Sometime In April,I Voted GEJ Not PDP – By Harry Slim Omoakhia

Sometime In April,I Voted GEJ Not PDP – By Harry Slim Omoakhia

… (Reminiscent of the song of Transformation). Humans, especially Nigerians are fond of shying away from failures they directly or indirectly created. President GEJ(Goodluck Ebele Jonathan) had over 24million votes in the last elections, but today only a few people still accept that they voted for him.
I am not a conventional Nigerian. My name is Harry Slim Omoakhia.I voted for GEJ and this is my story: Sometime in April 2011,in the beautiful and ancient city of Benin, the rainforest belt of the Nation, where the Oba is revered, the rain seemed to have gone on a sabbatical –quite unusual at that time of the year, or had the transformation cloud and wind of fresh air taken prominence over our normal climes?, I asked. Interestingly the song of transformation was the mantra then, so Benin should be in the mix of things. On that fateful day, I was woken up by the strong rays of the rich eastern sun coming through my window….Ooops! I had forgotten to shut it the previous night; I needed some air to be able to sleep. Kudos to PHCN for making power supply a scarce commodity.
I was consoled by the thoughts of the coming “fresh air” from Abuja when the loud Nokia tune from my phone interrupted my thoughts. Mum was calling to remind me for the umpteenth time about the need to be careful and vigilant at the polling centre. I couldn’t blame her for getting scared. Elections in Nigeria have been an epic tale of violence, intimidation and assassinations. As I sailed from my slumber into the corridors of reality, I realised it was the much talked about election day.I prayed to God to take control of the day, dashed to the bathroom and in 30 minutes i was ready to exercise my franchise. Stepping out of my room, Eric, a carefree next door neighbour, greeted me and in a sarcastic tone told me to vote for Buhari. Another of his pranks I thought. I wanted him to convince me about why i should toe his line of reasoning, but he couldn’t give me a reason. I replayed the song of transformation for him, he was overwhelmed and I felt good.
However, on the bank of the stairs, my subconscious asked me: ”what’s wrong with Buhari been my choice?”.Well,he is Buhari, I thought, my General social studies teacher talked about him a lot. His time predates mine , so, I didn’t know much about him other than what I picked from hearsay and what I have read, I opined. I also knew some people, including those from his region didn’t want him to become president. There must be something special about him that makes the cabal uneasy, I surmised. But I didn’t care to find out.I believed in the songs of transformation. As Carl Sagan said ” you can’t convince a believer of anything; for his belief is not based on evidence. It is based on a deep seated need to believe”. It was like a carnival at the polling unit. It was really a date with destiny.

Soon it was time to cast our votes. The voting queue was long. I felt hunger pangs because I hadn’t eaten before leaving the house. The sun was hot like the furnace of Babylon. Yet the people persevered. An old man even collapsed. Obviously I wasn’t the only one moved by the song of transformation. Finally, it was my turn to vote–thank God. As I stepped into the INEC cubicle (the conscience chamber)with the ballot paper, I heaved a sigh of relief. But, I was disappointed when I x-rayed the ballot paper and found GEJ’s name was conspicuously missing. I actually came to vote for GEJ and not the PDP.(pause).
Nigeria today is a story of mankind’s betrayal by leaders whose speeches were idealistic and full of noble sentiments under the guise of reforms (the transformation),but whose policies were based less on principles of justice and uprightness than on expediency and compromise with the evil forces which confronted it. I am not a pessimist, but my optimism dwindles when I think of the high level of insecurity in the land, especially in the Northern part of my country. A phenomenon the National Security Adviser alluded to having its roots from the PDP brand of politics. My hope dwindles again when I see the level of unemployment, corruption, deception, injustice, poverty etc. and no concerted effort made to tackle all these; or wasn’t the transformation agenda supposed to fix these problems? GEJ’s lackadaisical approach in berating erring or non performing officials among his fold, means that the PDP affair takes pre-eminence over the yearnings of the masses. Hence he cannot disavow the fact that the masses voted him and not PDP therefore his loyalty should be to the people. He should be solicitous about the people rather than leaving them distraught. The song of transformation should not be repaid with pains of lamentation.
Moreover, there is still a glimmer of hope, which he has to rekindle. He should reconnect with the people. This is no longer time for rhetoric. He should roll up his sleeves and do a campaign tour round the country again, to identify with people’s needs. He said he had no shoes, now that he has, we shouldn’t walk barefooted; he said he trekked many kilometers to school, please we need good schools and cheap transportation; he read with lanterns, how about giving us stable power supply? The son of a poor canoe maker should help youths to get good jobs.
It’s a year now and we are terribly gasping for air and lamenting in agony. Where is the fresh air? As I reminiscence on the song of transformation this morning,I REMEMBER that SOME TIME IN APRIL, NIGERIANS VOTED GOODLUCK AND NOT PDP.


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