By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
A chapter in my new book, “NIGERIA: Why Looting May Not Stop” (which will be in bookstores in Lagos next week) is entitled, ‘Dying For Looters.’
Tomorrow (Feb 16, 2019) is the presidential and national assembly
elections in Nigeria. One very sad, painful truth is that there are some
fellows who call themselves “party supporters” who may not live to see the end
of the voting exercise tomorrow or hear the results declared.
There are some
others too who may die the day the results would be announced because they
would eagerly indulge in some violent activities on behalf some politicians
defeated in the elections.
But these are clearly avoidable deaths which will only
happen if people refuse to learn from the past foolish mistakes of others, and
so fail to place appropriate value on their lives. In this case, it is a choice,
either to live or to die.
Many politicians who are out there threatening to unleash
fire and thunder during these elections have carefully removed their families
very far from the battlegrounds they are busy creating here and there. Some of
them have since flown their wives and children abroad where they are now
enjoying the best comfort and pleasure money can purchase. So, they are not
expecting that their children would be among those “supporters” who would
confront their opponents on their behalf and get wounded or even killed.
Their wives would not be around to lead the female
supporters who are equally spitting fire as they express their readiness to fiercely
battle their counterparts in the opponents’ camp. Their wives and children would only be brought back to join
them to wallow in boundless comfort when the battle is won – after some fools
had died and gone to hell while fighting to ensure that these low characters were
rigged into office.
And what is the motivation for this miserable and very
hazardous life? A few crumpled naira notes, maybe, some bottles of gin and
ill-fitting T-shirts bearing the face of the “leader” whose battle they are
warming up to fight!
But dear naïve “supporter,” if you are reading this
article, please, make up your mind to save your life. You have only one life.
Don’t waste it for anybody. You may have fought these political battles in the
past and escaped, but you may not be too lucky this time around. You may die!
By the way, who is this fellow you have agreed to fight
and die for? Stripped of all the pomp and flowing gown, he may
just be another scum out there merely looking for a meal ticket. And that is the
bitterest part of it. You may even be surprised that you are more intelligent
and better talented than him.
It is not yet too late for you to break your ungodly agreement
with him, leave him and go and find something meaningful, safe and profitable
to do with your life. It is also not yet too late to learn a trade or register
for an adult education programme to improve yourself. Indeed, it is never too
late to start on a clean slate.
In a few years’ time, you may even discover that you now
have a life better than the fellow you would have wasted your life for. Just look
him in the face today and tell him that he should draft his wife and children
to head his political fighting squad, that you have now realised the true worth
of your life, and so no longer wished to waste it fighting for him. In fact, he
is not worth risking your life for!
Only a few days ago, for instance, at a presidential rally
of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a South South state, a federal
minister was threatening to match fire with fire with his state governor and
his party, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“Whatever [he] wants
on Saturday, we will give him…He is afraid. We will battle him to the last. On
Saturday, they should get ready.” he thundered.
Now is it possible that this fellow who would surround
himself with well-armed security men as he goes to cast his vote tomorrow and be
put on the spotlight by the battery of reporters and cameramen who would
accompany him to the polling station, would also want to be in the streets
fighting his opponents himself as he has boasted? No, he loves his life so much
to put it at any form of risk. He is depending on some naïve people to fight
for him. But these people can refuse to fight for him. Like I said, it is a choice.
Choose life and reject death. If he is hell-bent on fighting his state governor
to impress President Muhammadu Buhari, he should arm himself and his family and
make the war a family matter – and equally take whatever comes to him in the
process, life or death.
Most of
the time, these “leaders” do not even have the slightest hint of contact
with these people that derive animation from calling themselves their “ardent
supporters.” In fact, if they ever do, it may just be to come out in front of
their houses or step out of their luxury cars at some other places to address
and charge them to be prepared to lay down their lives to ensure that only the
“credible candidates” (themselves) win the election “for the good of the state
and the nation” (whatever that means!).
What beats
me is how a human being could devalue his life so much that he would be willing
to expose that life to serious danger by agreeing to undertake a violent
activity on behalf of someone who may not even be informed if he is killed –
someone who does not even know him personally or care whether he lives or
dies. Yes, someone who would certainly not attend his funeral or even
ensure that he got a decent burial.
On the day
this fallen “great supporter” would be buried, the man he fought and died for
may be somewhere enjoying himself at a lavish party thrown for him by his
friends to celebrate his “fraud-slide” victory at the polls (if he won) or at
some cozy spot somewhere in town “making peace” with the opponent his
“supporter” had died fighting, which in other words simply means: negotiating a
plum position for himself or his cronies (if he was defeated).
All these would
be happening, while the body of the person who had fought and died for him
would be lowered into the ground at a miserable funeral – leaving behind a wife
and children who would now face the bleak future alone.
I am
hoping therefore that this article would touch somebody, motivate him to
rethink and review his choices during this election and devote his life to
meaningful causes. I am also hoping that inciters and/or sponsors of violence,
no matter how highly placed, should be treated like common criminals (which
they are) and dealt with according to the law.
Once
again, only a fool would choose to die for a looter.
*Ugochukwu
Ejinkeonye is a Columnist and Member, Editorial Board, Daily Independent newspaper (scruples2006@yahoo.com)
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