In 2015, Nigerians did not vote for change. They voted for hope. Gripped by disillusionment, anger and frustration, they reached out their hands to vote an incumbent president out and thumbprint another one in who promised things would be different.
There’s something about Nigerians and hope. We are a sheeply multitude who follow any leader that makes the right noises and inspires belief. More importantly, we can take anything as long as you give us a break once in a while.
Nigeria might be going to hell but should our football team do well, we will experience a brief moment of joy. Give us light and we will escape for a while. Give us a growing economy and we will hustle our way to prosperity. Give us Christmas and we will travel abroad or go to our home towns. Give us propaganda and we will interpret it as good news. Give us religion and we will be miraculously delivered from poverty, sickness and enemies.
But here’s the problem.
Nowadays, our national football team suffers at the hands of corrupt institutions that neither prepare them for success nor rewards them when they succeed. We have no light because our power reforms are inhibited and not as expansive as they should be. We had no Christmas because the recession wiped out our disposable income. We were also threatened with fuel strikes and the inevitable queues that tend to follow in the New Year. We have no propaganda because we now get news directly from social media and it’s hard for government officials to obfuscate when their posturing is caught on camera. We have no miracles because some religious leaders have poisoned the pool of Bethesda, in greed. They are power drunk from the wine at Cana. Now, the people are jaded and lack faith.
When we try to complain and protest, we run the risk of being shut down by men more powerful than we are. Nigeria, where is our hope? Why do you consistently excel at pillaging it? Why do you kill our young? Why do you limit expression and innovation? Why do you keep us trapped in this unending cycle of one step forward and two steps back?
Where is our hope supposed to come from now? We are empty. We are tired.
Nigerians are tired and have been emptied of hope. Click To Tweet Nigeria seems trapped in an unending cycle of one step forward & two steps back. Click To Tweet