The election season has provided another opportunity for the desperate elements in our midst to show their true character. It has also provided a chance for the nectars to attract the bees. The nectars are the good ones; the asset democracy requires to thrive. We are watching all the key actors with keen interest.
Good leader wins the heart of people by fulfilling all his or her electoral promises; it cannot be through guns. But once s/he resorts to patronage of thugs, it could mean one thing; the popularity clout is heading down south. In essence, the reason some individuals rely solely on bullets to achieve their dreams of grabbing power is that there is a palpable disconnect between them and those they superintend.
But democracy is not war; it is a peaceful means of power negotiation. It is not about bullet, it is about ballot. Bullet spills blood; but ballot speaks peace. Bullet imposes; ballot legitimises. Bullet reflects the desire of minority; ballot captures the will of majority.
Ballots are sources of nightmare to a leader who has lost touch with his people. Even those who once erected artificial barricades to prevent the masses from having access to them struggle to dismantle these artificial barriers in an election season. This is election season; a time when devil presents himself as angel; a period when bad people put on the garb of righteousness in order to sway vulnerable individuals.
In this season, Kogi masses are wiser and are better informed. The signal reads a collective resolve to snatch power from people with questionable character and give same to those they can trust. They also seem poised to retain those who have used their leadership positions to alleviate the sufferings of the masses.
This is a season to sell your future plans to the people, to remind them how good you have been to them, not a period to deodorise your stinking antecedents. You had all these years to prove to the masses that you are a good man or woman. Why struggle to sell rotten personalities to those who deserve leaders with foresight and impeccable pedigree?
It is a season to resist the devilish antics of desperate vultures who defecate on the land, by spilling the blood of the innocent. Hard fate awaits those who put their evil machineries in place, and work hard to replace ballots with bullets. As a consequence, the land is rescued from advancing towards Armageddon where lawlessness thrives like mushroom.
What is good is good; and what is bad remains bad. Let us vote for good people and use our thumbs to reject evils that dwell amongst us.
We are for the ballots!!!
– Nathan Oguche Emmanuel writes from Kubwa, Abuja.
