2023 ELECTIONS AND NATIONAL LAMENTATION

Given the often false bravado and braggadocio of Nigerian politicians, it would not be hard to find among those who make up the putrid ranks of the All Progressives Congress (APC) those who would swear that Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the February 25 polls. Among many of those who would put forward this spurious argument would be some people who claim to be more Nigerian than others.

However, beyond the triumphalism of the All Progressives Congress at another suspect victory, and the monumentally embarrassing performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be found those who lament the incurable kind of leprosy that has now befallen a country that was already struggling with so much.

With everything the APC has cooked and served Nigerians in the last eight years, so many Nigerians wanted the chef to be forced out of the kitchen as her culinary skills had become outdated, and the kitchen too hot. Problem was that in a country where power is so often and mindlessly abused, getting people out of the kitchen always takes a seismic force no thanks to the outrageous perks and privileges there. So, the chef persevered in the kitchen to dish out one more pot of poison.

It stung many like nettles that the APC easily coasted to victory in some of the states that have been turned upside down in the last eight years because of the failures of the administration of its highest ranking member, President Muhammadu Buhari. It really stung until it became clear that right under the watch of the INEC, Nigeria’s election results had been cooked.

Perhaps in mockery, or in a nod to the predictability of the judiciary, those who feel aggrieved have been asked to go to the court where the final nail would be put into their coffins by another institution that currently coughs up everything chaotic about Nigeria.

It is a tragedy of epic proportions that Nigerians actually perceived that their choice at elections was tampered with. In a country where perception often drives patriotism or a lack of it, it is national catastrophe that the just concluded election hark back to the early days that followed Nigeria’s return to democracy when the devilish whirring of the PDP’s unprecedented matchless rigging machine was heard the world over.

Something was always going to give. The APC summarily lost in the Southeast. In the Southwest where discomfort over the deception Nigeria calls federalism had boiled since 2015, cooked by the likes of Rotimi Akeredolu, the Ondo State Governor, ethnicism no doubt drove their voting pattern to give the APC most states. After all, a party that had been repulsive since 2015 could not have suddenly become appealing

In the South- south, chaos reigned supreme especially in Rivers State where Nyesom Wike lived up to his reputation by posting a brazen electoral heist. In the North, the LP, the PDP and the APC took spoil albeit in different regions. However someday, some of those states in the North where communities have been torn apart under the indolent watch of the APC may have to explain the choices they made.

Nigerians lament a chance gone begging; a chance to actually have someone who truly cares about Nigeria in Aso Rock. Peter Obi would not have worked miracles. But his prudence, pragmatism and patriotism would have set Nigeria on the right path.

Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com