Our student essay competition winner is Wisdom Adediji, an undergraduate student at the University of Ibadan! Wisdom reads his essay, “The Nigeria 2023 Election, Aftermath, and Way Forward to National Development,” for this bonus episode.
“The Nigeria 2023 Election, Aftermath, and Way Forward to National Development”
By Wisdom Adediji, undergraduate student at the University of Ibadan
The 2023 election is almost the repetition of history, although, the election is said to be the most competitive since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999, yet it’s still one of those elections that lacks the backbone of justice. Few months before the election, the pressure increased as campaign grew in every corner of the country. The three common political parties engaged so much that even if the dead could vote, it will drive down its casket to a polling unit and cast its vote. On Saturday, 25th of February, 2023, the Nigerian presidential election happened, and the citizens were asked to place their hope on the new electronic voting system that will make election rigging difficult, this involves the process of counting each votes openly and get them uploaded to a secured electoral portal in the presence of voters. But as we all know, rigging is part of Nigeria’s election history. Yet, people came out to vote enthusiastically, hungry for change, driven by hope that their fate will be true on the palms of their candidates. There were cases of several misconduct and errors by the election workers, infact, it was recorded that many election workers arrived some hours after the scheduled time of voting, while in some polling units there were several complains, like not having enough ink, power shortage on voting machines, and some tricks played on the voters while counting and uploading the results. Amidst this, Nigerians stood together not only by words, but by actions. It was clearly seen that majority of the voters had only two candidates in mind; Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, but according to the engagements, with respect to the population’s age range, Peter Obi had a upper hand as the citizens hoped to break the two-party system that ruled the country since the end of military rule. Meanwhile, the third well known candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was known as the political “ godfather ” of the southwest, and the major antagonist because of his several unpleasing past.
On Wednesday, 29th of February, 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election, which brought an uproar in the country rather than jubilation. Let’s come to think of it, Bola Tinubu won with the total votes of 8,794,726, with an aggregate difference of 1,810,206 over the runner ups, yet there was no jubilation among the citizens. The once glistening faith of youths have lost its light, and the silence hovering the nation is something to be scared of. After several events which occurred during and after the election period, such as fuel scarsity, implementation of the new naira notes which births the cashless policy, increase in market prices, insecurity and more, Nigerians have learned the art of healing as everyone gradually returns to their normal lives. But what is this thunderous silence sticking on Nigerians’ lips? How long will the citizens ( especially youths ) keep calm over these? What are the actions likely to follow? Is it insecurity, increase in crime rate, high rate of illegal migration? If the new president elect does not reconcile with the citizens, these are the actions likely to follow.
After the general election, the way forward is for national reconciliation to begin, and governments should prioritize the top issues. Citizens should prepare for a new dimension of leadership, and hope that new opportunities might open. Citizens may not have paid close attention to the new government’s agender, but it’s time to do so. The greatest defeat is not to fall, but to remain fallen.