by Adedapo Adebajo

True democracy negates the monopoly of power by one party. 

Sixteen years ago I was a teenager on the cusp of puberty when democracy was re-installed after a long spate of military rule, coups and counter coups. I can still remember the elation on people’s faces and how my dad couldn’t stop talking about a glorious future for Nigeria and this new dawn that made his eyes shine. He was not alone in this. The fire of optimism raged through us all. Nigeria was an ailing country and democracy was to be the panacea. We all hoped we would have accountable leaders, due process, infrastructure, employment opportunities and the economy itself would be on an upward trajectory.

Today, I am in my late twenties and that gob of hope I once saw as an adolescent had been shredded to minims. The confidence that we had about the future of this country has been eroded over time. The fact is that, nothing much has changed between 1999 and 2015, and that realization has left my heart in shards.

Power supply remains erratic and despite the privatization of that sector, the 16-year rule of the PDP could not bring the sector out of its comatose situation. The epileptic supply of power that has besieged us for years still torments us on a daily basis till date. I remember studying for my WAEC exams with candles and here I am today, writing this piece with a generator-powered laptop. That’s not the type of progress any citizen of a country yearns for.

As it is now, the tentacles of corruption has reached into every nook and cranny of people’s lives. We are yet to unhook the country from the shackles of poverty despite the economy being the largest in Africa. The crop of visionless leaders that have graced public offices for the past 16 years have been nothing but money-laundering experts who have passionately raped the economy of this country without any modicum of conscience.

The PDP government of 16 years has enriched more politicians than the average Nigerian. Suffice is to say they have made Nigeria an elitist country where only the political elites can thrive while the masses have been left to fend for themselves.

During my brief academic stint abroad, I met many Nigerians who had lived in diaspora for many years, laboring away and doing menial jobs to make ends meet. Their own birth country had failed them and survival within the shores of their motherland was no longer a conceivable thought.

With the constant rise in youth unemployment, the crippling nature of the educational sector and the bad state of our hospitals, it becomes clearer by the day that the PDP government cannot transform the country into the great Nigeria I hoped for as a teenager. The Jonathan administration has proved to be adept at misappropriating public funds, abetting corruption and mismanaging society’s resources.

Thanks to PDP, the stench of regression that has filled our political atmosphere for 16 years is now ominous to our social well-being. The present administration once promised a breath of fresh air but their toxic inefficient leadership has done nothing but suffocate us and we have had enough. Change is imperative.

For many decades, Nigerians have been strangers to good governance. We won’t even know what good governance tastes like if it was served as a dish. Buhari gives that fresh hope of good governance if elected. The former military ruler is known for his incorruptibility and at his age, material acquisition won’t be of paramount importance to him. His wealth of military experience would also help in proffering solutions to the security issue. Besides, we might eventually have a couth first lady that won’t constitute an embarrassment to the nation every time she speaks. Our daughters deserve a well-refined female for a role model.

The 2015 Presidential election will hold on the 28^th of Mrach and as far as I am concerned, it is not just an election. It is a date with destiny…the destiny of this nation. It is an opportunity to end the tumultuous marriage between Nigeria and PDP, a sixteen-year unholy matrimony that has been enmeshed in deceit, lies and hardship.

True democracy negates the monopoly of power by one party.

Vote wisely.

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– Adedapo Adebajo is a brand consultant. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

 
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.