Vote Or Quench

All our #RSVP, #whataboutus, #enoughisenough, NN24 debates, BON, Save Nigeria Rallies, and other initiatives designed to make sure that the elections this year finally give a semblance of democratic operations to the Nigerian political environment are currently at the crux of their relevance. These are the days when we will find out if our hope for 2011 elections will be fulfilled. Starting from this weekend, people will be trooping out en masse to cast their vote for whichever candidate they are convinced has the vision and competence we need. Nigerians are no longer even looking for the leader that will take us to El Dorado. No, we are slowly but gradually coming to terms with the fact that what we need is that little but consistent baby steps towards more lasting credibility and accountability in government. I hold my breath in expectation anxiously waiting for the results.
I do not delude myself that there isn't anyone who will wake up tomorrow, and decide that what is going on at the polls isn't worth their time: there certainly is. No matter how acute the need for citizens' participation is, there will always be those who do not feel the same urgency for change as we do, or those who feel the same urgency, but have lived with disillusion for so long that one more abstinence from voting, one more turning away of the eyes, one more lack of concern and participation does not count as too much betrayal to them. Some of them have looked at the slew of candidates, and saw no man of promise. Some of them have felt that their participation has not shown any results in the past. All of them are justified in their reasons. But they are not justified in their actions. The most important part of this exercise is not if who you chose wins, or loses. That is certainly a welcome bonus. But coming out to vote is first and foremost and acknowledgement that you too are Nigeria's champion. It is a debt you owe your conscience that you too have not remained silent while this house burns. That you are involved. And no matter what the outcome is, your participation will signal to the horde of thieves that occupy our corridors of power that they are not insulated from your observation, that you are watching keenly, and ready to wield your weapon: choice. All the testimonies riggers have laid have shown that they have rigged more easily when voters refuse to turn out, creating a gap they are more than willing to fill. By affording them this opportunity, you make yourself complicit  in the fraud that has marred our polity and held us back for so long.
Change is in the air in Nigeria, you know it, I know it. But the enemy of change is apathy, and sometimes, we do not have more than one opportunity to take advantage of change. The choice you refuse to wield today may lay the ground for the vile winds of repressive governance to take over the air again. That will be too costly a price to pay for one morning spent doing nothing indoors except what you have always done and will always do. Nigeria's fate depends on the actions of single individuals who come together to do what is right. Because evil men are voted in when the good people refuse to vote. Lets not do the same.Vote or Quench. Thanks.