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.
