Naij.com Reader Says 2015 Elections Should Become Turning Point For Nigeria

Legit.ng guest writer Alexander wonders if the 2015 general elections will bring any positive changes to Nigeria.

Our country is already holding her breath in anticipation. According to the official INEC schedule, political parties are to commence their campaigns in October 2014, with the exercise culminating on February 14, 2015 when Presidential elections are scheduled to be held.

"The year 2015 is going to be a unique one, a pregnant one indeed, one that will ultimately give birth to many developments," Alexander wrote to info@naij.com.

"For example, the International Telecommunications Union had set the 17th of June 2015 as the date to make a global switch-over from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial transmission. It is in that same year when world leaders unanimously agreed to complete the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.

"In Nigeria, one thing that should engage the attention of its citizens is the 2015 general elections. So many developments are unfolding as the countdown to 2015 gathers momentum.

"It is a year of paradigm shift in the political terrain. It is a year of blessing or curse depending on how the masses make use of it.

"It is a year that the citizenry, departments, ministries, agencies, parastatals, media and security outfits will be actively engaged in the promotion or demotion of democracy.

"It is a year that marks an end to the current political dispensation and ushers the dawn of a new era.

"It is indeed a year that non-performing politicians will be voted out of leadership positions and new ones with fresh ideas voted in to further the democratization processes.

"The challenges of Nigeria are enormous.

"Our leaders by their very actions, inactions, inflammatory utterances, obnoxious policies, poverty of ideas, brazen political rascality have sent signals that the 2015 political year could be a dangerous and utterly fruitless one.

"The wanton killings and bloodshed in the North-Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa for political and religious reasons by Boko Haram and the crisis tearing political parties apart are clear examples.

"The firing of salvos, wild criticisms, condemnations, verbal attacks and the cold war brewing between the North and South over who becomes the next president are also complicating issues and injuring democracy.

"Last week, an assassination attempt on the life of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, an APC presidential hopeful, was executed in Kaduna. And, according to the presidency, if the suicide bomber had succeeded in eliminating Gen. Buhari's life, Nigeria would have been torn and enmeshed in religious, ethnic and political crises.

"It is too bad that lives are not in anyway valued in this country.

"A situation where Boko Haram insurgents will storm a community in a large convoy of vehicles with dangerous and sophisticated weapons to kill, and kill, and kill with impunity, soak as much blood as possible of innocent civilians and security agents is not only callous, wicked, satanic, senseless, barbaric, condemnable, unacceptable and evil but also continues to deform Nigeria's image at the international scene.

"If hands are not urgently put on deck and conscious efforts made to check this evil and flush the perpetrators to the bottomless pit, Nigeria will be in total ruins.

"Instead, 2015 election should be a year of turning point. A year of sober reflection. A year that we've got to come together as Nigerians, defy the challenges, mould strong blocks to build a new nation anchored on peace and tranquillity, unity and solidarity, democracy dividends, good governance, rule of law and humanitarian aid for the less privileged.

"It is too painful seeing our brothers and sisters killed in the North and over 8 thousand of them fleeing across the border as refugees to neighbouring countries.

"May this country change for the better. As Nigerians prepare to go to the polls in 2015 to elect new leaders, let us be motivated by the remarks of Frantz Fanon [Martinique-born Afro-French psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and writer] who said: "Every generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission whether to betray it or fulfil it."

"We must discover and reach our full potential as a nation and do away with things that are fruitless and unhealthy for our democracy. I'm buoyed with optimism that Nigeria will change and attain the golden era we all desire.

"God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria."

Time flies, and 2015 is approaching fast, with its political campaigns, tensions and anticipations. Are you looking forward to the day when a new page in the Nigeria's history book will be turned? What are you expecting from the elections come 2015?

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Source: Legit.ng