Better Nigeria: The Power in My Vote

BY IPHIE MANUELZ

So last night I couldn't sleep and so I stayed up watching videos on Youtube. I came across the EME All Stars video, Change, I didn't even know they had released a video for it, I love that song a lot. As you all must have figured out by now I am very passionate about Nigeria and I am in love with the idea of the change that is coming to her, so you can understand why I love songs like Timi Dakolo"s Great Nation and the EME All star's Change. I digress!

Anyways as I lay in bed watching this video, there was a part of it that stuck out to me, something about voting right, I have never been good at deciphering the lyrics of songs, but that was the message I got from that part. It got me thinking about the last elections. I had registered to vote in Lagos but I was unable to collect my voter's card because I had to return to Abuja on the day I was meant to collect it. So that means I unfortunately didn't vote in the last election year.

As I thought about the past election year, I thought about who I would have voted for in the past election if I had, had the opportunity to vote. I probably would have voted Goodluck Jonathan, scratch that I KNOW I WOULD HAVE VOTED JONATHAN. What was my reason, it was simple he is Niger-Deltan like me after all, but most importantly I was tired of all the leaders in Nigeria coming from the North, I was tired of the North being developed at the expense of my people, the ones with oil. So to me Jonathan was the perfect candidate, he felt the pain of Niger-Deltans right? Let me just state that there is no fact supporting that reasoning, but it was how I saw it, it didn't have to make sense that was just how I saw it at that time. Dear Lord, see how wrong my priorities were. 

Now lets rewind to 2007, it was my first election where I could vote and boy was I glad to exercise my right to vote. This was the election that brought in Yaradua, God rest his soul and Jonathan. So who did I vote for in this election? Pat Utomi. Why? Because I believed in his dream for Nigeria, I believed he was the one that was going to start the change we needed in Nigeria at that time. You could see his passion for Nigeria shining through whenever he spoke. I knew he was not going to win but I cast my vote in his favour anyway, because I believed in his dreams for Nigeria. I voted for Pat Utomi because I believed in his dreams not because he was from my state, by the way I just found out we are from the same state as I was typing this, I didn't know this at the time I voted for him.

What changed between the 2007 elections and the 2011 elections that brought in President Goodluck Jonathan? Why was the state of origin of the person I was going to vote for so important? My honest answer is, I don't know. All I was certain of at that time was that I didn't want a president that was from the North. I didn't know what President Jonathan's manifesto had to say at the time, it could have been, 'when I get into power I would kill everybody that voted me in'. I really didn't care, what mattered was that he wasn't Buhari or Atiku.

I hang my head in shame for such barbaric thoughts.  Electing a leader should be about what his capabilities are. It should be about his abilities to steer the country in the right path, it should be about his strength as a leader, it should be about his courage to do what is necessary to pull the country forward. It should be about his policies, it should be about what he could do for Nigeria. It should not be about where he was from, it should not be about what God he prayed to, it should not be about who his brother was or who he was married to. Thinking about it now, with no consideration of what I know now, I would have still voted for President Jonathan if I had voted. In my opinion, there was no qualified person that offered himself up for election in the 2011 election and let's face it, the 'I had no shoes' story appealed to all of us.

The next elections are still a few years away, but just ask yourself this, 'why would I cast my vote in favour of, "Atiku" or "Buhari"', we all know that if God keeps them alive they would run, in the 2015 elections. Why would I vote for President Jonathan again, why would I vote for Dele Momodu, why would I vote for Pastor Chris. I know how I would vote come the next election year, unlike the 2011 election where my emotions ruled my reason for voting rather than logic, I would vote like 2007 election Iphie who voted for what she believed in.

I don't know who would offer himself/herself up for the next elections, but I know who I would vote for. I would vote for a leader that shares my dreams for Nigeria.

You can watch the video that inspired this late night writing below.