By: Odeme Tochukwu

Incessantly, motorcycle horns hooted. The
unpleasant sound went into my
ears as though it was end time. I couldn't bear it
anymore, so I stood up,
looked through my window to see what's
happening. "Today is election day!"
They all clamoured, standing on their bike,
becoming a nuisance to the
community. Looking at this set of individuals who
could hardly provide
three-square meals for their family, I felt
devastated. I told myself I
needed to talk to these people. So I decided to
take the bull by its horn.
I thought of how to reach out to this set of
individuals, and talk some
sense into their head.
You do not necessarily have to collide with
political thugs in order to get
your voice heard, neither do you need to go to the
pulling units with
weapons of any kind in order to strike the change
you want to see. After
all, the novelist J. M Barne once observed thus:
The life of every man is a diary
in which he means to write one
story and write another; and his
humblest hour is when he com-
pares the volume as it is with
what he vowed to make it.
Be careful of the choices you make—they either
make or break you.
Still looking through my window, trying to figure
out what really triggered
their aggressiveness, suddenly, one of the
motorcyclists alighted from his
bike to address his followers. And he said, "make
we go block road, today
na today!" I shook my head and wondered:
How much were these motorcyclist paid to
engage
in electoral violence?
Do they really care to know what will happen if
they die today?
Does it truly worth it?
All these thoughts and questions exhausted me
emotionally. To try to bounce
back, I switched on my phone in order to surf the
Internet. The news –
“ballot boxes have been stolen in Port Harcourt –
making the headlines
stunned me as though I was struck by a
lightening. And I asked, "Is this
the way forward?"
I dream of a Nigeria where her citizens would not
only see democracy in its
ordinary sense, but to also conceptualise
democracy as a civilised way of
thinking.
You clamour for a better Nigeria yet you ignite
electoral violence to cause
your fellow citizens pains. Most Nigerian
politicians would always say
together we can build a better Nigeria which I do
not really agree with.
If
you truly want a change as a Nigerian, you must
first be the change you
want to see. You must change your views as
regards political practices in
Nigeria.
It is said "responsibility is the most important
ability that a person can
posses."
Take responsibility for your actions, money can't
buy life. Electoral
violence is often ignited by greed which in turn
leads to hatred.

IF YOU WANT A BETTER NIGERIA, BE THE CHANGE
YOU WANT TO SEE.

www.thesmartforum..in/2015/03/by-odeme-tochukwu-incessantly.html?m=1