[NB: 10:19 p.m Sun 29th Mar 2015 – Voting began today, but now extended by INEC till tomorrow – ] This article was originally (before being relocated here) published as a Facebook Note yesterday – Sat 28th Mar 2015]
Most (but NOT all) Nigerians living in other countries yearn for a change in the leadership of this nation – to match what they see where they live/work. This is why I believe MORE Nigerians would speak if they could vote remotely…without needing to travel down to Nigeria.
Read my true story below to find out why I say this:
I just returned (8.30p.m today 27th March 2015) from the Seme border after my 3rd failed attempt at crossing into Lagos. I crossed over into Cotonou later than I’d planned on Wednesday 25th March 2015, due to a serious hold up at the Lagos end.
My thinking was that the normal 24 hours before election day rule would be used before the borders would be closed.
So, I’d planned to return latest the next evening, as I’ve done many times in the past well under 24 hours, shuttling between both cities.
I was wrong.
The next morning I read online that the borders were ordered shut the midnight of the day I crossed into Cotonou!
But I refused to believe I would not make it back. To me, there was no way I would not get back. Not after all the pains I took way back in December 2014 to come home just to pick up my Voters Card.
When my friend Salifou Moumouni got a call from me, he said “What are you still doing here, when the borders to your country have been shut already.” I told him I was not bothered, and that I was sure I would get through.
I did not know I was in for a rude awakening…
Since that evening, yesterday, I have been to the border 3ce, and NOT once did I get beyond the Beninese end.
It was intriguing to see all sorts of exchanges take place each time I visited.
I’ll leave you to imagine why…but I can tell you that I heard shocking accounts of extortion those who crossed over had to put up with from the Benin end right through to the Nigerian end.
Here’s a hint: I recall meeting 8 young managers of a certain well known corporate organization getting told they would have to drop a hefty “something” per person, just as I arrived, if they wished to get across. They’d countered by offering half of that amount.
The uniformed Beninese officer bluntly rejected it. If it was like that at the Benin end, there was no saying what it would be like at the Nigerian end. That thought it was, I think, that made them call their driver back to pick them up and take them back to Cotonou.
I stayed back stubbornly thinking I could find a way. By 8p.m, I’d not made any headway, and had to return to Cotonou.
As I type this, I am seated in one of the 4 preferred cafes I work from whenever I’m here in Cotonou.
Yesterday, I was the last customer to leave at past MIDNIGHT. The young man who manages the place, is more like a friend, and readily indulges my need to work longer than most others.
By way of interest, I find it amazing the way socioeconomic pressures in Lagos deny the owner of my preferred cafe over there the opportunity to earn more by staying open longer.
That’s just one of many reasons I look forward to the CHANGE I believe tomorrow’s election will bring in the leadership of Nigeria. It pains me that after all this anticipation and activity, I will be unable to put my vote to use along with those of millions others who want what I want: GMB as president.
However, I believe that our UNITED hearts will create the impelling force needed to inspire many more to vote WHAT WE WANT, so that the inadvertent absence of like minded persons like me, will not cost us the change we desire.
My kids just called me today, the 13 year old boy specifically saying:
“Tayo, will be you be able to vote from there?”
I told him NO, and explained that I would not be coming home till after the elections were over.
Later on, after the call ended, it occurred to me that if Nigeria had setup her voting systems properly, many Nigerians outside the country, who desire to have a say in choosing the new leadership, would have been empowered to do so – REMOTELY. Then the closure of the borders would NOT have mattered at all to me, or any other persons.
Today’s technology makes doing this VERY possible. And Nigeria has the money – and manpower/resources – to deploy such a value adding voting platform successfully, if she wants to!
It is my hope that we will get a new leadership, who will make things work the way they should, so that Nigeria can become the truly great nation that the WHOLE WORLD knows it can be.
To you, my fellow change seekers, I say, PLEASE go out and cast your votes, knowing that those of us unable to join you physically, are with you in spirit.
You can be sure I will NOT miss the elections following this one.
#SaiBuhari!
PS: One more reason I’m posting this is to…
…minimize the chances of my learning later on that I voted in tomorrow’s election…which would either imply I used juju to get down to my polling booth on the outskirts of Ogun state, or an identical twin brother I never knew existed did me the favour of taking my place, so I would not be disenfranchised. INEC take note O!
