‘Tribalism is a habit. Chwa-chwa is a habit. Abusing leadership position for personal advantage is a habit. And habits die hard. To change a habit, you need resilience. Plenty resilience. Not cut and paste. Not click and go. But to wake up every morning, and make the same decision, that come what may, you dey’
AT my polling unit on Saturday, after noticing a lot of chwa-chwa, I pushed my way to the front to join others there trying to bring order. Follow the queue. No jumping. You know how it is with us, Nigerians. You have to shout and shove and rage like a lunatic first. You understand? But once we get the message, that the queue is for real, and no one is going to be allowed to jump it, you understand? We align. That is how things started moving fine.
Then a few hours into this, the gate behind me opened and a lady civil defence called me like she had an important message. So, I went inside. She shut the door and said: “Oga, you have tried na. Go and vote. Why are you suffering yourself like this on the queue? Go and vote”.
Before God and man, at that moment, I had a crisis of conscience. To leave the people I had been standing with for hours, or…? Because I had bonded with them. There was this guy in particular who had also stepped up to help push the crowd into line. In fact, we had been standing side by side, guarding the entrance from queue jumpers, when this lady civil defence called me in. I thought of him… And said to the lady civil defence, “Don’t worry. I will wait my turn.”
This was about 4 pm. And I had been there since 8.30. When I returned to my mai-guard work, my guy looked at me and nodded his head. He didn’t really need to say anything. I just knew that he knew what had just happened. From the way he looked at me and nodded, I knew that he knew… And we both went back to managing the queue.
Oya, tell me, how did God reward me for this good work? I will tell you. Not long after turning down the offer to vote and go home, you know what happened? Rain. As in, the type of rain you can call a bastard. I tell you. That is how the line we had labored to form scattered. People pushed past the gate and ran inside. It would take another big effort to re-arrange the line. True. By the time I got to vote, it was 8.30 in the night.
Why do I tell this story? Because the reward for doing good is not always promotion. No. Because this current Nigerian system is resilient. Not so much that we are bad people, but that we have formed some really bad habits. Yes. For Tribalism is a habit. Chwa-chwa is a habit. Abusing leadership position for personal advantage is a habit. And habits die hard. To change a habit, you need resilience. Plenty resilience. Not cut and paste. Not click and go. But to wake up every morning, and make the same decision, that come what may, you dey.
That is my answer. For those that have been asking. My answer is – at all! I have not given up on Nigeria, and the promise she holds, that one day we’ll shine like the… Wait! Why am I even plagiarizing Timi Dakolo? Abeg. You sha get the point. That to be defeated you have to give up. Imagine? That even when victory is not in your hand, not being defeated always is. So, keep a good attitude. And just keep walking.
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