The mythical story of the ‘rat which bites the leg of its victim and at the same time, blows cool air on the affected part of the leg while the victim sleeps’, is my figurative description of the nature of politicians which make up the two dominant political parties in Nigeria’s fourth republic _ All Progressive Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who keeps switching political parties without having any meaning landmark left behind.
The expectations of the citizens has often been dashed and left with huge disappointment by these categories of politicians who consciously and unconsciously fails to deliver outcomes commensurate with those expectations placed on them by the citizens. It is with these assertions, that I find it rather appalling each time these categories of politicians presents themselves, elections after elections as the ‘ best men’ to do the job.
The constant changing of political garments by these politicians before, during and after elections can be likened to a ‘man who comes out of his house wearing a black cloth, goes back into his house, changes to a white cloth, comes out afterwards, thinking he has changed his identity from being recognizable’. The cycle of political rotation exhibited by these sets of politicians has not guaranteed a better life to the citizenry, rather succeeded in impoverishing the lives of the citizens furthermore.
The make up of these two major political parties are either politicians whom has allegedly misappropriated public funds and enriched themselves illegally while in office or politicians who failed in leadership during their stay in public office. What did they forget to do? Remains unanswered questions. Nigeria will be better off and strategically placed among the committee of nations if we choose to forgo this cycle of what I call ‘political fornicators and players’ and vote in a new breed of political actors who possess intellectual, technocratic, bureaucratic, enterprising and sound minds to drive the nation towards greatness.
The forthcoming general election is another great opportunity before Nigerians to decide their future again to either do things the same way it has always been done, with the usual expected outcomes or do things differently as it has never been done before, with new sets of political actors to steer the mantle of leadership and drive us to our promised land as dreamt by our founding Fathers.
Let me end by borrowing a quote from Suzy Kassem, “to vastly improve your country and truly make it great again, start by choosing a better leader. Do not let the media or the establishment make you pick from the people they choose, but instead choose those they do not pick….choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate……Fairness, not hypocrisy….. Transparency, not secrecy. Truth, not lies” . VOTE WISELY.
Evans backyard 