Atiku Abubakar & Muhammadu Buhari. |
Dateline: Friday, February 15, 9pm,
Abuja, Area 3 Shopping Plaza.
I dash off to
the petrol station to fill up my tank for the assignment of the much awaited
presidential election of February 16.
On my way home,
I get a call from my dear wife reminding me about buying stuff she needs to
make small chops, which I had elected to share with my fellow voters,
irrespective of which side of the divide they may stand, on the D-Day.
I make a detour for Area 3
Shopping Plaza to purchase the items including bread, butter, sausage, sardine,
eggs and fruits, among others.
My phone rings and I get a tip
off (I am a journalist on sabbatical and my sources are still active and not
lifeless) about the prospectsof postponing the FailBuhari elections. Hell no,
I mutter to myself, can’t return what is already paid for. Moreover there is no
way to confirm if indeed the elections will be postponed. I return home to drop
my shopping. And on learning from a journalist that a meeting of INEC and some “stakeholders” is ongoing at the
headquarters of the commission, I take my leave from home. We meet at a
rendezvous, park my car (and to imagine that the passenger’s car window was
open for the over 6 hours I kept the vigil) and mingle with journalists (those brave men and women who keep the vigil
to ensure that our destiny as a nation is not mortgaged by the “witches” and
“wizard” in some quarters who hold sway while you slumber). I exchange banters
with the journalists around, oblivious of the surreal drama playing
out, as top management of INEC, like thieves in the wee hours of the night; attempt
to break into our national home to subvert our destiny as a nation.
At about midnight, some vehicles
depart from the INEC premises. I try to find out who the occupants of those
cars may be. “Those are conference papers”, one of the journalist close by
volunteers. “Conference papers, what are those?” I ask out of ignorance.
“Editor, you have been a way for too long”, another comrade of the night adds.
Not wearing socks, mosquitoes have a field day feasting on me, but the jokes
and hearty laughs from this confraternity of pen pushers is the antidote to
moments of gloom.
I try to stave off dozing off.
Truly, I have been away for long from the rigours and challenges of hunting
for, and breaking into the news when there’s a news break such as what was unfolding
while the rest of Nigeria slumbers. I have the camaraderie of this group, for
whom sleep has been murdered for the night, to be grateful for. They keep me
energized as we await the outcome of this extraordinary meeting that is bound
to have a marked effect on the 2019 electoral process.
At about 1 am, Yemi Oyekanmi, spokesman of INEC Chairman,
Prof Yakubu Mahmood walks out to announce to the anxious horde of journalists:
“A decision has been reached, but you have to hear it from the horse’s mouth”.
It takes nearly an hour for the
journalists to be ushered into the INEC conference room and the best part of
half an hour for the ‘horse’ (Mahmood) to make it to the ‘stable’ (conference
room).
At 2.40am, yes 2.40am when
prospective voters were either snoring (as I am wont to do) or dreaming of
casting their votes in the morning, Prof. Mahmood drops the bomb: elections
postponed by one week. The presidential and National Assembly elections will now
hold on 23 February while the Governorship and State House of Assembly is
rescheduled for 9 March.
And as soon as Prof Mahmood drops
his microphone, journalists race to file their stories while the INEC
Commissioners race to their cars. It only reminds me of what happens when
someone releases rotten egg-like flatulence (gas) in an enclosed room and
everyone sprints for their dear lives. Perhaps the INEC Chairman’s announcement was noxious and
even those who had invented the toxic gas did not want to inhale of it.
In the ensuing flight out of the
INEC headquarters, one of the National Commissioners walking side by side with
Amina Zakari (a pharmacist versed in the science of mixing chemicals) falls
flat on the ground. And as he lay prostrate face down, I was, for a fleeting
moment, scared that the man is injured from the fall. I discontinue the tweet I am
perfecting, tuck my phone and power bank into my pockets; hands him my two
hands (with the five fingers intact and not the leprous four fingers) and pulls
him to his feet. He dusts himself while Amina Zakari sympathises with
him. He mutters a thank you to me and races for his car.
Is this fall ominous of the fall of Buhari at the
presidential election on 23 February notwithstanding the orchestrations, or
nemesis playing out before me, I reflect. Like many Nigerians, I am outraged at such tardiness and
impunity that is symptomatic of the Gen. Buhari administration. I was still
livid when I stepped into the church Sunday morning. And behold the answers to
my concerns came via the word of God in Galatians 6: 9: “And let us not grow
weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose
heart”.
I
am aware that across this great nation, men and women made incalculable
sacrifices to present themselves at their polling units to cast their votes. I
am aware that this sacrifice has even resulted in the loss of life of some of
our dear friends and loved ones like Jeremiah Kyuni Shuki who died in an auto
accident on his way to Akwanga, Nasarawa State. He was burnt beyond
recognition. It is disappointing that despite all these, the elections were
postponed at the last minute and without any warning by the Buhari
administration.
We
all have good and justifiable reasons to be angry, but my counsel is that we
direct our anger and energy at staying the course in our commitment to retrieve
our country from the hands of the men the wife of president, Aisha Buhari had
alluded to in her alert to the nation.
Dear
compatriots, no matter how pained you may be, I have good news for you:
“weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Mazi
Paul Ibe is Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of PDP and
former Vice President of Nigeria.
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