Prof. Fidelis I. Agwulonu (Rev. Fr)
February 21, 2023
(fideagwulonu@gmail.com)

Jean Paul Satre’s existential philosophy hints on the Burden of Choice; and the implications of individual responsiblity for every choice one makes. The choice to freedom and enslavement, non-violent resistance to unjust oppression, complacency to draconian rules and the acceptance of vassal positions in the hands of sovereigns or suzerains, and erection of walls of resistance to subjugations. To choose suicide, negotiation, surrender or patriotic engagement at the polls dwells at the domain of responsibility, freedom and choice of citizens, as it behoves on Nigerians, at this most critical moment of saving the soul of Nigeria as a country, to stand up to be counted and to demand that their votes count.

With the emergence of the – Vote Wisely slogan, it became imperative to choose to be on the path of the trailblazers of conscionable political alignment, where justice and equity advance equality of the citizens and the march for a second independence, a referendum of sorts, to be or not to be, as the sledgehammer of a dark triad of Machiavellianism, sub-clinical Narcissism and sub-clinical Psychopathy hovers over the political sphere and the spectrum of nationalism. Everyone understands this slogan (Vote Wisely), the queer as well as the plain, the artisan illiterate as well as the elitist population of the society. To Vote Wisely means to vote for the Wise Candidate, by the Wise Nigerians, for a Wiser political engagement. This Wise Candidate is known, through demonstrable record, to be a conscious manager of resources, and has remained a shining example of what a true Nigerian is and is meant to be, like the Scriptures would say: a true (Nigeria) with no guile in him” (John 2:), for Wisdom and godliness go hand in gloves, and God’s people will no longer perish for lack of knowledge (and of Wisdom {Hosea 4:6}).

At the thresholds of February 25, 2023 General Elections which comes on the third Day of Lent, Nigerians of many faiths and sects have joyfully embraced the Communiqué of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria released on February 17, instant. It is a proper guide coming from Shepherds of the people that have been traumatised by the multifaceted tragedies that have befallen Nigerians as results of clandestine and subterranean appropriation of the goods and resources of this country, creating a situation of sovereigns and vassals, where the vassals eat only the crumbs from their Masters’ tables. One cannot appreciate enough such a Communiqué from the Catholic Bishops, fierce and masterly, cutting finely through the joints and marrows, breaking the hearts of stone of the consciousness of some of the electorates. It is a stellar pointer, as Leonardo Da Vinci says: ‘Whoever follows the right star, never misses his path’. The Bishops have spearheaded this commendable trailblazing move, which everyone should follow.

The detribalised testimonials of Pa Ayo Adebanjo and the executive members of the Afenifere are equally to be commended for being outspoken. They believe that Nigeria is best restructured on the platforms of justice. On his part, Pa Adebanjo has singularly voiced out his interest allowing for power shift to the section of the country that had been almost politically sidelined with regard to producing the President of the nation in the 62 years of Nigeria’s independence; and especially in pointing out the dangers of voting into power his contemporaries in politics, who he is well aware of their track records of irregularities, corruption and redundancy. On his tracks are a plenitude of other patriotic Nigerians like Najaatu Mohammed, whose outbursts on Arise TV recently sent shocking waves in the political space. For God and Country, duty and social justice, constitutional obligation and social responsibility there demands a bold step into the political bottleneck occasioned by a programmed quagmire to scuttle democracy or create a state of anarchy to justify an unconstitutional interim government or elongation of the expired duration of a governance that has desecrated the ambience of an average stable humanity of the common Nigerian. It remains a responsibility to join the few voices of conscience to salvage what is left of the brokenness of Nigeria. It is a time to decide to be or not to be, to be predator or prey, as Nigeria is almost completely drifting to Thomas Hobbes’s State of Nature, and that of social Darwinism. ‘Cabalocracy’ assumed a position in Nigerian politics that projects the 2023 election as belonging to the choice candidate of a few, denigrating the vote and inclusion of the over two hundred million Nigerians, not forgetting the disabled population. Satre’s Burden of Choice entails educating the undecided populace, as well as the ignorant and uninformed, the psychologically and socially fettered individuals who are held ransom by religio-political and ethnic bigots, that steer the destiny of the constituents of their plurality-at-large voting (bloc voting).

With the case of Mama Dada setting herself ablaze in Ogun State, as reported by Sahara Reporters, February 19, 2023, for her inability to repair her ₦70,000.00 (seventy thousand naira) loan, which is less than $100 (one hundred dollars) in foreign exchange in Nigeria today, it adds to the growing fear of the incidence of the Arab Spring in the early 2010’s. The polity is fired up with multifaceted issues and concerns, with fever-pitch embers of fear and violence being fanned by persons with vested interest in the instability experienced in Nigeria, political, economic, religious, ethnic and that of psycho-social dominance. The country was going berserk the previous week, while some people ran amork, with countless cases of attacks on Nigerian banks and financial institutions, setting ablaze some of the branches and looting others, raising fears of a lawless State. These were largely owed to the mismanaged provision of the redesigned Naira notes and the outlawing of certain old notes as legal tender. War and coup mongers took over the stage, committing near treasonable felonies of giving counter orders to that of the President of the Nation. They resurfaced, agents of the cabal that manipulate and control Nigeria’s political system and governance – the rabble-rousers, expert pathological liars, paid campaigners and merchantile politicians who hope to be appointed to juicy positions of power when their candidates win, apply manipulative sophistry on the psyche of Nigerians to market their candidates. It is speculated that the uprising in some states against the cashless policy is sponsored.

