A couple of weeks back, many Nigerians were getting more convinced about the birth of a New Nigeria. I can confirm that we were not unduly optimistic or presumptuous. We were all along getting more and more excited about the new wave of political awareness permeating the length and breadth of our Country. We monitored how at least one political movement, was crisscrossing the country spreading the message of renewed hope, with facts, figures, and critical analyses to convince all and sundry that a New Nigeria is possible.

From our vantage position, we monitored through our sensitive antenna that the message was being clearly received and seriously considered from the North to the South, the East to the West. Naysayers continued to say it was a fluke, that it was simply a social media activity. They said only the youths were buying the ideas of the new political enlightenment wave. They said the message could not fly in some parts of the Country. However we then soon discovered they started getting jittery. Actually, they started using the names, pictures, and messages of the person they were deriding to supplement their waning campaign efforts in different parts of the Country.

The Naysayers discovered that when they attempted to campaign in some areas they hitherto considered their stronghold, another politician’s name was being chanted. As the Country closed in on February 25, it was very clear to the so-called established parties, that the person they saw just as a rock star of Nigeria’s politics really meant business. They were getting to understand that their so-called structures were made of highly flammable materials and stood the risk of being consumed easily by the intensity of light emanating from the preacher of good tidings of better days ahead for the people of Nigeria.

We got to know that they had become more desperate, craving victory at all costs. We saw that in spite of the hardship and untold suffering by Nigerians through the Naira redesign policy particularly, they were still able to roll out more Bullion vans of raw cash. They had even redesigned their vote-buying strategies! They saw that so many things had fallen apart in their camps. For them, it became indeed a do-or-die affair.

We were hoping that some of what we heard about collusion in high places, was not true until we witnessed the amazing drama on the D-Day, February 25, 2023. A day that will go down in the annals of Nigeria’s political history as ‘The Turning Point’! Whether some people like it or not, Nigeria’s political climate has changed… and I say emphatically that it’s a very drastic change. We thank God that the enemies of Nigeria were not able to unleash the totality of the mayhem they planned on the already frustrated masses of our people. In some parts of the Country, however, their thugs still succeeded in scaring off thousands of voters. It is still a mystery that on the day of the Presidential election, certain election gadgets we had banked on will make the election foolproof and decided to break down- maybe some of these gadgets have a mind of their own!

In spite of all the shenanigans, the outcome of the Presidential election is now seriously contested and since it is now a subject for litigation, one may just leave things in the hands of the law for now. There is however no minimizing the depth of pain that many hopeful Nigerians have been plunged into. The myriad of socio-economic pains in Nigeria has now been compounded by the frustration of political injustice. It is, to put it mildly, quite disturbing and destabilizing for all well-meaning Nigerians. To make matters worse and add a lot more to the pain, is the unleashing of an unprecedented level of ethnic chauvinism, post the Presidential election, and that is in anticipation of further losses by the ‘powers that be’ in the subsequent elections- the Gubernatorial and Houses of Assembly elections. I know the ethnic card has always been on the table in so many areas in Nigeria but what we are witnessing now is deeply painful and pathetic.

We really need to watch it. We all need to be sober, to be vigilant. We should not allow those who are simply interested in themselves and not in the good fortune of Nigeria, to further compound the delicate balance in the Country. There are too many politicians and their followers who will stop at nothing to use religious and ethnic considerations to get what they want. They are extremely selfish, self-centered people. Enemies of the Country! We should not allow them to tear us apart.

I have been actively monitoring and contributing to discussions on political development in Nigeria for about 50 years and I have always done my best to fight religious and ethnic biases in particular, along with other ills plaguing our society. The ethnic warfare going on in different parts of Nigeria is painful and unreasonable. I have always said over and over that those who simply resort to playing the ethnic card are ‘illiterate and underdeveloped’.

Here we are, living in the Diaspora, trying to ward off all forms of racial discrimination; realizing that ethnic chauvinism is what is dominating our own political space is so painful. I am particularly concerned as a Yoruba Christian that many in the Church don’t seem to understand fundamental issues of the faith. We pay lip service to issues like being your brother’s keeper, and loving your neighbour as yourself. We call ourselves brothers and sisters in Christ on the surface, but we don’t act it out particularly when it comes to political issues.

This ought not to be so!

I learned one of my greatest lessons in politics in Nigeria, the year Papa Obafemi Awolowo died. We virtually moved NTA’s headquarters to Ikenne. I monitored, with my mouth wide open, how politicians from different parts of the Country flocked in and out. I saw in amazement how frontline politicians from different political parties, different ethnic groups, and religious persuasions behaved indeed like brothers and sisters (unfortunately NPN/UPN supporters were killing each other then all over the place). I am persuaded that these politicians have a meeting point and I just wonder when our people will learn! And it is indeed very painful! It is comforting however to know that there are at the same time many Nigerians who are not allowing the present pain to unduly weigh them down. They are ‘hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed, perplexed but not in despair’.

The New Nigeria Project group belongs to this persuasion. We are not a political party. We are a pressure group. We are a group of Nigerians, from different parts of the country, based in different parts of the World determined to ensure the birth of a New Nigeria. We feel the pain of Nigerians but we are undaunted. Particularly as we are in the process of our AAR (after action review) following the Presidential election, our present pain is not beclouding our determination to get Nigeria back on track as the giant of Africa.

We believe absolutely that a NEW NIGERIA is possible.

Pastor Femi Idowu is a Communications Consultant based in London.

-He was a one-time Political Editor NTA Ibadan (!978)

-Bureau Chief (NTA New) Ibadan Bureau

-Member: The New Nigeria Project group