The proverbial lizard, by Aliu S. Momodu

A lizard that disturbs his father’s funeral should be ready to carry the coffin on his head for burial. That was what happened to the Osun APC governor Aregbesola.

Osun people have spoken. Party affiliations are no longer guarantees for winning elections. Apart from voting against an underperforming politician, there is also need to defend the votes to avoid them being doctored. That will serve as a deterrent to our indolent leaders who will be kept on their toes.

The idea of automatic pass for the flamboyant and shiftless leaders should be resisted by Nigerians by whatever means. There is need for credible Nigerians to be elected to take over the affairs of this country. How on earth can one imagine a worker not receiving salaries for eight months in a row. How does such worker feed and cloth his family? How does he pay his children’s school fees? How does he take care of his and his children’s medical bills.

In the Arabian revolution we all should learn a lesson. I used the word we because the revolution that led to incarceration and death of powerful potentates of the past was a lesson to both the leaders and the led. The revolution served as a lesson to African leaders who never thought a little boy could trigger off a revolution of a mammoth scale the like of which was witnessed in the entire Arabian Peninsular.

It all started with the people of Tunisia going through excruciating economic pains while their leaders were insouciant to the plights of the people. Muhammed, a mere child who ordinarily would be dismissed as a cypher from a very humble background went out on a fateful day to sell vegetables which was the only source of sustenance for the family. At the gate of the local authority, his vegetables were thrown down and ravaged by a careless but pompous security agent. To the arrogant officer, that day was like any other day in Tunisia. The little boy wept profusely and bitterly as there was no other source of sustenance for the family that day. Out of frustration, the little boy went home and returned with a keg of fuel with which he incinerated himself to death – a revolution had started which swept through the length and breadth of North Africa. Today Gadafi is no more, Husni Mubarak is in prison, Assad is facing straitened political circumstances for survival in far away Syria. In that is a lesson for men of understanding.

Nigeria has, since independence, experienced too much indolence and insouciance in the corridors of power. That is why we have not developed beyond the level we are. Committing to a political party and federal character has done us much evil than good. That is why some nincompoops would wake up one morning to vie for leadership in this country. It is high time everything that has the characteristic(s) of zoning or favouritism should be jettisoned in our political system.

Today, the results of Osun governorship election have been announced. The APC was not ordinarily, supposed to struggle for victory but for the ineptitude of the incumbent APC Governor. The people of Osun State were no fools. It would have been the greatest miracle on earth had APC won that election.

What happened in the state of Osun is a lesson to our political leaders. The people of Osun made a quiet statement. The people of Arabia made a violent statement. May the Nigerian people not find it necessary to make a similar statement that the Arabian people made.

To avoid a situation akin to that of Arabia, there is need for caution. Election results must be announced exactly according to votes cast. INEC must continue to carry out its constitutional role of an unbiased umpire. Every contestant must accept the true results as a statement made by the people. That is imperative because any attempt to subvert the wish of the people may lead to anarchy and chaos.

In the Osun election there is a lesson for men of understanding – merit is the ticket for reelection. The Nigerian electorates have set a new rule for the game. That rule supersedes any other law and must be adhered to by all players – if you refuse to perform, you get booted out.

*Momodu wrote from Lagos.