Nigeria votes …once again

Once again, Nigeria votes.

Once again, the stories of violence, thuggery, hooliganism and other forms of ignorance-based actions are over the news.

One thing that we can not say once again for is the part played by the electoral body in the whole process.

Despite comments and analysis prior to this round of voting, insinuating or directly accusing the body of being ill-prepared or conniving with the ruling government to subvert the election in their favor, the election was characterized generally by a fair conduct by the electoral body (INEC).

The problems that arose this time, stemmed mainly from the politicians themselves. Their desperation played itself out in various forms. While some of them resorted to snatching ballot boxes, others manhandled election officials or attempted to cause panic among voters so they could take advantage of the chaos to achieve their aims.

The results have not been pleasant in any wise.

The otherwise well organized process has been tainted with these occurrences and is creating an atmosphere which will lead many to question the outcome of the elections.

Many who fall on the wrong side of the voters goodwill will rise to make reference to some of these happenings as the cause of their misfortune. In some cases, some of them are directly responsible for these.

What is important to note is that whether or not the ruling PDP used any calculated means to influence the election, this is minimal compared with the damage done individually by these politicians, many of whom have not been stingy in their accusations towards the PDP in the weeks preceding the elections.

At the end of the day, INEC’s handling of the election has bestowed on the government more respect than it has had in a long while, while the conduct of the various politicians from the other parties has put in clear light that many of them are actually worse than the PDP they had adopted as a common enemy – all they had been missing was the opportunity to reveal their true colors.

It is when men are faced with the desire to actualize dreams they hold strongly that their true colors are seen. It does not matter whether they are of the PDP, or even politicians at all.