2019: A countdown that is beyond getting the Voter Card.

The campaign that aims to quicken the consciousness of the average Nigerian into getting the Voter Card seems - of late - to be the loudest of all the campaigns in the build up to the 2019 elections. The campaign especially happened to target the Christian population and, not a few have formed the opinion that the battleline of interests that has since been drawn between Mr. President (an inept leader himself) and his entourage of ineffective Ministers with the Nigerian masses (on the other side) had something to do with religion.
This subtle mixing of religious sentiments with politics as an opinion comes from the Muslim population especially but if one looked closely at the dire situation of things in the country today; he would no doubt come off with the conclusion that the alignments and re-alignments that has so far played out was about saving the Nigeria Federation more than it was about ousting a Muslim president. Unfortunately, with the upsurge in Voter Card acquisition today it is unlikely that (with this sentiment) that alone was the solution to saving the federation from collapse.
The interference of the sentiments of religion and tribe in our politics always become more pronounced whenever a Muslim president was in power or about to be elected. As a federation, I have witnessed in the days of President Olusegun Obasanjo's presidency how that the Nigerian people united against the infamous Third Term Agenda and stopped it from manifesting. Then, it was never a tussle of Muslim versus Christian but a tussle between the Nigerian people and the Third Term apologists with the Constitution's sanctity as bone of contention.
Nigeria is again faced with a presidency whose sponsor (or better stated) support for the intimidation of other Nigerians  - because it assumed that the Fulanis were born to rule - was no longer a matter of guessing. In its appointments so far, it has never pretended to desire to respect the Federal Character Act or even regard the fact that Nepotism was a catalyst to corruption and impunity in governance. In its fight against insecurity, the proscription of IPOB on the one hand and the blessing of the Fulani Militia on the other hand clearly showed a case of discrimination in dispensing justice.
But then what is the reaction of the country to these realities? What is the reaction of the North and was it in tandum with the reaction in the South? It is a well known fact that - like the support it gave to the Boko Haram terrorists at inception - northern Nigeria today is the most visible proponent of the style of leadership present in the country at the moment and, it is for no other reason but for the fact that Mr. President (Muhammadu Buhari) is a northerner and a Fulani.
Never minding the dangerous trend that the style of encouraging Nepotism in the national scheme of things portends for the future of Nigeria. Not realizing that the same way it encouraged the Boko Haram annihilators but later became the target victims themselves, that what they cheered Mr. President on to do today may in the nearest future become a sour point for folks from the northern extraction. The people of northern Nigeria are definately prepared to protect Mr. President's re-election desire with the blood of the Nigerian people. The case of under-aged voter card acquisition in the just concluded Kano elections is a big signal!
I recalled the days when the Late General Sani Abacha assumed power after having sacked the Interim government of Chief Ernest Shonekan in 1993. I still recalled the wild jubilations in the region of northern Nigeria then. But a while later, one of those who once supported the Junta fell out with the same Junta. The falling out lead to the dethronement of Sultan Dasuki of the Sokoto Caliphate. I understand now how the north felt about the sacking of the reverred Sultan. In short, it has never felt so humiliated! It saw it as one attack against the myth that the north was strongly united.
We have seen this same things played in the early days of the Boko Haram activities. Because there was a presidency that did not have a northerner as President; Boko Haram was then used to make the country ungovernable for that presidency. Sooner however, the terrorists needed blood and the only targets were the folks from the north. Eventually, it was northern Nigeria and in particular the Northeast that became ungovernable during that presidency. But if Nigeria had transformed from the status of a country into a nation; would a mere candidate so polarize the Republic to this level?
Would his selfish intention to run again in 2019 blind the electorates to the point of seeing the 2019 general elections as a battleline between the Muslims and the Christians? It is unfortunate that uptil now the words of the Late Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu still went unheed. It is sorrowful that till today the politicians' magic wand of whipping up ethnic/religious sentiments whenever they desired political power still charmed the Nigerian people. The coming elections - as far as I am concerned - must be looked at as a time to demand for a Republic and a leadership that worked.
We must rise up now to save this Republic from the hands of destiny killers; from the hands of yester year men; from the hands of men whose activities today will only either take us decades backward or into another Civil War. The retired generals have each lent their voices to this call. They do not have a decade again to live and even if they did, they would have become too old to cry with us if WE FAILED TO LOOK BEYOND ETHNICITY AND RELIGION AS WE COUNTDOWN TO THE 2019 ELECTIONS.
Happy Valentine Nigeria!!!
Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh writes from Jos.