A Presidential Victory that Will Not Stand – By Tochukwu Ezukanma

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, NNP Columnists, Tochukwu Ezukanma Wednesday, May 24th, 2023

By Tochukwu Ezukanma | Lagos, Nigeria | May 24, 2023 – After the presidential election, for days, I was distressed, totally flustered. I was distraught because in a clear contest between light and darkness, Nigerians chose the light, but the forces of greed, insensitivity and criminality subverted the will of the people; they are scheming to impose darkness on Nigeria.

A man that steals his neighbor’s goat is a thief; he is beaten up and disgraced. If he survives the jungle justice meted on him, he is forever reviled as a criminal. A man that breaks into a home and robs its inhabitants of their possessions at gunpoint is an armed robber; he is in the ranks of the most dreaded and despised criminals in Nigeria. If apprehended, prosecuted and convicted, in those good old days, he will be punished by execution, public execution.

What then is a man or group of men that robbed an entire country, millions of people, of its mandate? They are criminals on a scale that defies the English lexicon. Lamentably, one of such hardnosed criminals is poised to be the next president of Nigeria, not by the choice of the people, but by a scandalous collusion of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) and All Progressive Congress (APC) in an electoral fraud unprecedented in Nigerian history. As the trajectory of a country is dictated by its rulers/leaders, what can be expected from criminals as rulers, but continued chaos, falsehood, corruption, theft, contempt for human life and scorn for the Nigerian masses?

The evil oligarchy that retains its unyielding stranglehold on the country benefits from the confusion that pervades the country. Consequently, it threw up an unprincipled and unscrupulous political operator, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as its presidential candidate. Ordinarily, Tinubu’s criminal antecedence, notoriety for embezzlement of public funds, and falsification of every aspect of his life should have disqualified him from being a presidential candidate. Secondly, his senility, dementia, incontinence and incoherence make him mentally and physically unfit to be president. In addition, his Moslem/Moslem presidential ticket is supercilious: contemptuously indifference to our national diversity and religious sensibilities.

Not surprisingly, in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, the Nigerian electorate rejected him, and elected Peter Obi the president of Nigeria. Nigerians desire a Nigeria led by President Peter Obi, because he is devoid of the vices and primitive tendencies of most of the Nigerian political elite. Secondly, his mandate was not to derive from the avaricious conspiracy of corrupt politicians and their wealthy business cronies, but from the will of the people. Thus, he will be beholden to the people, not an evil oligarchy or cabal.

Lamentably, the INEC, goaded by its APC paymasters did the unconscionable: it declared the defeated presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, the winner of the presidential election, and the president-elect. The Tinubu “victory” will not be allowed to stand. For a Tinubu presidency will be most toxic for the country. It has been written that, “This world is a dangerous place to live in, not because of those that do evil, but because of those that watch the evil happen and do nothing about it”. Therefore, Nigerians can neither stomach, nor sit back and watch, the Tinubu/INEC electoral criminality; every Nigerian has a moral, civic, and even, spiritual obligation to stand up against that electoral brigand that declared Tinubu the president-elect.

Every movement in history, been it magnificent or despicable, altruistic or murderous is personified in one or a few individuals. Tinubu personifies a corrupt, moribund old order that has made life unbearably hard for the generality of Nigerians and reduced Nigeria to a somnolent, blundering, bumbling behemoth; an international laughing stock: the poorest oil-rich country in the world; one of the most corrupt, anarchistic and unlivable countries of the world; a vast scene of confusion teetering at the brinks of an economic collapse; an almost failed state; etc.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind.” Similarly, as agents of darkness, in their natural propensity, labor to expand the frontiers of darkness, agents of light must determinedly work to roll back the sphere of darkness. Peter Obi is already on the right track. He has already taken the first necessary step in rolling back the sphere of darkness; he has gone to court to claim his stolen mandate.

Nigerians are hitching their star with Peter Obi because they know that, as president, he will unravel the grip of the evil cabal on the country; ameliorate the economic plight of the Nigerian masses; bring about a more equitable distribution of the national wealth; end the inordinate wealth of an elite few at the economic strangulation of the masses; uphold the constitutional role of the government to secure life and property; curb corruption; and burnish Nigeria’s repulsively shabby international image.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria – [email protected]wp_posts