Open Letter to All Progressives Congress

I sat on the floor of my son’s room, in tears. It was supposed to be a good day because I had invested resources in an election that meant a lot to me, and the numbers coming in meant change – electoral defeat of the incumbent President – was certain. “This is just the beginning of change,” I whispered in my soliloquy. “This new president must not mess up, we can’t afford to go through this again soon,” I heard myself say as I tried hard to keep my sobs as quiet as possible.
Days later, we are seeing a similar scenario in many states across Nigeria. In fact, in one of the states the incumbent was so thrashed people were suggesting he hand over immediately. Even though we half-jokingly announced a #Trolling Window, an opportunity for those who invested heavily in change to celebrate the hard-earned victory, supporters of the former ruling party accused us of gloating. It was funny but in the midst of the 140-character euphoria, there was the constant reminder that work is only just starting.
Our preferred candidates, who have promised to work for change, have been ushered into a different era by the words of the incoming President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd): “We will not be a ruling party, but a governing party.” In states across Nigeria, and in Abuja, the Governing Party (and fast-depleting former largest party in Africa) will inherit a divided country and weak economy. The work of rebuilding Nigeria will be so tough that they’ll ask themselves from time to time: “why did I work so hard to inherit this?
At the end of the day, elections happen to be a game of numbers, and thanks to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Permanent Voters’ Cards slashed what used to be padded numbers off the result sheets. What looks like further voter apathy can actually be traced to a cleaner voters register, threat of punishment for PVC-related offences and the fact that previous voter turnout percentages included fraudulent numbers that danced to the tune of rigging machines. INEC’s card reading machines sang a different tune in 2015.
It must also be said that while citizen’s interests did not translate into voter turnout as much as was expected for 2015’s all-important elections, it shaped opinion. As eloquently described by Oby Ezekwesili, “the Office of the Citizen is now the highest office in Nigeria”. Social media, which has been praised by enthusiasts and knocked by others, was a major battleground for Nigeria’s 2015 general elections. We sadly lost some lives, no thanks to the philosophy of “win by all means necessary” but most of the battles were fought on social media timelines, on air and, to some extent, in debates (including proxy debates). At the end of the day, the message of ‘change’ rang through and in states where the governor (or party) showed competence in the past 4 to 8 years, they have been rewarded with victory. However, while winning an election would make a politician occupy office, only performance will keep them there. The Nigerian electorate is maturing and the 2019 elections will see upsets for those who win today but refuse to move a muscle towards required work. The likes of Muhammadu Buhari and Nasir El-Rufai, who rode the wave of change and promise of competence, know they have to perform or face electoral defeat in 2019. The same goes for the likes of Akunwunmi Ambode, who benefited from the hard work put in by the outgoing governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola.