if that was the situation, the voters need to go home after casting their votes.
Unfortunately elections in Nigeria are a matter of life and death, do or die type.
Nigerians who get entangled in election malpractices and violence are the uncivilised ones.
Or how do you describe a people who cannot cast their vote in peace? How do you describe criminal politicians who take elections as a matter of life and death? For me that is uncivilised!
So on the election day in Nigeria (if the PDP does not cancel the process this time) people will cast their votes, they will carry knives, guns, cutlasses, they will stay back at the polling booths, they will want to see the votes counted, there will be arguments, there will be violence and sadly some people will die!
Uncivilised is almost an understatement when people are dying in connection to election!
Votes do not have to be protected by deaths..!
It is sad that more than 50 years after independence, Nigerians will not be conducting peaceful elections.
Post 2: Shutting Down The Country
Many Nigerians are moving back to their states of origin or there places of births. This as usual shows the artificial coexistence of Nigerians and highlights the need for a more resounding political solution to the country’s dilemma which continues to lie under the dirty carpets.
Nigeria is shutting down due to elections. How many signs of barbarism and backwardness can one get from a simple/ordinary election?
People are moving to where they think will be safe if violence breaks out. Vehicular movements are being restricted and a lot of time will be wasted doing nothing but preparing for elections and waiting for the outcome.
Holidays will be declared for an election that is holding on a Saturday. The country will lose a lot of money and the economy will shrink further.
Nigeria embarrasses Africa a lot. Nigeria is a disgrace because she cannot conduct election on a Saturday without bringing everything to a halt.
When ordinary elections brings a people and a country to a point of uncertainty that it even becomes difficult to predict the next day after the election, then a radical solution is desirable.
At an age when computers and technological processes are making life easier and easier and when people are already solving problems of the next generation, Nigerians are stuck in the 18th century battling not only the absence of electricity but even simple things like counting votes.
There are times when being a Nigerian is hard, for example when you try to convince other nationalities that you are human just like them and that you can actually count people manually or by inputting their records in a data system.
When you have to explain to people that you are intellectually sound as they are or even better, they wonder why then your country is shut down not only by terrorists in the north, south and east but also by a process that is as easy as ABC.
Election is hard in Nigeria, it reveals a lot about the mindset of the politicians, the misruled population and the overriding but sad low level of common sense among the general population.
(unedited posts on election 2015)
A View From The Scandinavian 