Lose another day

How come the Nigerian people who have patiently borne the gang rape of the present administration are being doubly victimised? For a long time, PDP operatives deceived themselves thinking they were fooling the people. Nigerians patiently waited to exert their own revenge by voting out the present government. The PDP had never wanted the computerised Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) because it would prevent rigging. They wanted the old, analogue ‘native-law-and-custom’ system where the fixers would simply allocate figures at the end of polling without recourse to the actual ballot. The electoral boss, Jega, said, ‘no’. So they resorted to blackmailing him. People without an iota of credibility tried to cast aspersions on Jega’s integrity. They failed to secure a postponement at the Council of State but succeeded in using the security situation as a trump card.
They are postponing their doomsday. Six weeks may be a long time in politics but it is not sufficient to undo the damage the present administration has done to our economy, our security, our national ethos and our unity. President Jonathan cannot undo the damage caused by his inaction to the Chibok abductions when it mattered most – the first 48 hours. The conspiracy theory at the time was that the students were not abducted and that the Borno State government was merely playing games.
Compare that with the reaction of President Kenyatta when terrorists struck at the Westgate shopping mall, Nairobi, on 23 September 2013. The president ordered in troops immediately. The terrorists were killed. The president then addressed the nation detailing what the government would do to contain further threats. He also sent a very clear message to the terrorist organisation, Al-Shabab, that his government would smoke them out of their hiding holes and eventually prevail. That is how a president is supposed to behave in times of crisis.
When the totally predictable postponement of the presidential elections to March 28 was announced, I thought it was a throwback to the Western Region elections of 1965 when the then Deputy Premier, Remi Fani-Kayode (father of Femi Fani-Kayode) with bloodshot eyes famously declared in Yoruba that “whether you vote for us or not, we shall win”. I see characters like him strutting about the stage these days and wonder if they ever learnt anything from the fall and disgrace of their unsung role models.
Now that the report of the forensic audit into the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is finally in the public domain, is the government still denying that some money was missing? The impression one gets is that we have been running on auto pilot. Lord have mercy!
Many people publicly endorsed Jonathan in 2011 because they were disgusted with the way he was treated by the cabal that tried to highjack power in the dying days of former President Yar’Adua. The fact that his CV boasted a PhD also made many cast their lot with him. But after experiencing his ineptitude in reining in corruption and securing the borders of the country, we have all come to realise that paper certificates are not everything. Governing Nigeria is more about the fight in the dog than the dog in the fight.
All the 419 castles of endorsement erected around the candidacy of the incumbent president have crumbled. General Babangida was dragged from his hitherto non-committal stance when some criminals forged a tweet with the handle @gen_ibb. The general issued a statement saying, “This is to inform members of the Nigerian public and the international community that I do not have a twitter handle by whatever name. There is an ongoing twitter handle @gen_ibb that purports to be representing my views and churning out very disgusting statements in my name”.
He added that he was pained by the criminal act: “This is therefore to inform the general public that they should disregard any tweet from that address by way of opinion, comment, viewpoint, commentary, suggestion or otherwise. It is understandable that the world has gone gaga with the outburst of social media but it should not be at the infringement of other people’s right. When I need to speak, I know full well what I have to speak on and at what point I should do so, and the medium of expressing same. This present impostor hurts my sensibilities and should therefore be disregarded”.
In the same vein, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka who had been peddled as supporting Jonathan was forced to issue a public disclaimer at the 2015 edition of Vision of the Child (VOTC) where he said, “I will not vote and I will not encourage anyone to vote for the continuation of this government”.
With specific reference to the kidnapped Chibok girls, his verdict on Jonathan’s handling of the case was damning:  “There has been a failure of leadership. Our children whom you represent today have been betrayed …The government of this nation failed to show leadership. So anyone who says after that event that I will vote or cast my vote or encourage anyone to vote for this regime must be living in Sambisa forest”
Anyone with half a brain knows that the next six weeks will witness an unprecedented deployment of raw cash and brutish muscle to try to force Jonathan up the throats of Nigerians. The puppeteers will break every rule in the book. But they fail to realise that this is not about Buhari or Jonathan; this is about our constitutional right to choose.  
Now that the postpone-ment is a reality, we the people, now resolve as follows:
INEC should use the PVC as planned; anyone without a PVC should not vote.
INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega must finish what he has started. Nigerians must resist any attempt to substitute him with a pliable goon.
More than ever before, Nigerian voters must “shine their eyes” after voting on March 28, because eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Remember the highest grossing James Bond movie of 2002 featuring Pierce Brosnan with the title, “Die Another Day”? Very well, for President Jonathan and his party, it is “Lose Another Day”