A certain acquaintance of mine told a story of one of his neighbours who still lets out a loud scream of “Chineke me eee!!!” every now and then since the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the next president of Nigeria. The Neighbour obviously still has not gotten over the shock. I have seen two videos of certain individuals tearing their Nigerian passport while renouncing their Nigerian citizenship as a way of expressing their dismay at the INEC declaration. Some say the passports are already expired while others have described the act as sheer foolishness and a fatalistic approach to the outcome of Nigeria’s 2023 questionable presidential election.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the announcing of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu as the president-elect of Nigeria by the INEC has sent shockwaves across the nation. Unlike when President Buhari was announced president-elect in his first tenure when a certain region went into a frenzy of celebration, not even Lagosians are celebrating this ‘win’.
What, with the resounding popularity that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi enjoyed and continues to enjoy on social media, nobody could believe that the presidential result would turn out the way it did. In fact, it came as no surprise that the polls saw Labour Party win in Lagos State, Tinubu’s ownpower base. On this note, a friend of mine, Anya Fulu Ugo tweeted; IF TINUBU DID NOT WIN IN LAGOS, HE COULD NOT HAVE WON ANYWHERE ELSE.’
The online presidential polls that preceded the elections, over 90 percent of them, saw Peter Obi of the Labour Party winning by a wide margin. His manifesto and approach to teething national issues that bedevil Nigeria and Nigerians resonated with the heart-cries of the common man and sounded like an answer to the recurrent Prayers for Nigeria in Distress made every other Sunday in every Catholic Church and other places of worship.
So, when the INEC played a fast one on the electorate, compromised the electronic transmission system and manually collated results which had very many inconsistencies and manipulations, and ultimately announced Tinubu the winner of the 2023 presidential election while the masses slept… literally, the people were simply…SHOCKED.
While it is not true that a certain 19 year-old man committed suicide because of the announced result, it is very true that manypersons lost hope in a redeemable Nigeria as a result. Many more of my acquaintances have resolved to relocate with their family members from Nigeria at cost before the end of this year. Many left between last year and early this year including a certain acquaintance of mine who was on the Tinubu team and was convincing us of a Nigeria that would be better than Dubai if Tinubu assumes office as president. Imagine my shock when, just before the election, I saw a picture of my man, Ifeanyi Aniagoh aboard a plane with a full retinue of his family members (I heard including his surviving parent) enroute the United Kingdom (I hear on Permanent Residency). I WAS SHOCKED!
‘Water pass garri’ when members of the APC, top members of the APC, took to their social media handles to join other people in raining curses on the CBN governor (appointed by the APC government) over the cash crunch that crowned the austerity measures of the APC just at the eve of the elections. It went to show that even those who are holding onto power know that their camp is making a mess of the system. Their only consolation is that they are the ones at the helm of affair. It does not matter to them whether they have what it takes to redeem Nigeria in distress. It is dampening to the spirit that “emi lokan” politics that has toppled over the politics of competence, thereby digging deeper the hole of desolation the Nigeria citizenry is stuck in. See our man using the same slogan to lobby for Senate Presidency under Tinubu’s administration. Odiegwu really.
The trauma of Peter Obi’s loss at the polls is the reason many more persons, especially those of the southeast, who are, ever since, being victimized in Lagos State because they voted their kinsman that showed more credibility and competence, for president, have now accepted the secessionist creed of incarcerated Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra. It seems that is their last hope. It appears the country they are investing all their sweat and blood still treats them like second-class citizens. The feeling is worse as it becomes more obvious that the even the grassroots government of the people are complicit in this ploy to keep the old system in power and deprive a majority of Nigerians of a leadership of their choice. The state actors have shown their true colours in the way the state governorship and house of assembly elections held last Saturday. They simply replicated the maneuvers and manipulations of the notorious February 25 presidential elections and for those states they could not succeed, they have collaborated with the INEC to stop collation in order to perfect their plans. What a shame.
Despite the fact that much more people secured their voters card prior to this election, the level of electoral malpractice has gotten more people who were voting for the first time disillusioned and a relapse to voter apathy has begun. With the way the whole thing played out, many more of the electorate are giving up on Nigeria and her systems. If the legal process the Labour Party and her candidate, Peter Obi, initiated, getstruncated too, then it is bon voyage to the Nigerian dream for a lot more people. I am indeed scared of what that could mean for the next generation; those who remain in the country, that is.
