By Ugochukwu
Ejinkeonye
During the governorship and
states’ houses of assembly elections that took place in Nigeria
Now, apart from any hapless individual who was “accidentally discharged”
by some habitually reckless and trigger-happy cop or someone caught in the
crossfire as rival political groups clashed and unleashed violence on each
other, all the others killed during this election while fighting “political
wars” died for nothing. They died for nothing because they counted themselves
as nothing, hence they could waste their precious lives fighting for mostly
common thieves or glorified thugs striving to become governors or “honourable” members
of the house of assembly so that they can plunder the resources of the state
and cart away as much loot as they can before their tenure expires.
What beats me is how a human being
could devalue his life so much that he could 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 or care
whether he lives or dies. Sometimes, all it takes to motivate these misguided
combatants would just be a few crumpled naira notes, some bottles of beer or
gin and poorly produced T-shirts bearing the faces of the fellows who they have
been hired to fight and die for. Most of the time, he does not even have the
slightest hint of contact with these
his “ardent supporters.” Or if he does, it may just be to come out in front of
his house or step out of his luxury car at some other place to address and
charge them to be prepared to lay down their lives to ensure that only the
“credible candidate” (himself) wins the election “for the good of the
state”.
