I have come to a conclusion that most African nations are not willing to develop and to progress. Let me bring it down home. I’ve come to the conclusion that most Nigerians, particularly those in leadership positions, don’t have the interests of their country, their people, or the development of our country at heart. Most times, it is just selfish interests that are uppermost. We behave like tapeworms in the intestine of a man — eager to consume the nutrients the man generates, but contributing nothing to the body. In the long run, if the man yamotonizes, the worms will also yamotonize. If we destroy this country, we too will be destroyed.
Your money overseas will get lost. The big buildings you built will get lost. Go and check the palaces African presidents built. Many are now overgrown with weeds, trees growing inside them, reptiles living there And the money they kept overseas? Seized. Gone. No access. There is this recent debate over the Electoral Act passed by the Senate.
Did you debate the 2022 Electoral Act, which says that INEC is not mandated to transmit results electronically and on time, but has the option of using any means?
If that is what you debated, then you wasted our time and resources, because that loophole contributed massively to the problems of the 2023 elections.
Then you give the excuse Nigeria is not mature enough for electronic transmission in real-time. But nearly every community in Nigeria has POS machines.
Money leaves one account and enters another. Nearly all 774 local governments have phone networks. Bandits in the forest demand ransom and collect it electronically.
DSS and police can trace bloggers within hours. So this excuse is derogatory.
What about the billions spent on BVAS and IReV that Mike Igini and others defended before 2023?
What happened to the money?
What happened to the equipment?
All this talk that electronic systems can be hacked. Is it the paper you carry by hand that cannot be altered? Between polling units and local government collation centres, a lot of things happen.
MY CONCLUSION: We are not ready to progress. We are not ready to be democratic.
I’ve followed Nigerian elections since the 1960s. The average Nigerian has remained the same. If we are this primitive, let’s return to Option A4.
Stand behind your candidate’s poster. Count 1, 2, 3. Everybody sees it. Everybody signs. But even signed forms in Rivers State were altered with pen with terrible signatures.
So the problem is not the system — it is us.
We are fraudulent.
We are insincere.
We are not ready for change or development.
The average Nigerian leader —traditional ruler, spiritual ruler, military leader, political leader —we are very insincere. We speak from one side of the mouth and do another thing in the heart. That’s why I no longer like ceremonies. You will see the enemies of this country dressed as:
religious leaders
politicians in big agbada
policemen
soldiers
My lawyer asked me today: “How many of these people hailing you are willing to live the way you live?” I agreed — many are just fans. Change is not in them.
It grieves me. I’m 67. I’ve seen hypocrisy and wickedness. I don’t fear intimidation anymore. The Senate, the House of Reps — are they wasting our time?
Electoral Act — multiple versions.
Tax bill — multiple versions.
Amnesty list — reviewed again and again.
Are we crazy?
Are we so incompetent?
Are we reckless?
Are we unserious?
There was a coup, there was no coup?
Governance in this era is not child’s play. Our governors, legislators — many still behave like villagers, like primitive people. Not ready to govern. Not ready to lead. And you followers, you are also part of the problem.
Even with electronic transmission, will that stop what happened in Lagos:
• were people from a certain ethnic group were prevented from voting?
• traditional rulers were also interfering?
• intimidation and violence?
If not for Professor Nnenna Oti in Abia State, the result would have been rigged. She stood her ground. So again — it is the individual, not the system.
Nigeria will only move forward when national interest becomes uppermost —
from the president
to the traffic policeman
to the office cleaner.
If not, we are going nowhere. And I feel very sad. With this my gray hair… this was not what I anticipated at this age.
