I do hope all these online polls here and there will translate into concrete action on the part of the electorate.
Na so we do online polls for APC primaries so tay ay, with PYO on the lead; only for American dollars to come, then, redirect our franchise decision path so much that we quickly forget our resolve for a momentary session of economic bliss in the name of dollars exchanging hands. So great was our weakness in the face of hard currency distribution that some delegates were even conned with fake dollars. A commodity that is not available for legal trade in the nation’s market, where it is needed most. How so low we have morally descended!
Over the years, our political Gladiators have observed that we, the citizens, are more of a bunch of ‘crying wolf’ people, with no liver to carry out our threats; once some piece of paper in the name of either local or hard currency is being used to line our pockets. For some, it is even spiced with a few bags of rice…
Could it be that we have been so impoverished that our discerning system has begun to malfunction or it is our greed and selfishness that have so much reduced us to mere ‘pawns’ in their hands? Perhaps, a robot in the modern-day sense that has no will of its own, safe for ‘monetary/materialistic scripts’ as its firmware. Oh! What a pity?
The dearth of men of persuasion, who will rather die for their conviction than bow to any monetary inducement and/or plum political appointment offers, no matter how highly tempting they may be, has been the bane of our life.
Where is the company of the electorate, comparable to the days of Dapo Sarumi vs Agbalajobi of SDP in the Lagos political space of those days, who will refuse to be taken for a ride by the greed of the aristocratic society? Instead will choose to teach the political class a good lesson by massively voting for a ‘Michael Otedola’, in the opposition to make them know that they cannot be taken for granted and held to ransom with and by their selfishness…
The battleground is neither on the social media nor on the pages of the print media, but on the long list, as crafted in the ballot paper at the polling booths, youths beware!
•Leke Ajisafe writes from Lagos.