On February 25th 2023, Nigeria held a nation-wide election for the position of our incoming president. This new president is expected to be on seat for four years, pending another incoming election.The president elect would be following after a tumultuous eight-year tenure under Buhari, a renowned former dictator. Following the voting for presidency is the gubernatorial elections coming up on March 11^th. The sitting party, APC, has monopolized Nigeria’s elections for a very long time and are once again pulling on divisive and harmful tactics in order to keep their strong hold on the country especially Lagos state. Unfortunately, APC represents so many ills of the society and are the direct antithesis of what a good government should uphold. Some of the tactics that the political party upholds to cause issues in other camps are tribalism, racketeering and intimidation at the polls.

Many people are directly affected by the choices of the ruling party in society. However, some may feel that they are above these situations because they experience personal growth even in tumultuous times. Majorly, the only people unaffected by policies and other facets of society are people who are in power themselves. The ones in proximity may feel protected by the thoughts of having access to these people, but those are a fool-hardy set of people. These people invest their funds and a significant amount of time into seeking out second passports and access to countries in which systems are put in place to function. They forget that their countries could also be this way, choosing instead to seek out their own personal gain despite the suffering of those around them. Then, they complain about being robbed by their domestic workers or not having access to technological advances and progressive healthcare because they are in a ‘backwards’ country. Here is an example of one of the images being shared in the midst of the on-going elections. It highlights how often people are fine with destruction as long as it occurs away from their direct line of sight.

When you contribute to economic deficits, international non-acceptance and dilapidating quality of life by voting in or vocalizing support for corrupt governments as a result of selfish gain, deciding to denounce the government during personal struggle elicits little to no sympathy in general. The issue is so many people are comfortable seeing others live in squalor as long as they themselves have a roof over their head and food to it. To show the height of callousness, various accounts got on Twitter post-presidential elections praising Tinubu for ‘putting his guys on’. The thing that these people fail to understand is that a whole nation of people has been impoverished as a result of five men’s personal choices. Numerous lives have been irrevocably changed because one man decided that a whole nation’s worth is beholden to him and his cronies. He cuts the nation piece by piece and hands it to whomever he feels likely to owe him in the future. Those people then turn around to protect and endorse him because they have directly benefitted. Then the unfortunates, the ones who get to watch all this from their middle-class homes and feel grateful because they have something others do not, believe themselves to be among the wealthy class. Meanwhile, they are really one illness away from abject poverty or one trailer collapse from experiencing the Nigeria they uphold.

When the bottom percent of the country support bad governance, one could excuse their decisions based on hunger or abject destitution. These circumstances often motivate people to do bad things. However, we all must wake up as a nation if we are indeed going to ever enjoy our country in this lifetime. Eight years of Buhari has set us back miles. In fact, Nigeria has progressively gotten worse. In the past, education and quality of life was at an increase. As time goes on, Nigeria faces more opposition. We are unwelcome in other countries because of the unpleasant look our leaders give us. Even then, foreign countries rejoice when we are under bad governance, because that means they get to gain from said leaders’ foolhardy decisions. Buhari spent more time going to the United Kingdom to seek out medical healthcare than he did investing in the hospitals in a country which he claimed to be the President of. Under his reign as Minister of Petroleum, the costs of fuel rose and continue to. Fuel scarcity ran aplenty, insecurity and hunger were rife as a result of exorbitant market prices and sponsored thuggery. To cap it off, he ended his tenure with a cash scarcity. These people have made themselves so wealthy on our country’s stolen resources that even their generations to come cannot possibly spend all that money. Meanwhile, you have a bunch of people ignorantly supporting them because they would rather suffer with their children than live in a world where an Igbo man is President. Politicians’ happily weaponize ethnic differences despite knowing the truth of the matter, which is that all people will suffer under their harmful reign despite identity. Thinking that the slim pickings you get, such as monies here and there or job promotions absolve and protect you from the harm of bad governance is nothing but a silly myth.