While We Move On By Ibiremi Ibikunle
On Thursday, October 26, 2023, the Supreme Court brought an end to the months’ quest of ‘Who rules Nigeria’ in the next four years.
In the build-up to the February Presidential and National Assembly elections and the March Governorship and State Assembly elections, politicians used every tool in their capacity to divide the people. Selfish right?
First, it started with the regional rotation of power; the presidency should come from the South, not the North, that went on and on till the primaries and some months after. Second was the call for religious balance. No to Muslim-Muslim ticket!
Would one blame the citizen for wanting a balance?
No, the then President, Muhammadu Buhari gave allowance for so much imbalance, religious bias, and regional sentiments, to cap it up with several inhumane policies that crushed the economy further. Lives, properties and businesses crashed because the No. 1 citizen of the country obviously cared not.
Politicians played this card on Nigerians and many forgot what we all truly wanted – ‘A Better Nigeria!’
Before and after the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 elections, some Nigerians went into digging – all because we want ‘A Better Nigeria!’ Nevertheless, the apex court of the country affirmed his election bringing an end to the eight-month legal battle for the presidency of Nigeria.
Whenever there’s an issue between myself and a friend very dear to me, he would say ‘We are not the issue, so we shouldn’t be fighting ourselves’.
I, therefore, put it to Nigerians, Yorubas are not the issue, Igbos are not the issue, Hausas are not the issue, Muslims are not the issue, Christians are not the issue, neither are Traditional worshippers to issue.
The issues are bad governance, corruption, selfishness, and unaccountability amongst others because we are all clamouring for ‘A Better Nigeria!’
Many (youths especially) were desperate to eject the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, because of their history on the issues listed above. The Labour Party, courtesy of Peter Obi were quick enough to step into the scene to get 35 seats in the House of Representatives, 8 seats in the Senate, and one governor.
A few weeks ago, there was news on the National Assembly’s decision to import 360 Special Utility Vehicles, SUVs estimated at N57.6 billion for Senators and Members of the House of Representatives (160m for each). This was amid many Nigerians’ struggle to put food on their tables; fees of higher public institutions blew to the roof by 100%, unending inflation, high cost of fuel, and high rate of insecurity in some parts of the country, amongst others.
The reactions of members of the Labour Party, LP, who some see as a check to others in public office were alarming.
The National Chairman of LP, Julius Abure had advised members to shun the car gift. In response, a lawmaker representing Delta Aniocha North and South, Ngozi Okolie, “Yes, he can say that the economy is struggling but having one official vehicle as federal lawmakers isn’t frivolous; it’s a necessity.”
Okolie added, “Commissioners and House of Assembly members get up to two to three of such cars whereas National Assembly members are only getting one car each, yet he (Abure) is complaining and telling us not to collect it. Does he have any to give to us?
“Is he going to give us work tools to carry out our jobs or does he have an alternative for us? Has Abure told the members in his state in Edo, not to take the official vehicles given to them?”
Similarly, the lawmaker representing Igbo Etiti and Uzo-Uwani constituencies in Enugu State, Stainless Nwodo said, “Attributing his reason to economic hardship is pure blackmail.”
So who is the issue?
Over the weekend, the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said, “Nigerians don’t react to anything. Has any politician told you he is not a thief? Which politician told you he went to university, which politician told you she served in NYSC, and which politician told you he has his certificate?
“Nigerians know and still vote for them, so what is your problem? I say why should I speak when already there’s nothing new?
“Nigerians choose who to believe and who not to believe, Nigerians choose who to vote and who not to vote.”
While we accept and acknowledge that Bola Tinubu is our President till 2027, we must hold every public officer accountable, ask the right questions, fight for the right course and enjoy the milk and honey from our diversity.
No state government is perfect, but we must channel our energy to the right course, support the administration in power, and ask the right questions to get the ‘A Better Nigeria!’ we all deserve.
United we stand, divided they (politicians) steal from us.
