Nigerian electorates often vote based on bandwagon effects & not on any scientific analysis of the party/candidates. And this euphoria voting is one of the reasons we are being short-changed by the politicians cos they know we hardly look at their scorecards in previous positions held before deciding whether or not they deserve our votes.

In 2011, Nigerians voted for President Jonathan not because he did anything monumental as a deputy governor, governor, vice president or acting president. We voted voted for him because he has had a political journey & a name (Goodluck) which were fanciful. Simply put, his electoral victory wasn't based on his competence but on the romance of his political journey.

No wonder we called him clueless & all sorts after about 2 years of his presidency & subsequently voted him out in 2015. The euphoria had gone & the reality of his (in)competence/suitability for the job stared us in the face.

In 2015, we repeated the mistake we made in 2011. Popular cliches among Nigerians then included; "anyone but Jonathan", "even if Buhari presents a NEPA bill as his academic credential, we will vote for him"

It was another period of much emotions without substance & analysis as to how ready Buhari was for the huge task of leading Nigeria. We never asked what he achieved as governor of old Gongola state. We didn't bother to ask what he achieved as a minister under a military regime. We didn't look closely at his records as a former military head of state & his time at helms of affairs of PTF. Even if we did, it wasn't based on objective analysis with a view to determining his suitability for the job he was applying for.

Presently, Buhari is being described by growing number of Nigerians as incompetent, too old, sick, nepotic, despotic, bigot, etc. In all honesty, can we say we didn't know about these attributes before the 2015 presidential election? We chose to close our eyes to the reality cos we wanted Jonathan out at all cost not minding who takes over

It seems to me that we are about repeating the same mistake with 4 months to another presidential election. The present euphoria is "Atikulate". We are all gearing up to vote for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar without looking at his public service records. We are not beaming our search light on his politics to determine his character. We are not checking his previous positions on national issues to see if they are consistent with what he is telling us at this time.

Unless we learn to take a step back from the euphoria & ask critical questions about those seeking elective positions, Nigerians may continue to elect their presidents & governors in a 4 year cycle of trial leading to errors & more regrets. For the sake of our children, it's time to start making the right decisions.

Twitter: @eniitanemmanuel

Buhari has failed ; we agree . But will it be in our own interest to continue with him seeing he is a failure ?