Sunday, April 19, 2015

#NIGERIADECIDES: LESSONS……..


Image result for nigeria pictures


So the elections are over and done with in most states and but during this election period i realised a lot of things about Nigeria, Nigerians and myself.

In case you didn’t know, both of the candidates that I openly campaigned for even though I could not vote won their elections and I am grateful to God that they did so. I pray that God grants them the wisdom, courage, strength, health and heart to lead this country to greater heights.

If you paid close attention to the elections results especially the presidential elections, you would notice a trend. It showed that some people voted sentimentally. I was a supporter of Buhari not because I think he is the best option we have but because I am tired of the nonsense the present government has done so far. My Dubai trip and the recent foreign exchange rates were my breaking point. I wanted all the present leaders gone just to prove a point. That if you don’t perform people can push you out!

I know in the west and north, people supported the president elect because of various reasons known to them (which could be sentimentally too but i know a lot of people vote the new president elect because of the same reason i had) but coming to the south south despite a lot of things going wrong people still supported the present government. Now I tried to find out the reasons of most of them and you would not believe what they were. Some chose to support him because he was a Christian, from south south, because they had people in the former ruling party and knew that they would get some money if they won, because the opponent was a northern and so many other reasons. Now I particularly was not surprised. I knew about the way they thought but I guess I just thought people would want more for Nigeria than that.

And these reasons were well played up by the former ruling party and it was really appalling. They played on religious sentiments, tribal sentiments and called the opposition (now ruling party) candidates all sort of despicable names. They went as far as to produce propaganda laced and lies filled documentaries. And for people, educated people to not be able to carry out their own research but believe the documentaries was more shocking to me.

When I was coming back to Uyo, my mum told me to pipe down my support for changing the present government because it was obvious the way the wind was blowing here. However I couldn’t. Even at the risk of being the only voice standing up for change I made my choice known and anybody that didn’t like it was on his or her own. My actions made me realise that I don’t always have to be on the popular side. I need to stick to what is right even if I am the only one. I am not saying that the leaders that won are right but it is nice to know that I can be convinced about something and stick to my guns.

I realised that Nigeria and Nigerians need help. It was easy for the campaign team to almost succeed in their plans because we as a people still have tribalistic and anti religion attitudes. The voting pattern or supposed voting pattern in the South east, South South was able to show that. The fact that majority in the South West voted for the APC candidate has made some southerners and easterners to label the Yorubas as traitors. I had the unfortunate opportunity to listen to some people insulting Yorubas and even wishing the president elect dead. It was terrible! I could not stand it so i left the area. And the worst part is that one of the people talking was supposed to be a pastor. It worries me that we are divided. So many people have said that we are not one but the point is and would always be that when we step out of this country we carry a green passport that says we are all Nigerians. No foreign country wants to hear ‘I am Ibo’ or ‘I am yoruba’. They ask ‘are you a Nigerian?’ So except you want to change your nationality, you are a Nigerian whether you are Fulani or ibo or Ibibio.

I am happy because Nigerians have realised that we all have a role to play in the future of this country. Following the events of the last few months has gingered (awakened) the political spirit in me. I am now on the lookout for political talks and now following events in other countries. I am focusing on the elections that would be held in the U.K and after that I would love to monitor the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and the other candidates. That is going to be a fun campaign to watch. I already heard one of the other candidates shading Hillary because of her age (so it is not only in Nigeria that people do dirty political campaign…..Okay o). I am watching them in HD Googles…..lol

So I held the cocktail/mocktail training yesterday. It was okay but fell below my expectations. At a point I was discouraged. In fact I almost cancelled it. By Thursday last week, only 3 people had paid. There were so many excuses from people it was discouraging. I realised that the people in Akwa Ibom apparently are not interested in things like that. Why I just remembered that I don’t know. I was here when the Silverbird cinemas almost went under because people refused to pay 1000 naira to watch a movie but when it was made 100 naira every tom, dick and harry suddenly knew the road to the cinemas.

But it wasn’t all that bad. I had a chance to practise my presentation skills and it was fun watching the attendants squeeze their faces when they drank some of the strong spirits. I didn’t make enough money to cover up my costs but at least I have materials to set up for the next training. I am being encouraged to do another one but this time to target Bartenders and youth corp members. I am still thinking about that because the stress involved in doing this was amazingly much. All in all, it was an experience that I won’t forget. Thank you to those who showed up, those who reposted and retweeted my advertorial post, those who encouraged me and the guys who were my organiser (druginterface.wordpress.com) and assistant (Aniebet)……

Thanks for stopping by. Oh! Please remember to lend your voice to the #SayNoToXenophobia campaign. The South Africans who are responsible for the attacks, the Police force who have stood by and done nothing and the Government (especially the president) who are treating this like child’s play and the authority figures (especially that Zulu King) who have in one way or the other instigated these attacks must be made to pay. Enough is enough!!

Luv ya,                                                            
Petite Diva…

3 comments:

  1. Hello swirrie pie.... Mehn I've missed you o...missed you too much sef. Woman you should be an activist...i will follow you anywhere if you want me to..hehe. I have a suggestion. why not bring the cocktail training to Lagos? I really want to learn...I am pretty sure Leboo wouldn't mind cos he does some funny concoctions in the house and i'm like 'nigga you wanna kill me???" He did one drink one time and called it APLOCONDO. It tasted nice buh i think he can be better *covers face*. But can you bring this training to Lagos...we can get a few bloggers to do publicity for us. I'm sure we would get lots of attendees...really. Think about it.

    I'm bck by the way...you can check out my new oost anytime. Love you loads huni

    www.mylifeasmoby.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yaaaayyy!!! You are back! Welcome, heading to your space now. Thanks for the offer, I would think about it.

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