“Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”
Even by PDP standards, what happened in rivers in the last elections is nothing but criminal. The Rivers election personified the impunity and desperation under the regime of ex President Jonathan. Had he won the re election, the permutations conjured up by the riverside thugs in political garb would have stand and heaven will not fall.
The rivers election is a shame of our electoral system. It is an indictment of our political elites and the complicity of our loud mouthed activists who only react to issues rather than respond. Their reactionary tendencies and their ability to spin words to weave their thread of moral disconnect is as legendary as their lack of integrity.
The political class is talking from all sides of their mouth. PDP will have us believe that Osun election was fraudulent and rigged, but Rivers’ was free and fair and that any attempt at investigating or upturn it is a rape of people mandate. The APC would want us to believe all was perfect, while the smaller parties and in their small-mindedness would only tag along the path that give them visibility. In this clime, people hardly earn fame by being honest while good news barely sells. This leaves them the option to tag along the path of controversies and it is damn working. If you doubt it, just stir a controversy and you will become (in)famous if you hit the right cord. The press will turn you house into Mecca.
The APC should be careful in handling the rivers electoral crisis. There comes a time when saints must concede a little ground for the sinners, in order to avoid anarchy that would be unleashed by the demons that have nothing to lose. The society responds not to reason and logic but to mob mentality. It is much like destroy first, reason later.
The Rivers people should also understand they are being played like chess game by desperate elements. They should say no to violence while the youths should see the bold handwriting on the wall. This is not a fight in their interest but a fight for power.
Governor’s election was voided already and now the speaker election upturned along with the 20 of the members of the house whose elections were voided and ordered to re-run, the stage may be set for a stage of emergency in Rivers if not well managed... 90 days without government is no joke. How the hawks and vultures handle this is a concern to all Nigeria. It used to be Wild, Wild West, but it seems the tide is shifting to the south.
While the judgment is a good one for the country and to deter future occurrence of such impunity, The “managers” of Nigeria should be told the words of Robert Frost “Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.” For, in words of Craig D. Lounsbrough “To be careless in making decisions is to naively believe that a single decision impacts nothing more than that single decision, for a single decision can spawn a thousand others that were entirely unnecessary or it can bring peace to a thousand places we never knew existed.”
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