The notion that individual’s choice of a political candidate should not be questioned simply because it is their democratic right, is a very silly notion. Puerile, even! The sheer illogicality of that logic smells to high heavens.
Your right to choose a candidate to support is not immune to criticism. And considering that the consequences of whatever choice you make will not be limited to you alone, the people who are going to be affected by that choice of yours reserve the right, inalienable right, I must add, to react to your choice in whatever form, shape or manner they deem fit as long as they don’t PHYSICALLY attack you.
I mean, you cannot, for whatever reason, DELIBERATELY elect to support a candidate that deep down, you know is unfit for the job and expect the people who will suffer the consequences of your choice to roll out the drum and sing Kumbaya for you. With Muhammadu Buhari, we’ve seen how a wrong choice of a candidate can put an entire country into a fundamentally grave existential crisis.
Some of these people who complain of insult each time their choice is questioned are actually manipulators playing some s!ck mind game with the sole aim of shutting people down from questioning their choices which, if truth be told, are largely induced by INTESTINAL CONSIDERATIONS. Some of them even go as far as using fake social media accounts to send a threat to their inbox so they could screenshot same and share online as evidence that the young people who are merely fighting for their future, are abusive. Some spend more time disparaging the candidate of the youths instead of selling their own candidate only to start complaining when the people whose candidate they are denigrating come to give them their deserved response.
Let us even assume while not conceding, of course, that the youths are fighting for their future in an abusive way, who will live in a country like Nigeria under the past 7 years of the Buhari regime and not be abusive to anyone trying to punish him with another 8 years of a Buhari-like regime?? Who?
Let me be very clear, if, for instance, an adult is m£ntally-barr£n enough to publicly announce that he is supporting a particular unfit candidate simply because he paid his school fees or medical bill sometime in the past, I am well within my right to freedom of speech to call that adult a fuulish idjiot for trying to use the destiny of over 200 million people to pay back a personal favor. And this would not be me being abusive. On the contrary, the abusive one is the m0r0n who think the chance of over 200 million people to elect a govt that will create the enabling environment for them to live a decent life and afford the most basic services a responsible govt ought to provide, should be sacrificed just so he could get to pay back a personal favor.
This is the same country where young unarmed defenceless Nigerians were massacred by the military that exists to protect them and this massacre took place while the victims were SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM WHILE WAVING THE NATIONAL FLAG; something that ought to be classified as TREASON against the very soul and heart of this thing masquerading as a nation. And you blame these people for being angry at those trying to cur$e them with the same people who murdered them and defended and justified their murder??
The truth is, the OBI-DIENT MOVEMENT is a very peaceful and very organized movement peopled mainly by people who have had enough and are willing to use whatever they have to fight for their life with SUICIDAL DEFIANCE. Just like that RIGHTEOUS and noble movement that was EndSars, this current movement is self-motivated, self-funded and on AUTO-PILOT. But unlike EndSars, the Obi-dient movement is currently spreading like wild fire in the North. Truth be told, The #Arewa4Obi rally yesterday surpassed the expectations of even the organizers.
If the Nigerian establishment and political elites have even the littlest ounce of intelligence, instead of fighting to discredit the OBI-DIENT MOVEMENT with puerile lies and low budget propaganda, using their political alleluya boys like Reno Omokri, Dino Melaye etc, they should be doing some real DEEP INTROSPECTION. This ought to be a perfect opportunity for SOBER REFLECTION for them. They should be asking questions like;
How did one man, Mr. Peter Obi managed to inspire this high level of hope in millions of young people from East, West, South and North? What is so special about this man that Nigerian youths are using their own money to campaign for him and give him those services for which other Presidential candidates are looking for who to pay in hard currency for?? Who is this man that has effortlessly changed our politics to the point that, for the very first time in our election cycle, we are witnessing a campaign period where politicians and their spouses are not going about frying akara, jumping on okada and eating amala and ewedu or corn in front of camera just to show faux camaraderie and ‘street credibility’.
I wish all of us followed that Twitter Space hosted by the irrepressible David Hundeyin which lasted for almost 24 hours and featured thousandS of young people recounting what they’ve lost (loved ones, family, life-changing opportunities etc) under Buhari’s regime. Then, some of you would understand that the people who hide under “it is my right” to knowingly foist a bad govt on you are your w0rst £n£mies who should be treated as such.
(Twitter@RealCharlesOgbu)
