Opinion

It is a trite principle law that when judgment is passed on a matter, it must not only be fair to one party but just to the overall interest of the society.

Whoever came up with the wise saying that Nigerian politics is dirty deserves an award for perspicacity. I have just returned from that dirtied, muddled up, confused, uncertain, unpredictable zone of Nigerian life and society with truck loads of stories in my head and enough impressions in my mind to last me another life-time.

As excellent a city as Lagos is, and as profound as its journey has been thus far, Lagos is ready to become its greater self.

The leader of Kwara’s crumbling dynasty has reportedly conceded defeat even as he urged his party to fight to the finish, apparently hoping for a political miracle in the gubernatorial and state assembly elections this Saturday.

As the final results of last week’s presidential poll were released, three broad groups emerged: Those genuinely surprised that the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar, lost; those in pretentious denial of his defeat; and those in a quandary because they hoped to profit from a stalemate.

I am grateful to God for sparing our lives to witness another milestone in Nigeria’s democratic development – namely conclusion of the Presidential election in an overwhelmingly peaceful manner.

First and foremost, I give thanks to Almighty God Who has spared our lives to witness another victory for Nigerian democracy and victory for our party APC.

I still treasure your overwhelming support for our candidacy in 2015 and also continue to carry the burden of fulfilling the great undertaking and mission for which I have been thrust forward.

Tomorrow, the polls open. Tomorrow, we affirm that Nigeria stands as a democracy and that no worldly hand can deter us from this wise and fitting path we have chosen for ourselves.

Ordinarily, the postponement by a week of Nigeria’s 2019 general election should not have generated as much outrage as it has done, but the protest that the postponement has attracted is positive proof of the fact that the Nigerian electorate do not trust the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The postponement of the 2019 general election by one week — even if by one day — is yet another spectacular testament to the pathological incompetence ruining our country. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) told us a million times that it was ready for the elections.

On Saturday, February 16, 2019, you will, once again, be called upon to choose the leaders who will pilot the affairs of our great nation for the next four years. This is a constitutional right which should be freely exercised by all eligible voters.

One foreign newspaper said Nigerians have to choose between a former dictator and an alleged kleptocrat. Another one, The Guardian of London, was not so diplomatic. It said Nigerians have to decide between “a stingy rightwing dictator and an established thief.”

I’d never had the head for figures. In fact, the enmity between me and mathematics was so bad that if you gave me a bottle, and you asked me to use the bottom to write the letter ‘o,’ it may likely come out as ‘p’ or ‘q,’ or even something more catastrophic.

On February 16th, Nigeria will hold a general election. Four years ago, the country experienced its first democratic transfer of power to the opposition since 1999. The vote in a few days will be no less significant.

The above quote is probably synonymous with the popular definition of insanity as “the continuous repetition of the same process with the same wrong results, and still expect a positive difference at each turn.”

A few weeks to the general election, Ezekwesili woke up marketing the illusion that she was “Esther”; the destined liberator of Nigerians. She claimed she was running for president under the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).

At this rate, President Muhammadu Buhari may beat former military President General Ibrahim Babangida to the record of collecting the most abusive letters from a former president.