Please don’t repeat the same mistake on Saturday ..

I want us to forget, for a moment, the people who created the problems that brought us to our knees. Forget the people who did and said silly things after the whiteman left, forget the whiteman and the very bad things he did, the way he may or may not have set us up to fail. Forget, for just today, the people who triggered the crisis, who provoked the war, who fought the war and those who survived but never left the battle fields.

I say forget the frauds that trigerred the purge that led to the destruction of our civil service, forget the corruption that is now our way of life and the soldiers that made it so, forget the politicians that couldn’t keep it together and the losers that brought back the soldiers. Forget, for a day, the collaborators that helped the soldiers finish what was left of civility.

Let’s us forget about the Bubus, ignore Ojukwu wanna bes, pretend there are no bullions on Bourdillons.

You nko?

Have you spoken up against the people close to you who are removing bolts from the worn-out engine of our common wealth? Have you turned down their gifts, avoided their homes, rejected their blood stained tithes and stolen. zakat?

Yes, you.

So are you going to sit down and watch these people, the same ones you refer to in derogatory terms, decide who will direct the affairs of your community for the next four years while you keep telling yourself local governments are not important? You will vet your mechanic over and over and conduct multiple interviews before recruiting a driver but to come out and change the leadership of your local government is too much wahala.

And you tell yourself it doesn’t matter but you will end up coming out twelve times a year for damage control, to salvage your street or the affairs of your gated community because you allowed a failed tout or a roadside mechanic to become your Counsellor and a funny character from a comedy show your local government chairman.

After that you will come here and type and tweet and repeat the same criticisms that failed to move aso rock in the years past hoping it will clear the drains on your street or fix the potholes that will wreck your car.

Yes, me and you.

Because our mama called us royalty no mean say we no go enter sun vote, because we don vote no mean say our work do finish. Na we go still knock doors from street to street like black Obama until the door of the White House cracks open. No text or tweet nor tik nor talk can change the system, you cannot critic those beyond redemption into transformers, you cannot make a man or woman give more than they have to give.

And you may share or like or even dislike this message, you may even disapprove of the messenger but really and truly that too won’t change who will decide the fate of your community in the next four years.

Voting will. And it’s not too late.

AS.