The conduct and outcome of the just concluded Edo State governorship election must have come to most Nigerians as a great relief.
First and foremost the predicted level of election violence did not occur. Secondly the massive deployment of security personnel, usually associated with enabling the ruling government at the center to work for its party candidate did not play out.
Thirdly the umpire INEC, has been acclaimed as having done a transparent job at the collation center, where in the past all sorts of allegations and accusations had been heaped on that body.
That Nigerians, not the United Nations, were the dramatis personae who brought this relief to Nigerians and Nigeria, means that with attitudinal change, we Nigerians can turn things around for this country Nigeria. As we continue to fine-tune some grey areas and block avenues for laxity, we surely will have future elections to be very proud of.
Without doubt politicking and elections are taken very seriously in this country, otherwise prior to COVID-19, what else had prompted lockdowns, movement restrictions, if not during elections. You can also checkout the magnitude of deployment of security personnel for a one-day civil event. Again a new dimension has been added to the scenario with the influx of governors from other states to states where elections are being conducted for their colleagues.
I have an observation in this regard and I think that Nigerians must wake up and interrogate the propriety of their presence and mission. Do they come over to ensure that elections are conducted in a fair, free, transparent and credible manner? If yes, who among the 36 governors can beat their chests and boast that they have CONDUCTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS in their respective states in strict keeping with the tenets of the Nigerian constitution? How compliant and transparent have these governors been with LOCAL GOVERNMENT ALLOCATIONS, and yet Nigerians know that the grassroots development as enshrined in the LGA governance portfolio is in shambles.
As we continue to look the other way over governance lapses, when it comes to partisan party politics, ethnic and religious considerations, we end up dragging a nation divinely endowed with human and natural resources into the abyss. But we can all turn a new leaf for a bettetr Nigeria. YES WE CAN.
•Source: Facebook