It’s mine or none

‘Wa alaikumus salam,’ I replied rising up to welcome her. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’ I added reaching out to carry the baby she held in her arms.‘Yes, I just knocked and then let myself in when I found out the door was unlocked.’ Aliya replied before she knelt down to greet me. ‘Good […]

‘Wa alaikumus salam,’ I replied rising up to welcome her. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’ I added reaching out to carry the baby she held in her arms.
‘Yes, I just knocked and then let myself in when I found out the door was unlocked.’ Aliya replied before she knelt down to greet me. ‘Good morning Aunty, how is weekend?’
‘Alhamdulillah, everything is fine. Please rise up and take a seat.
Where is your husband?’ I asked.
‘He had to take a call the moment we stopped here. He has been monitoring his party’s progress and someone just called to give him a feedback.’ She answered.
‘I suppose you two have already voted, haven’t you?’ I enquired, sitting next to her on the settee.
‘No Aunty, I haven’t but he had.’ Aliya replied.
‘Well how come? Didn’t you get your permanent voter’s card (PVC)?’ I asked.
‘I did but Habu confiscated it last night.’ She revealed, sadly.
‘What? And why would he do that?’ I demanded.
‘Because he said I should either vote for his party or not vote at all.’ Aliya explained.
‘Really? I had no idea Habu can be so dictatorial.’ I observed, handing her the baby. ‘Let me get you some tea and snacks, you know nursing mothers have to always keep their tank full.’ I joked, in spite of myself.
‘I am not being dictatorial Aunty Bint,’ Habu chipped in from the door way, ‘I was only being realistic.’
‘And what is realistic about forcing your wife to vote for people she doesn’t wish to elect?’ I asked, stopping from my mission of getting her some food, in order to reply him.
‘Our reality is that these same people she doesn’t wish to elect have been putting food on our table for the last four years. Ever since I became the youth wing leader, everything I own I got through my association with this party. The house we live in, our two luxury cars, even our wedding and our honeymoon were sponsored by some party big-wigs.
But when she was collecting their gifts and enjoying their hospitality, Aliya didn’t think there was anything wrong with them. It is now that she was asked to vote for them that she started moralizing about leadership and accountability. Of course I told her that I was not impressed by her sanctimonious morality.’ He concluded.
‘But voting isn’t about showing your loyalty to the party which gave you a job, it is about choosing the people you believe will govern you honestly and competently.’ I responded.
‘Which is what my party has been doing for several years. Why change a winning team if your aspirations are met?’ he asked, rhetorically.
‘But my aspirations are not met and I’d told you that since we started this debate last night.’ Aliya replied. ‘I remember telling you that I will be going against my conscience if I voted your party because I know that it had failed to address the needs and yearnings of most of our people. Maybe you and I are at the receiving end of their largesse because of the position you hold within the party, but how about your brothers, sisters, cousins and friends, don’t they deserve a better life?’ She challenged her husband.
‘Except for you, disloyal wife, everyone related to me has sympathy for my party and that’s what they have voted or will be voting for today. You are the only one who plans to betray me and I won’t give you that chance.’ Habu boasted.
‘Just hear yourself speak,’ I said angrily, ‘how can you talk like this just because you are her husband and have managed to take her PVC away from her? For one, you have no right to force your choice on her.
And as a sane, full-blooded Nigeria adult she is free to elect anyone she chooses, with or without your permission. Finally, there are many among your relatives who will not be voting for your party today. And I am one of them.’ I disclosed.
‘Really Aunty? No wonder she insisted that we should come here straight from the polling booth. She knows she will have your support or can it be that you two have already discussed and are card-carrying members of the opposition party?’ He alleged.
‘Now don’t be ridiculous Habu. You know that you are the only politician around here. We are ordinary people who would like to exercise our civic responsibility of electing leaders we have confidence in. We are not under obligation to support you or your
candidates. Get that straight into your head and give Aliya’s PVC back to her.’ I ordered.
‘But what will it look like Aunty Bint, the wife of the youth wing leader voting for the opposition?’ he queried.
‘And who will know what she voted for if you didn’t tell them? In fact if I were in Aliya’s shoes even you wouldn’t know who I voted for. I could play along with you and then elect the candidate of my choice.’ I declared.
‘Yes, I would have done the same thing too Aunty, if I knew he will take it so hard. I was only trying to be honest with him. So when he began to predict a landslide victory for his party, I cautioned him that there was no guarantee since lots of people were disillusioned with the party’s performance. Habu looked shocked and even offended.
He asked why I said that and I tried to echo the feelings of people outside his political party concerning their kind of governance; you know on corruption, insecurity, unemployment, inflation, youth violence etc. To my great surprise, Habu suddenly lost his cool and began to ask whether I believed all that nonsense. I told him that there was nothing to believe because what people are saying was obvious for all to see.
At this juncture, he went straight to the point and asked whether I was thinking of voting for the opposition. I replied in the affirmative and like a joke he just said ‘Over my dead body.’ The next thing I knew, he was rummaging through my bag, apparently looking for my PVC. By the time he got it he just walked away to his room. This morning he repeated his stand that I will not vote unless I will be electing his party’s candidates.’ Aliya ended.
‘But what she said is the truth Habu. It is obvious for all to see that your party has failed to provide the kind of governance needed to move our country forward. If only you will come out of your loyalty blinkers, you will realize that the way things are going, you wouldn’t want your two children to be brought up in this country in the next few years. But whenever you are blinded by party loyalty, remember this little baby and his three year old sister and ask yourself if you want them brought up in a failed nation. They deserve better, they deserve the safety and security you knew as a child and maybe only a major change can give them that.’ I advised.
‘Thanks Aunty, that’s what I was trying to say but he wouldn’t understand me.’ Aliya concurred.
‘I was just trying to get you to remain loyal to our party, my source of livelihood. ‘Habu repeated weakly.
‘So it’s still about what you make from this party, isn’t it?’ I asked, making my way to the kitchen, ‘Let me get you two some snacks, and by the time I return, Habu, I want to see Aliya’s PVC in her hand.
She will elect the politicians of her choice, not yours.’ I insisted.