Before you vilify me, just hear me out.

Exactly four years ago we were in this same position, trying to move our country (or what was left of it) forward from the trenches of leadership ineptitude that had mired it chaos and crass instability. Boko Haram was in firm control of territory, schoolgirls were taken, psychedelic lipstick women were running government, looting was rife, though there was a bit of more general prosperity. And so the mood in the street was more of anger than hunger. Anger at what we couldn't do when we were earning so much.

Until a certain NSA effectively postponed the vote, marched into the Boko territory and cleared the terrorists and I'm like "WHAT!" People were euphoric and praise-singing but I was not the least impressed. So these Generals knew what to do all along but simply ignored it. So winning elections was more important than the thousands that died, and the millions displaced by the violence. Even animals in the jungle would not treat themselves like this.

Then came this former General, who appeared to have the magic wand. A lot of people were nostalgic about him because of his antecedents. But I don't judge a man by his past. I accepted him as a genuine alternative. To me the inept president and his clueless deputy needed to leave office and I still stand by that decision. Unfortunately, this alternative was going to be just as bad (maybe worse), and we're back to square one. Four precious years wasted!

APC
This administration is a MONUMENTAL DISASTER, the like of which I have never seen since I became a Nigerian. First, I'm convinced they came in with a sinister agenda of self perpetuation.

On security, the former NSA had done the job for them. They merely sustained his success (I'm not sure they made significant progress of their own). Though they rescued some of the girls, but there's something off about how they pulled it off. I believe we've not heard all the story of the Chibok girls yet. And this position is confirmed by the charade of the Dapchi girls. Elsewhere, however, insecurity festered and the general was annoyingly aloof.

He said he's undoing the corrupt mess of his predecessor. From the objective point of view, this assertion is mangled in controversy at best. First, a lot of the people around him were part of that mess. His party has said that if you come over from the mess, your sins will be forgiven, not dealt with. Apart from recovering assets, I don't see real punitive measures on the ground. I don't see swift delivery of justice. I don't see strong unbiased institutions prosecuting this fight. And to crown it, the whole thing appears to be skewed against opposition camps, turning the country into one gigantic melodrama. Pathetic!

Clearly, our president knows little on how to run a 21st century economy. I won't dwell much here because unless you're living on the moon, or you're a beneficiary (and am not taking of the stupid 10k handout), you'd see the clear trouble in the horizon. Yes the Reserves have grown, yes GDP is ticking up, yes looting may have reduced (this is unverified), maybe because the lipstick women have gone. But Nigeria is now the world's poverty capital! Job losses are at historic highs, capital flight is supersonic, debts are soaring without control, I don't know what the Naira is really worth. These are hard facts!
And for what? The railways? Mambilla? Ajaokuta? Why are they excruciatingly slow in coming on stream?
Now, the same people want to continue.

PDP
To me, the PDP should never get their hands on this country's resources again. I am convinced that the old PDP has not changed. The same corrupt, inept and wicked politicians who would rather have people die than lose elections still populate the party and call the shots.

When people say "Atikulate" I just chuckle within me. Is it that some curse of forgetfulness is laid on Africans? Or that they just have this genetic lousy memory? Before you call that insult, let me remind you of some facts. The man in question is not some new face. He was vice president for 8 years, and before that a prominent figure in Nigeria's political and economic firmaments. His antecedents show a slimy "wheeler-dealer" who always has personal interests, and (to me) a tendency to enrich himself and his cronies. The man has been spending hundreds of millions just for this election (without any major crowd funding). Except there's a bigger motive here, this doesn't make any business sense to me. How's he going to recover these expenses?

It is one thing to be rich, and another for the channels of such riches to be clearly seen. The PDP man has resources that are uncomfortably too hard for me to justify, and that casts further shadow over his true intentions. He clearly has cases to answer in at least two major FRAUD issues. He has a penchant for disloyalty (which he may show Nigerians). And he isn't that young. Though age is not a solid negative point, we've seen how in Nigeria, older or ailing presidents tend to be held by some form of cabals. #hardfacts.

Again, it is one thing to be rich, and another thing to make others rich. And yet another thing to make a whole country rich. He has a better policy document, but we've seen this sweet-talking before. Implementation has been the serial bane of development on the Continent.

VERDICT: NEUTRAL
Unfortunately this leaves the ordinary citizen nowhere because one of this two people will win the next elections. Like Prof. Soyinka, however, my vote is NOT for either of them. I reject the seeming generic intellectual dullness of the average African. I reject mediocrity, ineptitude and empty self-glorification. I reject the notion that we have no choice but to continue groping in this helplessness, in the midst of plenty resources.

Beyond the APC and PDP, until Africans learn to open their hearts and minds to the true Light, and virtues that make the difference, this unfortunate cycle is bound to continue.