In election seasons, Nigerians are used to effusive promises issuing from the lips of politicians who have no intention of keeping them.
In almost every part of the country, especially shortly before elections, there have been outrageous promises by those who believe everyone is vulnerable and the gutters hold no repulsion.
There have been outlandish tales – like the one about the aspiring politician in Kano State who promised his impoverished people pipelines flowing with milk.
That Nigerians are used to harvesting bountiful promises shortly before elections only to see them turn to dust-not even stardust- immediately after elections speaks to a country crippled by a lack of accountability and a distinctive failure of memory.
It seems that the people who come around just before elections, promising to move heaven and earth to serve people when elected, but fail to lift a finger once elected, never really go away.
They stay in the system, recycle themselves or help bring in people like them that they recycle to continue what is often a vicious cycle.
Many Nigerians do not need to be told that the 2023 general elections will prove crucial to determining the direction the country takes going forwards.
A lot of the promise of 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari was first elected has since gone up in smoke with Nigerians turned inside out by poverty and insecurity, while those who made promises have largely stood aside, helpless.
A repeat from 2023 of the harrowing journey Nigerians have embarked upon since 2015 would prove such a disaster and Nigerians know it. It explains the unprecedented awareness sweeping through the country regarding the 2023 elections and the key it holds to unlocking calm or chaos for the country.
With the campaigns starting some months back, politicians, especially those interested in attaining the country’s highest offices have tailored their promises to resonate with Nigerians desperate to escape the crushing stranglehold of poverty and insecurity.
In a country where poverty counts about 133 million people among its captives ,with insecurity scything through vast parts of the country, the wily and crafty old warhorses running for offices in Nigeria know exactly what sweet nothings to tell Nigerians to sway them.
Whether the sugar-coated words will work or not in 2023 remains to be seen but as things stand, Nigerians must take everything they hear with a pinch of salt.
Among the fat cats seeking political offices in Nigeria are many who are already promising to end insecurity in Nigeria and revive the economy but have absolutely no clue about these things not because they do not have access to vital information but because their hearts and even heads are elsewhere.
Yet, because they are desperate for the votes which will give them a shot at going to their graves safe in the knowledge that they fulfilled a lifelong dream, they say the things they have not intention of doing.
Nigeria has got it wrong many times in the past.2023 provides an opportunity for redemption. If it is allowed to slip away, there is no telling what else will be lost along with it.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com
