Burning desire by Nigerians to see a turnaround in the country underscores the reason why Nigerians are flocking to Peter Obi and the Labour Party.
There is an urgent expectation for a new dawn to manifest in Nigeria without delay to give Nigerians a new lease of life. People are fed up with the status quo. Any political platform that could guarantee the desired rebirth becomes the centre of attraction.
As it were, Nigerians have suffered untold hardship, pain and anguish brought by selfish and greedy politicians. The political and economic system has been ruined. Long-suffering is a norm in Nigeria as people bear the burden of misrule. The virtue of patience has been overstretched beyond the limit and this is understandable.
Understandable in the sense that the country has been raped and bastardised and Nigerians denied the good things of life since independence. The desire for a productive country started on October 1, 1960. That desire did not materialise. Barely six years into independence the country was plunged into a fierce fratricidal civil war that claimed over a million lives and truncated the political and economic trajectory.
At the end of the war in January 1970, the military took over the reins of government; Nigerians continued to look forward to a productive and viable country. The civilian interregnum between October 1979 and December 1983 was a huge disappointment. The civilians re-enacted corruption and maladministration that brought back the military.
In a nutshell, from May 1967 to October 1999, a period of 32 years, Nigeria’s affairs were run by unaccountable military juntas that failed woefully to build the expected virile country. The country was practically put on a ruinous path that only a conscientious, patriotic and committed leader could reverse.
When the new democratic dispensation was birthed in October 1999 with the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the helm of affairs, Nigerians re-enacted the desire for good governance. Obasanjo had the historic opportunity to build a vibrant Nigeria but failed after eight years of mesmerizing Nigerians. Obasanjo handed the baton to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who unfortunately died early in his administration. Nigerians think that Yar’Adua demonstrated inklings of a proactive leader with his 7-Point Agenda that never materialised.
Source: guardian.com
