Polls matter. But the people’s voices and respect for them matter the most. The polls before the American election suggested that the country would be painted red for the Republicans. It never happened.
Instead, key states were taken from them by the Democrats. For instance, the state of Arizona went blue because words matter. Kari Lake’s casting aspersion on some Republican supporters and telling them to go to hell boomeranged. Those she asked to go to hell teamed up with Democrats, sending her out of heaven and denying her the ticket to the Governor’s lodge, which was the coveted price —words and respect for the people do matter.
When I look at some political leaders vying for offices across the divide in Nigeria, I see a Kari Lake in many of them. They seem to forget that those being insulted can give them a deep bite. I have seen political leaders in Nigeria say that those who funded them in the past do not matter, that those who gave them votes in time past do not matter, that some religions do not matter and that those of us called “the minority” tribes do not also matter etcetera.
How I wish those that have been asked to go to hell in our clime could make those sitting arrogantly on horses’ backs be repaid in their coins in 2023, as it just happened in the United States.
Our politics deserves to be better. Only those who have deep respect for the people should be voted into offices at various levels in 2023.
Grace and peace.
