Choosing our president in 2019 . I entreat all of us to take time to study all the aspirants very well before lending our support to anyone of them.
Prior to the advent of Europeans in Africa, it was part of our culture particularly in Yoruba land to consult the Oracle to choose for them who should be king over them. The Oracle itself does not lie but the consultant/ herbalist may lie and chose his preferred candidate. The reason for consulting the Oracle is to know the mind of gods concerning their ruler believing that once they are led by the gods the tenure of the chosen one will be good and profitable. The community will be growing, harvest will be plenty, traders and artisans will make profit. That is if the herbalist reveals the true words of the Oracle.
In the time of the bible , the prophets will anoint who will be king at the direction of God. There are many prophets nowadays that have been blinded by money and gave fake prophecy as to who will be president . God does not lie but fake prophets do when dollar begin to rain they will silence the true spirit of God after all the spirit of prophecy are subject to the prophets. We know this in Nigeria because many prophets give different names of who will be president. Many were put to shame during Trump and Clinton election when many falsely prophesied that Clinton will win.
In the modern age now, it is through the ballot box and the chosen of our leaders is firmly in our hand. Of course we still pray for God to give us the right person to lead us both Christians and Moslems.
Nigerians will pick their President in 2019 and as Jean Jacque Rosseau puts it that ” Freedom is the power to choose our own chains. We are go8ng to choose our chains soon and whether it is Gold chain or Iron chain will depend on the choice we make.
We should all remember how many of us were deceived in the last General election when we believed everything that we were told . Now the politicians are rolling out their manifestos padded with lies and allurement in order to get our votes.
It is not sufficient to rely on the manifestos of parties or individual alone , we need to look at their personalities and pedigrees. We should not succumb to their whim and caprices.
Chief Awolowo stated in 1975 that there is a huge gap and difference between the time of promise and fulfilment . The former is easy to make but the latter required a man of integrity to fulfil the promise he made.
The first question to ask is this ; is your candidate a man of integrity? Is he a man of honour ? Do you really believe that he will keep to his promise ? If the answer to the above is in the affirmative yes then he is credible but that is not all.
We need to ask ourselves again whether your man can hold himself amongst the Cabals and the thieves that will surround him once in power ? This is important because bad company corrupt good manner.
Another thing to ask ourselves is whether we actually believe in that person or because of our hatred for other candidates, like yoruba adage where people will say instead of me to give it to you, I rather throw it away. This should not be the reason to support a wrong candidate in my submission.
There are seven points which MMPC has drafted on what to look for when choosing a leader. 1. He must be a God fearing person. 2.He must be a detribalised person. 3. He must be a man of Integrity. 4 He must be a man of experience.5 He must be someone that have a genuine love for this country . 6. He must be someone with proven track record of administration not necessarily in politics .7 He must be someone who really believe in human rights and not an oppressor.
I am writing this piece without any prejudice and I am not endorsing any candidate for now. It is too early to decide in my opinion . I know it may be difficult to find someone that fits in to all the criteria listed above but if anyone of them meets at least 5 of the above , he or she may be considered for presidency.
Niyi Aborisade
