2019 Elections: Of Political Lords, Emperors and Demigods by Tunji oke

“In politics, A thousand friends ain’t enough while ONE enemy is too much”. I recently learnt this from my brother and friend, Gbolahan Awolaru. How original it is to him, I do not know, however, events in our recent political history have begun to lend credence to the reality of the statement.

Equally, Democracy was once described as “an institution that confers on the oppressed, the ‘right’ to periodically choose their oppressors”.

As contentious as this may sound, events in many democratic settings, especially Third World nations validate this assertion. A master-servant relationship.

Going by events in Nigeria, as the political clock is presently tilting towards election, many politicians have suddenly become freer, friendlier, tokenistic and more accessible. The same set of people who turned themselves to emperors, lords, demigods etc have toned down, all in a bid to win positive perception – a most needed Psychological component of politicking.

It’s amazing that many have begun building bridges – same bridges they deliberately destroyed – in expression of their cunning ways. Now they sweat and swell around us. They twirl and swirl. Emissaries are being sent daily to some of us, who they perceived they have wronged but sadly, no one has more than one vote. Day of reckoning is close by.

 When the brevity of man’s life is given cognizance, then and only then will we understand how short 4 or 8 years (of rulership, not leadership in our case) is. Step down from your high horses. Learn inter-personal skills. Desist from your two-faced nature. Make Nigeria better.

NB: This is just a prologue. More to come in this series. If you know, you know.Epilogue is after the general elections. God be with us all.

– Olatunji Oke is Editor in Chief, THE NIGERIA INDICATOR.