Nigeria 2023: Again, The PVCs Have Allegedly Failed!

Iyoha John Darlington

In the build-up to the 2023 general elections the people of Nigeria firmly determined to change the status quo  and at best desired a reversion to the status quo ante threw voter apathy to the winds and  trooped out en masee for voters registration cards.

This revolution with its foot soldiers   cut across age, ethnic and religious divides was borne out of  none other than yearnings and aspirations for new a Nigeria. The sole aim was to dump the old social order and pave the way for a new order  – a complete attack on the existing odious apparatus of neo-Nazi rule which the government in Abuja represents.

Nigerians, fed up with the obviously-sad situation were poised for a change    to reposition their country in the path of development and economic prosperity whose growth has been stalled for over  fourteen years attributable to leadership failure. The last growth, everyone will recall, was recorded  during the eight-years rule  of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The above-named while working  like a Trojan retained the services of  competent technocrats which his successors such as  President Goodluck Jonathan inherited, Nigeria rose from behind, overtook Egypt and South Africa to become Africa’s largest economy after a rebasing calculation of her GDP.

Crude oil, at the period under review sold for much less than what obtains today and life during President Olusegun Obasanjo was something near super abundant that gave rise to a mass Hegira home.

Determined to wrestle power from his successors particularly during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, a merger was formed that harassed the latter  out of power through a sham election overseen by a certain  Professor of northern ethnic stock. Before the final collation and announcement of results, the chickenhearted man at the helm put a call through to the alleged winner and foisted who everyone sees today as a disaster on Nigeria – the  pains we all feel to this day.

Prior to that historic election, everyone will recall, threats rented the air to make Nigeria ungovernable – a threat both subversive in quality and content was actualized through the instrumentality and  sponsorship of a bloody insurgency in the north eastern flank of Nigeria which in the course of time found its way to the country’s capital city.

No fewer than 30, 000 Nigerians lost their lives to the insurgency at the time – a calculated attempt to wipe up regional sentiments in Nigeria’s swing region.

This gimmick and antics paid off in the long run that threw  the baby away with the bath water. The self-styled apostles of change and all they stood for collapsed like a pack of cards in the first term of their ruinous  reign. Disillusioned that we did not need a change in the first place Nigerians fought back in the 2019 general elections. We had two strong contenders in the person of the incumbent President and a one-time Nigeria’s Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

In the post election  litigation that ensued  which  lasted for eternity the power of incumbency was employed that sounded the death knee to the collective will  of Nigerians and like a marriage annulled the supreme will of Nigerians was  ultimately bastardized!

These were indeed interesting times in Nigerian history. With our mouths gagged we were reduced to mindless zombies and sheep to the slaughter amid retrogressive economic policies and serious security crisis. Our country today  bore all  the trademarks  of a failed state. No food and where it is available the cost is prohibitive. Pipe borne water has become nonexistent. The edifices housing  Water Boards   across our state capitals are today fast sinking into oblivion of archaeological memories.

The value of Nigeria’s monetary unit – the Naira –  is nothing to write home about as it has collapsed against all major currencies even against that of many Lilliputian Republics.

Our national debt overhang has also become an albatross. Only last week the Debt Management Office ( DMO) said Nigeria owed over N466 trillion, a debt which could not be repaid in the next 50 years!

Distressing as things are, Nigerians particularly the youth amid separatist feelings and aspirations  resolved to redcard the ruling party out of power by embarking on PVC registration and collection revolution because there has been nothing to suggest whatsoever that we are on the path to redemption nor has there been  anything to suggest  we are on the path to recovery. Right in the very  eyes of Mr Integrity, the voices of reason are increasingly being challenged by the collective voices of looters. Under his watch Nigeria has become one vast empire of corruption with the most corrupt human symbols of all time given clean bill of health on defection to the ruling party. Embezzlement of government funds which used to be in thousands and millions was upgraded to billions while the generality of our people continue to thrive on dirt and dirty surroundings.

Having failed our people on all fronts Nigerians armed with Permanent Voters Cards  went to the polls to fashion out a new Nigeria for themselves and posterity  but fortunately  or unfortunately Nigerians painfully had  their will again  truncated by the same breed of  stereo-typical leprechauns, like the Nazi Stormtroopers in 1935 Germany,  who bestride the Nigerian political world like a Colossus.

Alas, we need no seer under the existing circumstances to tell us yet again that the PVCs have failed! Nowhere in Nigeria’s existing 6 geo-political zones had there been jubilation after the elections particularly the presidential election. Many foreign observers did not mince words in saying the elections did not reflect the true wishes and aspirations of Nigerians which is tantamount to a vote of no confidence. 

While the incoming President-elect sues for peace and reconciliation two of his attack dogs namely Bayo Onanuga and the ever arrogant Fani Kayode against all democratic norms, values and practices have resorted to intimidation of vocal voices via incendiary remarks and press releases which is antithetical to all democratic ethos. Do the above-named duo need reminding that we are in the 21st century and that  the Asiwaju once sworn in will not be Yoruba President but Nigerian President of Yoruba extraction?

* Iyoha John Darlington (Ph.D),  Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Edo State wrote from Benin City, Nigeria.