By Afolabi Eniola Rache, Student of I-con Universal Polytechnic, Osogbo, Osun State
Nigerians, caught between the Red sea and the Egyptians are in state of dilemma, not knowing what to do. It is time for us to choose, but it is like telling the israelites to stay with egyptians or die in the Red sea.
Though it is crystal clear that even though Nigeria operates a multiparty system, there has been only two dominat parties that seems very prominent; the All progressive congress [APC] and the People Democratic Party [PDP].
Now, it is time to choose again, however, it is more like telling us to choose between the devil and the demon. Since 1999.
Surprisingly, like a sudden gust of spring breeze in the winter, within months a different party with a first time candidate gained population. This party. Labour Party, gave Nigerian another choice to pick from.
Therefore the new internal trouble within we Nigerians is if our choice will win, since only the strongest can win, it is now the survival of the fittest amongst the candidate.
This year election is not different from the others except for the introduction of a new candidate there is 18 candidate running for presidential and 3 major candidate which we will examine now.
Firstly, we have a septugenarian under the People’s Democratic Party [PDP]. Atiku Abubakar is a 76 year old candidate that is not nes to the system and surely has influence around. He is a prominent business man, who worked as a top civil servant and was once a vice president of Nigeria under the regime of former president Olusegun Obasanjo [1999-2007]. He already tried running for 5 times without success. Despite all that seems to be his strength, he has been accused of corruption even though he denied having hand in any corruption activities even though people don’t believe. A witch does not always have blood in her mouth.
Next is also a septugenarian under the All Progressive Congress [APC]. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a 70 years old candidate that has absolute power magnet and very influential. He was ones elected as the Governor of Lagos and he governed for 8 Years [1999-2007]. He made a lot of transformations in Lagos during his regime. While some people says he should come and make the same transformation and more to Nigeria as a whole , some argued that he is older now he can’t work as before even though he decided that. He also has weakness that can threaten his presidential pursuit.
The major one is his health status and the fact that he evades all of the organised presidential debates. While the public thinks he evade the debates because is health issue, he denied the fact saying the debates don’t really affect the outcome of the presidential election in which might be true. He also once painstakingly asseverated that he did not believe in one Nigeria leaving everyone thinking about why he wants to rule one Nigeria. An adage says “Eni meji ki padanu iro, teni ti won ba pa fun o ba mo, eni to paro yi o mo powun paro”.
Lastly, but certainly not the least, the spring and surprise of the year under the labour party Peter Obi is a 61 years old who is also not new to the system but seems to be less influential. He is a wealthy business man that was once a governor of Anambra State [2006-2014]. He can be considered a fresh face and most people thinks he is less corrupted and different but like a comment under the punch post online “you were part of them but because you weren’t given a chance, you separated yourself and started going against them, how is that possible?”.Despite his strength, he is not one without flaws.
One of the main flaws he has is the youth who also happens to be his major supporter, from a rough research, it is confirmed that from every 10 youths, we have 8 OBIdient [Obi’s supporter] and from every 8 OBIdient, only 5 are with PVC and from every 5 with pvc only 3 are willing to vote. Now with a statistic as this, his will be a surprise however the OBIdients are hoping for a miracle and it is like waiting for River Nigeria to be parted like the Red Sea. Almost impossible since nothing is outrightly impossible in politics.
Another flaw of his, is the fact that he said; “Education is not for the poor” and backed his word by linking the school fees during his regime in Anambra even though some are clearly disturbed on how someone with that mentality will do in the education system, some agreed that he did what he had to do in order to improve the education standard in the state. Some even said Tinubu also did something like that in lagos during his regime “Raising LASU school Fees”, they said its for all good.
Auwal Rafsajani said, in an article published by the BBC, that this election is choosing between bad candidat. And i complement by saying it is choosing between a devil and a demon.
However, one thing is certain, we must choose someone and someone we shall choose.
In less than a month, we shall come to know if we choose the devil o the demon, if we crossed the Red sea or got stuck with the Egyptian, but something is sure, the Israelites did not stop suffering after they crossed the Red sea, they created more trouble for themselves.
In conclusion, we Nigerians hope that the fittest that survive this fight be the best for us and what will at least ease the pains the people. Also, after listening to countless promise about our anticipated promise land, Nigerians stands at a crossroad, getting their PVC ready to vote for their dream land filled with rich honey and treasure come February 25.
