Putting impunity in check

The card reader was used to authenticate those with voter card and more importantly, those accredited and therefore the number of people that are likely to vote. Those cannot exceed the number of the accredited voters.As such, rigging was largely eliminated, we no longer have outrageous millions of votes from places where in 2011 there […]

The card reader was used to authenticate those with voter card and more importantly, those accredited and therefore the number of people that are likely to vote. Those cannot exceed the number of the accredited voters.
As such, rigging was largely eliminated, we no longer have outrageous millions of votes from places where in 2011 there was low turnout of voters, but millions were churned out as having been won by President Goodluck  Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
For Example in Imo State in 2011, President Jonathan of the PDP got 1,406,289, but in this election, he got 559,185. The state has 1,747681 registered voters and the number of accredited voters is 801,712. In Enugu State, in 2011 Jonathan got 882,144. The state has 1,381,563 registered voters, while the number of accredited voters is 616,112 and the  PDP got 553,003.
Also in Plateau State, in 2011 President Jonathan of the PDP got 1,029,809 votes. However, as seen from the above examples it was a different story entirely in this year’s election. It has a number of registered voters of 1,977,211 and the number of accredited voters is 1,076,833. The PDP got 549,615.
When some experts at one television station among the discussants pointed out that it was not possible to have very high percentage of voters, they were blocked out.
Well that was then and the card reader has become ‘the last hope of the common man.’ Politicians have no conscience where people were only mobilized to queue for election under the sun or rain, as the case may be, knowing that they have already written out the result.
So all along they have taken people for granted, having known that the people’s votes wouldn’t count. What they actually wanted was for the people to come out to play in the charade so that the whole world would see that Nigerians have gone out to ‘vote’.
That is why many people have since stopped the so-called voting, knowing that their vote would not be counted.
However, with the card reader, the Nigerian people have reclaimed their mandate to have a say in their destiny. Unlike previously where they were rigged massively and then to add insult to injury, they were not expected to protest.
Even though in one of his gaffes, President Goodluck Jonathan said rigging did not cause violence (post-election), but rather the violence was caused by politicians’ utterances during the peace accord. Haba, Mr President!
People are fond of saying that in Nigeria anybody that loses election would not accept that, but if the election is seen to be free, fair and credible, people would accept defeat, but not when you are rigged out by manipulating the result and many other things that make the election not to be free.
General Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC) won by over 15million votes and President Jonathan got over 12 million votes.
What this election has shown is that any government that does not perform and work for the good of the people it claims to represent, those very people will vote it out and rejoice with a carnival like they just did in this election.
There was festive mood, people came out in the street, celebrating, dancing, hugging, back slapping, giving out drinks, food, money and so on.
I have never seen electoral victory celebrated with such fanfare, to tell the truth, I have never seen one celebrated in the street.
Even in the 2011 election, when President Jonathan won by over 22million and General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)   got over 12 million, there was no celebration by the common man in the street. In fact there was a pall, as if something ominous had fallen over the land.
Pray, why didn’t’ those millions come out and celebrate, something must be wrong definitely.
In any case, God has restored the dignity of the ordinary Nigerian people and rescued them from the clutches  of  politicians and the so-called ruling class that have taken them hostage for so long.
The politicians can begin to respect the people and take them seriously. They now know that the voter has his worth, and it is not a package of gari, sugar and groundnut, it is not  N1000 or N500.  And many degrading items that are an insult to  the sensibility of the voter.
No sir, the voter cannot be taken for granted any longer, and therefore the impunity of  ‘I must win this election whether you like it or not’ is not tenable under the ‘regime’ of card reader.
Politicians have to earn their votes through their performance. If they are tried and they do well, they can be voted again, but if they fail, they can be rejected and people would go out and celebrate the liberty that has given them the power to unseat a sitting government and heavens would not fall, as we were made to believe.
The voice of ordinary people have been heard at last, but only made possible with the card reader. The incoming government of General Muahmmadu Buahar should take note, the Nigerian people are the true ‘leaders’.