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Those who appeared to be 'progressives' in 2015, whose voices were so strong that not joining them was almost a taboo, who painted the last administration so black that daring to speak up in defence of any action of that administration will earn you a barrage of insults, those people will be 2019's opposition. They will be in the shoes of the 2015 Jonathanians. They will become the ones fighting against the odds. They will be the ones tagged 'enemy of progress' for daring to mention Buhari. They will be the ones trying to defend all the actions and inactions of this administration.
You see those 'against' Buhari today and who are already looking for a new messiah, they will be 2019's 'progressives'. They will be the ones expressing 'shock' that anyone could still mention Buhari. They will be the ones sleeping at polling booths. They will be the ones posting: "we are ready to defend our votes with our lives" and tweeting: "Ward 8 - ABC: 820, XYZ: 2. We have delivered" hoping like the 'progressives' of 2015 hoped, that they are ushering in a new dawn for Nigeria.
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But 2019 may come and the new 'messiah' may decide to go the way of his predecessors. He may decide to ditch his campaign promises and unleash uncouth Presidential spokespersons on the same people who sacrificed money, sweat and personal acquaintances to usher him in. At that point, wisdom will dictate that it's time to back off, to admit you've been scammed, and having principles will help settle the fact that while you may have sacrificed your sweat and energy to elect an undeserving person, you owe it to yourself and your country to stand up and say, look, we were fooled. Look, we thought he was the real deal but he's not. Look, we thought he would be Moses and lead us to Canaan but dude doesn't even have a staff.
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And no, you don't wait two years to say that. You start holding him responsible the day he's sworn in. You monitor his actions. Ask questions. If his first steps are in the wrong direction, start talking. How can he take wrong first steps and hope to arrive at a right destination?
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If you wait two years before talking, when everyone has finished talking, when even the baby born three months ago knows there's someone called XYZ who the bad economy has been named after, when two of your relatives have been affected. If you wait till then to talk, your voice doesn't really count anymore. You aren't talking because you acknowledge things are bad or because you acknowledge you made an electoral mistake, you are talking because you no longer have a hiding place and because you want to be on the right side of history. If you have another chance, you will make the same 'mistake', and wait for two years after things have been destroyed before talking. If we leave the nation and nationbuilding in dubious hands like yours, we would not have a country soon.
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You will do well to learn from the 'transformation' apostles of 2011 and how they fared. You'll do well to see the 'progressives' of 2015 and what way they went. When 2019 comes, you'll support the hell out of your new messiah but must also be ready to hold him responsible from the first day he's sworn in and when/if he turns his back on the people, you turn your back on him too and no, you don't wait two years to do that. That's how real democracy works. That's how nations grow.
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