Showing posts with label Nigerian Youths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nigerian Youths. Show all posts

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Nigerian Youths, ‘Shine Your Eyes’


By Carllister Ejinkeonye

The rescheduled elections is here with us. An opportunity to exercise one’s democratic rights by helping to decide in whose hands the affairs of the country should be in the next couple of years ought to be an exciting period totally devoid of fear and dread. That is why the desperation saturating the political atmosphere needs to be defused. While not begrudging the politicians the opportunity to seek to be voted into power, they should try not to stifle the excitement that should accompany every democratic exercise in our country.

Why for instance should people be consumed with fear for their lives and those of their loved ones each time Nigerians are going to the polls? Yes, some of the politicians may be genuinely interested in improving our lives and society if voted into office, but they should also duly respect our right to reject them at the polls, despite their noble intentions. And when that happens, they should accept our verdict with grace and equanimity and wait for another opportunity to repackage and represent themselves to us more attractively.      

It is not and should not be a do-or-die affair. There have been reports of clashes between supporters of rival parties here and there. Some politicians have not helped matters too. Provocative statements oozing from their mouths tend to be viewed by their misguided supporters as a signal for “war.” And as one encounters the reports of some ‘battles’ already staged even while the elections are still a couple of weeks away, one is deeply pained that in the event of any struggle between giant ‘elephants,’ it is always the tender grasses that  suffer and get destroyed.  When lives are snuffed out, what once looked like rosy futures are brutally aborted.