POSTERS, JINGLES, WHISPERS AND FACELESS gods

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It is no news that a new electoral period is knocking on the door with faint silent knuckles. As all the stallites already know, this is a time whereby ear-catching jingles become the alarm that wakes us prematurely to the light of the infant day. It is the time when the people who never looked your way before would warm up to you, hug you and strike a quick chit-chat with you with such creepy air of proclivity. It is the time when students lavish the awesome magic of Photoshop unto their rough bumpy faces and become flawless beauties on posters all around campus. That is not all.

This yearly SU elections also hones the creativity of the aspirants, giving them freedom to grace us with the sweetest stories from their stack of fairy tales. They will promise ATMs in all hostels, eternal water and power supply, eradication of theft and so on.

This is the period where the faceless rarely-known-but-highly-influential godfathers come to the fore. They control the affairs of the elections and use the aspirants as puppets to push their selfish agenda. We see aspirants whoring up to students who wield influence. Some of these students are in the limelight. They could be past politicians or even celebrated pressmen on campus. There have been reports of the aspirants seeking support in clandestine manners beneath the curtains even before the ban has been lifted. This is outrageous! But this is not the sad part. It is the whispers.

These whispers travel at the speed of light. Rumours and conspiracies are vehicled from one ear to the other by wicked tongues. Scandals are cooked up here and there. The politicians become evil geniuses that plot to harm the reputation of one and another. Students are encouraged -and even convinced- to vote based on ethnicity, religion and most dominant of all, hall membership. There was a sorry case last session, when some students from the great Independence Hall got angry and felt betrayed that some occupants of this hall chose not to vote for the major candidate representing the hall. They felt, for some ridiculous reason, that all the Katangites had the right to vote for only one particular candidate whose name I withhold. I expect more of that to happen this time around. But that does not necessarily mean it should continue.

The development of a nation is not measured in terms of her landmarks or resources but in the light of the youth’s intellectual health. The students of this campus should be the light that guides the society into a culture of rationality. But this is not the case. We engage in activities that shame the name and prestige of this institution. We let godfatherism, character assassination and blonde-brained thinking thrive among us.

If we are truly the future of Nigeria, we should start showing it now. Why should we vote for a candidate on such irrelevant basis? Why should the way I choose to worship God affect your opinion of my ability to work in office? Why should my tribe make you question my leadership traits? Why should gender determine one’s validity for a post? Why don’t we realise that the content of a man’s character is the only thing that defines him? Why do we keep making these sorry mistakes over and over? Are we not the ever-articulate, rational and boisterous Uites? When did we become like this? What makes us different from illiterate uneducated unprincipled laymen on the street? If we truly are the great Uites we say we are, then we should be wise enough to escape the entangling webs of temptation. We should not vote based on a catch jingle, flashy poster, sweet nickname, good looks, gender, religion, rumours or persuasion from godfathers. Because in the end, none of this saves us from the struggle. #AlutaContinua

•Red Priest

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