Now that Change has come

For as long as I can remember, Nigeria and Nigerians have been divided along ethnic ,tribal and religious lines and as far as I know this scourge is wide-spread and has infected both young and old, men and women, the elites ,the literates and less educated .In every nation of the world there exist differences  of some sort but the intensity with which an average Nigeria stands for a course of something he believes in is sometimes worrisome.

Nigeria has just witnessed one of the most historical presidential elections ever, keenly contested by the incumbent President Jonathan and Gen. Buhari in an extremely tight race.

During this period however, there were a lot of desperate propaganda and campaign which opened several cans of worms. While I did not expressly engage in any campaign, I amassed a wealth of knowledge just reading and observing the opinions of people through it all.In the midst of this learning process, I heard, saw and read a whole lot of despicable things and attitude mostly from some Nigerian Youths-well, probably in a bid to project their candidates image and secure more followers for whatever reason.

The social media as always provided the means for me as it was also one of the most expedient tools the contending parties used .But the level of hate and rivalry displayed daily was quite disheartening. Twitter precisely, had a lot of drama. I sincerely hope the lives of some folks on twitter isn’t a true reflection of who they are.

I frequented this platform and there was not a day a fight did not ensue between the supporters of different parties. I noticed there were three groups of people- The warlords – are very popular and influential on social media .These people are sleek and savvy with words, sometimes they could twist a simple story/tweet to stir up an argument or fight. The Blind followers -most of these people engage vehemently in twit-fights and I honestly think most times did not even know or understand the basis of the argument but will nonetheless engage and hurl insults at their perceived opponents.  The carefree-I think I belonged in this group. Lol! We excitedly trolled the twitter handles of interesting folks or news outlets to retweet and favourite the ones that amused or appealed to us.

While some people supported their candidates based on their conviction in his/her competency to transform or move the nation forward, some on the other hand were influenced maximally by ethnic and religious sentiments. These two factors shaped a greater part of the election creating a division in the process whether or not we agree with that. We thew caution to the wind and splurged in this division, the world views us as such and daily a fresh seed of discord is been planted in us.

On April 1 2015, the twitter handle of the Christian Broadcasting Network to my dismay wrote an article titled  ‘Muslim candidate beats Christian in Nigerian presidential election, NOW WHAT?’ Any right thinking person will agree that this tweet is undoubtedly very offensive and inciteful.

Now, what is the difference between the ‘intent’ of this tweet and someone who would counsel you on why as a Christian you shouldn’t vote a Muslim and vice versa? I am not good with arguments, particularly on religious issues but I am a Christian and I know that the bible is not tolerant of evil. Yes, that’s how I categorised this tweet in all its intent and purpose-it is evil and malevolent- especially to a country that is very sensitive to such issues.

But do you blame the writers of this article for classifying us as thus? Regrettably, this is one of the many perceptions the world has about us. The international media in particular thrive on the characterization; Christian south & Muslim north because we let them, we indulge in the division. We feel no pang of guilt when we unashamedly lend a helping hand to our ‘Muslim Brother’ and ignore the ‘Christian Brother’ and vice versa.

This issue and more came to play in the course of these elections. A lot of people, (I inclusive) were literally persecuted and condemned for supporting candidates that were not of our religious or ethnic affiliation. Some went further in skewing and misquoting the Holy Books to suit their tribal and religious bigotry. How long do we intend to continue in that line?

Whether or not you agree, we all have an element of religious or tribal bias in us but can we move on please? Nigeria is bigger than a group of people; this year’s election has signaled a Change, a fresh start that Nigerians have clamoured for.

We cannot afford to continue to revel in disunity and all sorts of bigotry. We have had a tough past, yes,wars have been fought abd lives have been lost, so also our integrity in the global sphere has withered. Religious and ethnic tolerance is now the order of the day. While there cannot be a 100 good people, you can make certain that you are one of them.

Change is here, let it begin with you.