Congratulations to Americans over the inauguration of the newly-elected President, Joe Biden, and Vice-President Kamala Harris. All Americans hold on to the hope that this new administration will take the country back to what it used to be and hope to greater heights as well.
Nigerians had similar feelings when former President Goodluck Jonathan was voted out in 2015 after just four years and voted a man that was thought to be upright with a great level of credibility attached to his personality, the one we thought will help save the country from corruption.
The world is changing fast and things seem to be spinning out of control for humans to handle, and mostly these are things and circumstances we have created at some point. At this point in the world, a higher level of intelligence is needed for major areas of life to function at maximum level and politics seems to be one of those areas.
The Nigerian Experience
After we voted in our President ‘Integrity’, the action against corruption was quick, guilty officers in the past administration were interrogated, looted funds were recovered and Nigerians could not stop pouring in their accolades.
Soon, we were promised that the looters will be announced and looted funds recovered will be revealed and a certain date was marked for all these to happen, but soon enough, the undeniable silence fell upon us as a nation and we began to ask where the president was amid his constant medical appointments to the UK.
The Silence was broken by a sudden swap of major offices with northerners and just like that nothing was heard about the looted funds, the looters who pledged were released without any identification released to the public, and Dasuki amongst them remains in prison till today despite Federal court’s declaration for him to be released on bail.
And the height of the hell we face in Nigeria is the tyrannic era of this administration where no one can question the government or have an opinion Lekki Massacre was a vivid example that our democracy is long gone.
President Goodluck Jonathan had corruption under his belt, but the current administration will not even allow criticism.
Proposal
It’s too late to say, don’t choose a leader out of a feeling of ‘Anyone but him’ situation, but I propose that, you all be on your toes together with the new administration and not too taken at the awe of a great speech or emotional moments and stories, let every leader be justified or criticized by their actions and doing right by the people.
I also propose that you don’t overlook shortcomings easily, such as bad decisions at the beginning of the administration in office and allowing excuses to push dangerous matters to the side.
It is important for Americans to also know that the democrats should be checked the same way the Republicans were checked and vise versa.
