As the 2019 general elections draws near, there has been a
huge clamour for the populace to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and vote
for credible leaders. The clamour, though having good intentions is not rightly
placed. Information available reveals that majority of the voters from the 2015
general elections were the uneducated masses. The educated class were reluctant
to come out to vote, and in actual sense, most do not even have their permanent
voters card. This non-chalant attitude by the educated class during election
period has been the reason for the continuous bad leadership being experienced
in Nigeria. Despite having a skewed process in political parties in Nigeria
that favours the emergence of elected leaders backed by money bags, the
educated class have a lot of roles to play to change the narrative. A huge
chunk of the voting public comes from the North, and the elite of the North has
misused this advantage by holding their uneducated followership captive through
lies, propaganda and misinformation. This is the reason why, despite producing
the highest number of national leaders like Gowon, Murtala, Shagari, Babangida,
Abacha, Abubakar, and Buhari, the North
still has the worst poverty index in Nigeria. Politicians especially in the
North has hindered the development of their zone for selfish gains, and because
there are few opposing views being given to the masses, they are left with
only the bad option to choose from.
The
southern part of Nigeria despite having more educated people, has been unable to
bring in credible leaders to transform the country due to lack of foresight of
what the actual problem is; which is the fact that until the South helps the
North to help herself, Nigeria will continue to move in endless circles with
bad leadership. When the agitation for independence from the British was on,
foremost leaders like Azikiwe, Bello, Enahoro and others went round the
country, especially to rural areas to sensitize Nigerians on the need for
independence and the inherent benefits. These Nigerian patriots continued in
this advocacy despite the setbacks and challenges until freedom was achieved.
This particular scenario is lacking in this dispensation. There is an urgent
need to sensitize and educate the masses on how to choose a credible leader and
to know that there are always many other credible candidates to choose from
irrespective of the political party they belong to. The educated Nigerians that
are desirous of change in the country should sponsor advocacy groups to reach
out to these areas with the right message or volunteer their time and finance
to go to these rural areas to enlighten the masses on the need to choose the
right leaders irrespective of tribe or party affiliation. These are the kind of
price our foremost nationalists paid to achieve independence from Britain. If
we as a people must move to where we desire our country to be, we have to pay
the required price; Advocacy being made on social media is not enough, the huge
voting population remains with the uneducated populace, hence the need to
liberate the uneducated first, so that votes from educated Nigerians can have
meaning.
Liberating
those who have been misinformed or have little access to information is a task
that every informed Nigerian must do. When we liberate the uneducated
Nigerians, we are indirectly making way for the educated class to change the
narrative, thereby improving the quality of leadership available, which will
eventually lead to the transformation of Nigeria. Change begins with setting
the captives free. Let’s make Nigeria great again.
