On the March Again

Today is June 12 - (You have to bear with me, I started writing this yesterday but didn’t finish it until late at night, and I could not upload it from home. I had to do that this morning on getting to the office. I was about laying my excuse for not completing it on time at the feet of workload, but that isn’t in order with my moral fibre. So, I’ll tell you the truth, it was due to sheer laziness… yeah… I get the lazy feeling sometimes….but I had to shake it off and attend to important matters like this blog..)

Well, this day is being marked as Democracy day in some states of the country in commemoration of the June 12, 1993 elections that many Nigerians acclaim was won by Aare Moshood Kashimawo Abiola and the freest and fairest elections ever held in Nigeria, but was annulled by the ruling military government headed by the Evil Genius himself, our very own Maradona, General Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida.

The ordinary Nigerian will never know what went on in the powerhouses of the country and their very reason for denying Nigerians the anticipated ruling era of that one in a million business mogul, Chief Abiola a.k.a MKO.

I remember as a young school girl the Television campaigns that ran on almost all the relevant TV stations in the country. And there was one that was the most popular with a song that goes thus:

On the march again (2x)
Nigeria on the march again
Looking for the man to rule (not too sure of this line)
On the march again
MKO, looking is our man oh (2x)

And now June 12, 2006 we are on the march again, looking for the man to rule this blessed country, endowed north, south, east, and west with everything a country can ever wish and pray to God for. We have vast human, natural and material resources which we have left untendered or mismanaged.

We have several candidates lined up and bidding for our vote, reeling out the same lines we have always heard in inauguration speeches in the days when military governments were toppling existing military and civilian governments and recently, when civilians start to campaign for elections.

We are tired of these same old stories. We have only heard words, and as the words increased, we saw fatter bellies, bigger cars, more houses, more trips abroad, more parties and in many of the instances, more wives and concubines.

I just did another analytical thinking session about the unhidden shameful lifestyles of these politicians and do you know that for every Senator, House of Representatives member, state governor, Local Government Chairman, the President and his political appointees and all their allies that dramatically transform into billionaires and multi-millionaires on assumption of office reflects the billions and millions of naira that are siphoned away from their supposedly primary purpose - providing for social developmental needs of the average Nigerian.

We are on the march again and we have to decide what kind of leaders we want for ourselves as Nigerians this time around. You and I can make an effort at deciding that. Simply cast your vote for the woman/man (did those words flow in your mind? Better let them if they did not or else…….) you would want to commit the fate of 120million Nigerians and that of generations unborn to her/his hands. Please don’t waste your vote on candidates that will bribe you and pay us poverty in return.

Your vote counts!!!