Yes, you can call what I titled this article outrageous, but it is a belief I hold strongly. The only way Nigerians will win in the forthcoming presidential elections on 16th February, 2019 is by a total and complete boycott.
Before you draw a presumptuous conclusion based on what I just said, i will say this: I am not a fan of any incompetent dictator in power, whose coming I foretold would be disastrous for our country (ask my friends if I did, none believed me though). Secondly, I do not see myself voting for a thief seeking power just because I dislike the incumbent.
No, never should I submit to 2015 style of ousting incumbents. Rather, I prefer a better election later in the year with better candidates, like Peter Obi, Okonjo-Iweala, and very many others who are capable of taking this country back to where Goodluck Jonathan left it in 2015 and move ahead from there.
Now, you want to know why I think this election is best boycotted? I will tell you. First, I wish you can remember the exact votes the incumbent got in 2015 presidential elections when he ran against then incumbent, Jonathan. If you do, I want you to relate it to his 2018 primary numbers in his party. The difference I suppose is not even more than six figures! You know am right. Now, I am going to ask two related questions and I will give my own answers to them. I want to make sure you get my point before I declare the final verdict.
Between 2015 and 2018, when do you think the incumbent was more likely to get more votes based on his level of credibility and people's trust? For me, 2015 should be the answer. Everyone who disliked Goodluck Jonathan's great leadership skills thought in 2015 that Buhari was the Messiah they needed. I kinda thought same at a point then, but I believed since Jonathan was doing well, he should have been given another term to take Nigeria forward. It turned out Jonathan was the Messiah that we chose to reject (though he was illegally ousted through rigging). Thus, it was more likely that the incumbent president of our struggling nation could have gotten more votes in 2015 from Nigerian voters than he would in a 2018 party primary election if every Nigerian were to have participated. Surprisingly, he got something hugely close to the 2015 final results in 2018 from only his party voters! Please, do not tell me you are not thinking what am thinking?
Second question: Do you think a party that started losing members when its leader could not deliver on his presidential campaign promises can garner the number they did get in 2018 from a mere party primary? My answer is Absolutely No. I greatly do not see that being a possibility. However, irrespective of what I may think or believe, they actually "did". We can all go to hell if we think that was impossible. God forbid though, am not crossing that place, but do you not see what am seeing? If a man could win a general election with 10 votes, how can he not win another general election when even people of his party alone were now able to give him 9 votes in a primary? It will be total stupidity on my part to think that he cannot see more than 1 vote from people who are not party affiliated to drive him across the finish line in the general elections.
Let us assume that he only gets 2 out of the remaining 11 votes, since his party members alone are already nearly half of the possible voters. It will automatically make him the winner. Please, do not try to tell me he cannot get ordinary 2 votes from the rest of the number. If he could get 9 of the votes as party people, how can he not easily get 2 to add to it to cement a win? I may be speaking in parables, but I know what am saying. If you do not get it, I will help you in the next paragraph.
2019 presidential elections in Nigeria is already RIGGED! Our President and his handlers have a master plan for the forthcoming presidential election in February that will put him ahead. They have put everything in place beginning from more than a year back. They have sampled their methods in two Nigerian states. Everything worked fine. They are just waiting for the election day to arrive. Then, they will conclude their arrangement and announce their already written results
If you think that by participating in the forthcoming elections you are doing Nigeria a favour, think again. I believe your vote, which is supposed to be your weapon to fight evil government, will become a weapon in the evil government's hand, to enslave you more. Let me tell you the truth, by voting, you are giving the incumbent the power he needs to falsify the results in his favour. When this happens, you and me cannot do anything about it. Even the courts will be answerable to him. Okay, recently, they are fighting hard to remove people in the judiciary who may constitute a problem should the opponent take matters there. If you are not reading the handwriting on the wall, may God help us from ourselves.
The reason I then think a complete boycott will serve our best interest is this: the incumbent cannot be declared a winner even if he hyped his results as I expect if no one came out to vote, except the snippets of his 1 or so party persons already blown to be 9 votes in waiting. The election day itself will be the day of truth with those figures. When this happens, that is with the election officially declared inconclusive due to the glaring boycott and international observation of such, a new election date for the presidential race will then be fixed. If it still falls within the time before 29th May, it should then still be boycotted. When, however, a date further than that is chosen, the incumbent will be 'forced' to step aside on the expiration of his current tenure and an interim president will be appointed as stipulated by the law. Thus, without being in charge, even if he chooses to remain in the ballot, the other party will now have a level playing field in the election process, something he does not have now. Though, for me, I equally advocate for entirely fresh candidates in the new election dates.
This idea of mine is pretty absurd. Yes, I know it is, but it might just be our only way out of another four years of mess, plus the inpunity that will accompany it. Without a boycott, lady or gentleman, we need to offer the hottest prayers we can muster as we head to the polls. Only a miracle may remove the incumbent otherwise, and make the possibly incoming thief a repentant one. That incoming thief though seem unrepentant when he recently said he will use his government to enrich his friends, not his already wealthy family! I bet you know what that means? You should, if you dislike the incumbent.
I do, however, hope I turn out wrong and merely speculative. So be it.
Shekina. Whatever that word means!
