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 nonchalant 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 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
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.
*Chukwuka Igwegbe is a commentator on public
issues
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