Looking back at what transpired on Saturday during the Local Government and Councilors elections in my state, I feel pained at the fact that a Professor cannot effectively conduct a credible election in his state.
I’m particularly pained at what happened in one of the Wards in Nnewi where a physically challenged guy put himself forward to represent his people as a Councilor and the guy kept giving updates on the election day and showed evidence that what happened on the day was a charade. They eventually used tear gas on him and the rest is history.
If the government of the day wanted to write results because other states are doing that, they shouldn’t have allowed these young fellows to waste their time and resources pursuing what never existed in the first place.
What is the essence of going to school if our being educated cannot help us do things differently? Why should we even bother to send our children to our universities if their Lecturers after teaching for so long in the university will enter the political terrain and behave like an illiterate agbero?
If elections conducted at the grassroots can be this marred with glaring irregularities, what hope do we give the people that the beneficiaries will be accountable to the people. If the young man that won a seat as a Councilor is made to believe that he only needs to belong to the right political party and be a sycophant to the powers that be for him to win an election, what kind of society are we building?
My pain is that we are destroying the society we are supposed to be building. My pain is that those that won in this election may not care to serve the people as they know they did not have the mandate of the people.
My pain is that this nonsense is happening under the watch of somebody I trusted to do things differently. My pain is that if the academia cannot produce men that can change the status quo in our clime, where else do we turn to?
Thank God I did not waste my time and resources attending your so called Institutions of Higher Learning that cannot produce people with character and integrity who will be committed to doing things decently and differently for posterity sake.
Bishop Ndubuisi Obi
