YOUR PVC IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

By Akin Ojumu

Nigeria, it is time for a revolution.

On February 16, 2019, you must rebel and revolt. For once in your lives, grow a pair and say, “enough is enough,” to the chaos and catastrophe that you have put up with in your government ever since the birth of your nation.

What you all hold in your hands is a powerful weapon. Your Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) is an unstoppable ballistic missile that can annihilate any adversary. It is all the weapon you need to break the chain around your neck, and it is all you need to cut off the shackles around your feet. Each one of you must turn it into a weapon of mass destruction against the pernicious, incompetent and corrupt political ruling class that has held sway over your land for far too long.

Your vote has a voice, let it speak for you. Your PVC has one silver bullet in its chambers, make it count. Don’t sell it for a morsel of bread. Let your vote become an iron stake. And drive that stake through the heart of the politics of fear, tribalism, and exploitation that permeates your country. Turn the automatic weapon of your PVC on the politics of stomach infrastructure and shoot it to death. You must drown, in the pool of your collective votes, the Amala politics that continually breeds a brood of political vipers in your midst.

Despite the abundance of human capital and natural resources in Nigeria, far too many of you struggle on a daily basis to make ends meet. In the midst of an oasis of abundance, most of you live in indescribable squalor and scrounge for a living in abject poverty, as you watch the few at the top amass mindboggling wealth and their children squander the nourishing milk that flows ceaselessly from the breasts of your motherland.

In the upcoming elections, you must decide which future you want for yourself and your children. To settle for a future where your children are worse off than you were, is to damn them to hell. The potency of your PVCs and the power of your votes must be deployed to make a better future for the generations yet unborn. Whether or not – and who – you vote next Saturday will determine the type of nation you’ll leave behind for the next generation, that is if there’s any nation left behind at all.

The current cohort of Nigerian political class are leeches and not leaders. They have all failed the country miserably. The choice you make next Saturday should not be between a senile old man who is set in his ways and has lost all his marbles or an unscrupulous and racketeering retired old man, who is totally unfit to lead Nigeria. It is time for you all to invest in the next generation of leaders.

To move your country forward, you must elect a different breed of Nigerian leaders who will help you achieve a brighter future for the country. You must elect candidates with innovative minds who will chart a blueprint for your nation's renewal. You must choose men and women, imbued with the energy of youth, that can tirelessly, effectively and efficiently steer the ship of your nation in the right direction. Your country does not deserve, and has had its fair share of, tired old men suffering from the memory loss of old age to continue to rule over it.

With a focus on buoyant energy, impeccable character and demonstrable competence, Nigerian electorates must invest in candidates committed to standing up for the little guy and standing up to the powerful forces that have put a stranglehold on your land for so long. It is then and only then can you hope to achieve the goals of making your country the best place on earth to live, work, and raise a family.

Nigerians, your vote is a double-edged sword that can cut both ways. How you use it will ultimately determine your fate and that of generations to come. So, it behooves you to use it prudently.