EDITORIAL: Are You Better Off Today Than You Were?
There are marked similarities between what is happening in Nigeria today and the electoral contest. A relatively unknown Governor of a back water state, Bill Clinton and incumbent of the United States of America (USA), George Bush the elder.
The relatively unknown Bill Clinton was roughly 20 points behind the incumbent President.
Then came the game changer. Clinton’s political strategist, Jim Carville turned things on his head with the question “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
The rest is history, Clinton closed the gap within days and went in to win the election. At this critical juncture, those offering an alternative to the current helplessness must ask the same question of Nigerians.
This is whether Nigerians are better off?
The question must be the issue in the forthcoming Presidential election. It is obvious that this question is inconvenient for the defenders of the established order. Not surprisingly, all manners of antics are being used to make sure that the game-changing question is not asked. This is why we are seeing theatrics being brought into play in the court and every form of diversionary side show is being deployed.
For example, flying against the face of reality the Secretary to Federal Government of Nigeria, George Akume stated without providing even rudimentary data that the intensity of the insurgency is going down.The fellow has seems been laughed out of court, nevertheless this is a very disturbing example of dilutions induced by a refusal to face reality.
In the face of a daunting reality this is very dangerous and should be called out.
It also shows that the defenders of the establishment know that the current of public opinion is not in their direction. As the American singer and Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan stated at the beginning of tumultuous 19-60 “You do not need a weather man to tell you which way the wind is blowing.”
Nigerians do not need to be told that the rain is beating them hard. For a start everyday there are horror stories coming from killing fields. Plateau this morning, Zamfara in the afternoon, Benue in the evening. Embassies continue to issue warnings to their citizens concerning their safety in certain parts of the country.
George Akume cannot distort reality because nobody will believe him. Nigerians are also facing the worst cost-of-existence crisis in living memory, Living standard as well as Purchasing-Power-Paritand Plunging and school children care trekking to school because their parent simply do not have enough for transportation.
It was not like this even during colonial times.
The Republic is in a state of dysfunction and upheaval which is why the question must be hope forward and answered
“ARE YOU BETTER OFF TODAY THAN YOU WERE?”
The present federal government must find better answers to this now.