Thanks to the State Address of President Mohammedu Buhari, that minimally doused the tensions over the weekend; the first time many Nigerians ever read through and shared the message of President Buhari on WhatsApp and and social media platforms. If President Buhari will be true to his promises of providing a level playing ground for the contestants, and ensure safe, peaceful, free, fair and credible elections on February 25, his speech offers a flicker of hope that this is a time for emancipation of the downtrodden; the time is now, and the populace knows that according to James Ene Henshaw’s 1956 novel title : THIS IS OUR CHANCE. We have not had it this bad in the last forty years, especially since the military era. It has been two weeks of madness in Nigeria, with confirmed reports of frustrated Nigerians engaging in physical fights, customers strip themselves stark (and/or) half naked in the banking halls, even as a distressed customer collapsed and died in a banking hall in Delta State. Videos of some bankers jumping over the fence and escaping from angry customers led to destructions and setting some banks ablaze. An avoidable chaos is here with us, driven by dry hunger, deprivations and insensitivity on the part of the government and her different agencies.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seemed to have had a dog in the fight, when it confirmed (as reported by Francis Ugwu, in Daily Post, February 8, 2023), that its Twitter handle ‘liked’ the tweet against a Presidential Candidate, in the February 25, 2023 general elections (Peter Obi). Whether it was by accident or intended, it strikes a heavily disconcordant tone, and signals a worrisome development. The lingering scarcity of gasoline, and unavailability of the newly designed ₦200, ₦500 and ₦1000 notes raise the suspicion of many about the success of the General Elections on February 25, instant. Worried about the suspicions that there is a plan to scuttle the February General Elections by the different factions of the cabals that have become powerful in this administration who either want an elongated duration of this government, or an imposition of interim government at their whims and caprices, one wonders the sincerity of the major players in the transition programme and the intentions of all who have their dogs in the fight in the misfortunes that have befallen the contraption called Nigeria.

Counting the costs and fighting back the traumatic experiences of the nearly 8 years eaten by the locust, the sink into massive destructions of lives and property and especially of the psyche of the traumatised Nigerians many of who have fled Nigeria, with some swearing never to return to Nigeria, even as they become victims of modern day slavery, abuses and molestations. No one has yet written a rejoinder to the statistics that 145 Nigerian Catholic Priests were reportedly killed and 30 others abducted in 2022 alone across Nigeria, as published on January 23, 2023 by Sahara Reporters. No one is ever safe in any part of Nigeria. A further avoidable anarchy is brewing, especially if February 25 general elections is merchandised in favour of any ‘anointed’ candidate, if the voters are shortchanged. The elitist members of the society, who have toyed with the integrity, docility and good followership of Nigerians over the years and made them subservient to ‘absolute monarchy’ in the guise of democracy may not have it easy.

With 18 political parties participating in this election, there are concerns over the Burden of Choice. Choice is a product of freedom, security, stability and psycho-social emancipation. To a sound mind as yours, dear reader, these factors are largely absent from the polity, as fears of the unknown beclouds the minds of many a Nigerian citizen (and foreigners alike). We shall vote for a candidate with credibility of character, not one with a questionable character; not one that has directly or indirectly mismanaged and diverted to himself and to his cronies the commonwealth of the Nigerian State in part or in full. We cannot vote in those politicians that the agencies bestowed with the power of the State to scrutinize and prosecute are compromising with and afraid to confront – those linked to political thuggery and violence, possible sponsors of terrorism and worse still persons known to engaged in trafficking in persons or human parts for the unpopular medical markets, traffickers in drug business, those serial killers of opponents and all those supposedly behind banditry and kidnapping in order to build their economic base for electioneering, vote buying and vote stealing; all those thieves in power and those involved in financial and social unaccountability after service to the Nation and the State. Nigerians know their politicians, even though they are afraid to confront the political class who have become monstrous masquerades.

President Buhari’s signing of the Executive Order number 14, 2023, establishing the Transition Council to manage and facilitate the transition programme is a good step, yet the burden of choice lies on President Buhari to ensure that he does not bequeath Nigerian a truncated transition that will birth a completely failed State, where a non-linear post-election violence will bring to the affirmative the speculations of a scheme to impose a retired military ruler upon Nigerians as an interim president, or worse, a military regime. Everyone has a role to play to ensure a sustainable democracy.