REJOINER TO "THE UNFORTUNATE JOKE TAGGED POLITICS IN NIGERIA".

After my post about Nigeria on Monday, i stumbled upon a brilliant expression of the line of thought that inspired my lash out. This facebook update by a fantastical writer friend of mine caught my eye, leaving me the only option of sharing it's wonder in my world. Read the post below:


"I wonder. Is there really a limit to the vituperations a man can heap on his government? Can people for example say that if a northerner or southerner is not installed in 2015 then “Nigeria will burn” and go scot free? Isn’t this within their rights to predict? To engage in this socio scientific exercise of predicting the future? Where does one draw the line between a predictive statement and an inciting one- an innocent one and a treasonable one? Am I not perfectly within my rights to say what I feel without fear? Whether they are divinely inspired or propelled by sheer greed? I think a presidential candidate once spoke metaphorically about blood and baboons after he lost an election. Blood actually did flow and when you consider it, it still flows till date. After his prediction, many more politicians have been bitten by the violent prediction bug. Politics in Nigeria has thus been reduced to an ethnic balancing act where the threat of blood always lurks in the shadows.


There should not be a limit to the insult I can sling on any one I like within the confines of my room. This is my right as long as my verbal rampage does not disturb my neigbours. I can poke fun at politicians, at their bulging stomachs, at their uncouth wives, at their unseasoned programs. I can criticize the policies of government and ask that people force them to be accountable. I can mobilize people to decry corrupt politicians or ask them to resign. And the literary disagreement between me and any writer can break into blatant name calling. This is shameful, but something that is within our rights to do. I guess.


But I cannot tell youths that in 2015 we might need to take matters in our own hands if our tribal man is rigged out. Especially when taking matters in our hands entail blood and the loss of lives. I cannot threaten to kill as many Nigerians as I can if a particular candidate decides to run or not. Isn’t it akin to threatening to kill all your neighbours because your wife wouldn’t shave her pubic hair? Perhaps the analogy is a bit off but the maniacal impetus is still the same.


My conclusion. I believe that we are not as politically naive as our political class believe. There are democratic ways of changing bad leadership and none of them entail the gutting of ordinary people. Megalomaniac politicians may ask us to paint the streets with blood. Still, we are within our rights to look them in the eye and say “No. Not this time. Not again!” "


My last words are, 2015 elections will birth the real Nigeria.