*NIGERIANS AT THE POLLS: SURVIVING TO DIE ANOTHER DAY*

_Please take note, I'm not a member of any political party and I'll go out tomorrow to exercise my franchise and I'll never impose my choice on anyone._

I have not come to tell you what you don't know, but I've come to tell you what you know but might not take note of and not be doing.

I was born a little over two decades ago and never witnessed so many things in the history of Nigeria, but I've read and I've also listened to elders. From what I've gathered, this year's election would be the one that would move through the soul and body of the nation most, it is further aided by how robust the media has become.

This year's election is one of the most balanced in terms of ethnic group and religion. The two leading aspirants are northerners and Muslims, other than one having a vice from South-East and the other from South-West, both Christians but the focus is not on them and that should not cause ethnic division.

I have studied and observed general elections in Nigeria since 2007, but the trend that started in Nigeria in 2015 is one that is set to continue, a trend where we ditch one after first year of unsatisfactory display, it's a trial and error system. I could remember my mathematics teacher in secondary school marking me wrong for using trial and error where I should have used a formula, where is the teacher to tell us we're going the wrong way? Such trend is not good for a big country in a big mess like ours.

In a conversation with a friend from Imo State last November, he said _"We thought Buhari could do it but he can't, we'd give it to Atiku, if he fails after 4years, we'd replace him too."_ When do we want to experience stability? Another from Oyo state who because of what the media is saying is failing to understand that when we have a problem in Nigeria and someone presents himself as a solution, our media picks him up and start painting him the Messiah. A lady friend of mine posted on WhatsApp that God will punish anyone who doesn't vote for the candidate of her choice, if that's the case, God will punish all of us because one man's food is another man's poison.

Buhari was painted a Messiah in 2015, Atiku is being painted a Messiah in 2019, who knows who would be painted the Messiah in 2023, and the trend continues, when are we gonna start the rebuilding process of our dear country?

What most of us are failing to realize about Nigeria is that no matter the party, no matter the individual, it'd be almost impossible to turn things around because the problem is about the country not having a blueprint for progress, all we've been having are short term, deceptive policies that disappear and fade away after a new party emerges.

_"...the labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain..."_ is one part of our national anthem that is vague, if our heroes truly laboured selflessly, we won't be here today, let's say they laboured but didn't train their proteges right, those ones are the ones destroying the country now, it's still the same that they didn't labour.

Several international organizations and media are putting up things to cause unrest in the nation, let's reason for ourselves and not let some people confuse us. The UK preaches democracy but is practicing monarchy, when are we going to see that these people don't do what they say? Developed countries would prefer to cause civil unrest in a country for selfish benefits, let's not be used to destroy our own country.

It's high time we got it right and stop surviving the heat of the moment to die again.

Vote Wisely.

*Elijah Olasunkanmi Odetokun*
*Hollic*