THE appeal to Muhammadu Buhari, the President and Commander-in-Chief to play his constitutional role by forthrightly leading the armed forces to provide adequate security for the electorate in the 2023 elections is indeed only a mark of respect. 

In a civilised society, the President has no choice but to perform his constitutional duties. After all, history all over the world has shown that the power of the people always ultimately prevails, no matter how long it takes.

With the events of the past seven and half years Buhari can only but agree with the late Maitama Sule who told Buhari in 2015 during an event organised to congratulate him as President-elect, that: “The world itself cannot be governed by force; never by fear; even never by power. 

In the end, what governs is divine, what conquers is the spirit. And the weapons of governing the mind and conquering the spirit are justice and fair play.” He added that justice will bring about peace.

Mike Igini was also right in saying that “the fear of the power of the people through the ballot during election is what makes elected leaders pay attention to the needs, concerns and aspirations of citizens and to be accountable”.

His appeals were all well-founded when he admonished his erstwhile constituency, the Electoral Commission, to “stand tall and mighty in the execution of its constitutional mandate to midwife this all-important democratic, free, fair and credible forthcoming elections for the consolidation of our democracy; that the job of an umpire is not for errant people but a public trust that must not be betrayed; that there should be no surrender of the core values of integrity, impartiality, neutrality and professionalism.”

But to preach to politicians, however, “to shun conduct that will undermine the integrity of our elections and to appreciate the level of anger and hunger in the country that has created the level of awareness and eagerness by the people to vote in the forthcoming elections that has never been witnessed in our country”, is like pouring water on banana leaves. It simply will not sink. 

Perhaps not all of them, but majority of the politicians we know in Nigeria will do everything to rig the election. It is up to the people to stand up to them.

As Igini rightly observed: “Whatever we hope for in the future cannot be a gift but something we must work for and achieve. We must invest the time on election day, however inconvenient.” 

Certainly, the ambition of any politician is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, our liberty, survival as Nigerians; but the retention of that power that belongs to the people, however, is worth everything within our powers to give.