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Thursday 14 February 2019

ELECTION BOYCOTT IN NIGERIA – POLITICAL GOALS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NATION AND THE ELECTORATE

ELECTION BOYCOTT IN NIGERIA – POLITICAL GOALS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NATION AND THE ELECTORATE

By Nathaniel I. NDIOKWERE

Nigerians must be made to understand what a BOYCOTT of anything is all about!

(1) BOYCOTT OF ELECTION has little or nothing to do with winning or losing election. (2) BOYCOTT has nothing to do with parties. (3) BOYCOTT has nothing to do with special political personalities involved in election campaigns and the voting process
(4) BOYCOTT has nothing to do with voting rightly or wrongly!
(5) BOYCOTT has nothing to do with what vyour region or state loses if a particular or preferred candidate loses in election.

WHAT BOYCOTT ‘SYMBOLIZES’

(A) BOYCOTT  is simply a complete rejection of an unjust & corrupt system or institution.
(B)  BOYCOTT is a protest march against evil and forces bent on dominating a persecuted people.
(C)  BOYCOTT is a valid, legitimate and  sensible call for a REVOLUTION . Nigeria  is ‘overdue ’ for a third - {3rd} REVOLUTION , a ‘military/civilian  seizure of power, overthrow of all corrupt politicians/leaders,  and a complete DEMOLITION of the shameful systems which criminal leaders  (including the British) set up since 1914 in a collapsing enclave called Nigeria.
(D) BOYCOTT is the right immediate measure to confront the “evils” that brought about the 1966 and 1967 REVOLUTIONS in Nigeria. These evils  are still there resting comfortably while poor Nigerians continue to languish in poverty.
(D) BOYCOTT is the best answer to the ‘riddle’ (a mystifying , misleading, puzzling question/problem) called NIGERIA.

NIGERIAN ELECTIONS 2919

In the area of POLITICS, ELECTION BOYCOTT has clearly the following SHORT and LONG TERM objectives, WORLDWIDE. It is a PROTEST, SYMBOL OF RESISTANCE against:
(i) PERSECUTION
(ii) SLAVERY in various forms and systems
(iii) MARGINALIZATION (iv) OPPRESSION
(v) INJUSTICE which is
perpetrated against minorities or majorities of citizens and peoples, in whichever part of the world or regions of a state they live.
(v) NEPOTISM &
(vi) TYRANNY

JUST A MOMENT – AN IMPORTANT CHUNK OF MODERN NIGERIAN HISTORY!

SEE WHAT PROTEST/BOYCOTT is all
about! Do you know? Have you heard? Do you Remember the story of one BRUCE MAYROCK?  Please try to google and recall! On May 30, 1969, a 20‐year‐old Columbia student, Bruce Mayrock of Old Westbury in USA set himself on fire on the lawn of the United Nations before hundreds of onlookers and died a few hours later. According to a sign he left behind, he was protesting “genocide” in Biafra. (PROTESTING “GENOCIDE” IN BIAFRA!). The frustrated young man was calling the ATTENTION of the WORLD BODY to an UNBELIEVABLE TRAGEDY’TAKING PLACE IN AFRICA, IN NIGERIA, EXACTLY AMONG THE IGBOS OF NIGERIA!

ROSA PARK & BUS BOYCOTT IN ALABAMA  -  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - AN ILLUSTRATION 

How you heard about ALABAMA BUS BOYCOTT? Knowledge of history is a blessing while ignorance of it is a disaster. The BUS BOYCOTT  in MONTGOMERY  city in the state of  Alabama USA many years ago can help confused Nigerians  understand and appreciate how much a BOYCOTT of anything by oppressed people can become a blessing for many!

(a) People can boycott “PRODUCTS” because the products are discovered to contain poisonous substances
(b) “RALLIES” can be boycotted by those who care because of foreseeable dangers.
(c) People can BOYCOTT TRANSPORTATION SERVICES for various reasons.
(d) There are many reasons for boycotting anything, anywhere and at any time.
(e) BOYCOTT is mainly a means of calling the attention of everyone interested in any controversial issue, including the international community for REACTION!

History tells us the following about a BLACK-AMERICAN LADY- ACTIVIST by name - Rosa Louise Parks (1913 – 2005). She got involved  in the  civil rights movement and was best known  for her pivotal role in the famous MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, USA BUS BOYCOTT. History records that The United States Congress at last called her "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". She was not called a DEVIL
or even a REBEL.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING?

It was at the height of the oppression of the Ex-Black African slaves in America. There was persecution, oppression, marginalization and worse RACIAL SEGREGATION, like it was in South Africa. BLACK AFRICANS had nothing in common with the WHITES, except in the area of ‘Servitude!’ Large and small billboards and inscriptions told the rest of the story: “FOR WHITES/EUROPEANS ONLY” – IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS – buses, trains etc; TOILET FACILITIES, and even in CHURCHES, including the Roman Catholic Churches! The RACIAL SEGREGATION LAW would harshly deal with any BLACK MAN or WOMAN who violated the “FOR WHITES ONLY” legislation in ALABAMA! 

As we learn from the ROSA PARKS story, on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Miss Parks rejected the bus drive’s  order to relinquish her seat in the racists, segregated "colored section/for Blacks Only" to a WHITE passenger, after the “whites-only section” was filled. Rosa Parks  boldly said ‘NO’ to the white racist order.  That incident led to Parks’ arrest and trial which lasted  long in the racist American state of Alabama. It was clear to both white and black Americans that Rosa Parks was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws.

Parks' prominence in the community and her willingness to become a controversial figure inspired the black community to BOYCOTT the Montgomery buses FOR OVER A YEAR, the first major direct action,  CAMPAIGN, PROTEST of the post-war civil rights movement in USA!

BOYCOTT – “SYMBOL OF RESISTANCE”

Rosa Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery bus boycott became important SYMBOL of the movement and UPRISING against RACISM, SEGREGATION, INJUSTICE AND OPPRESSION in the USA.  She became an international ICON of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King junior, and likes of NELSON MANDELA and BISHOP DESMOND TUTU in SOUTH AFRICA!

Although widely honored in later years, Parks also suffered for her acts. She was fired from her job, and received death threats for years afterwards. After retirement, Parks wrote her autobiography and continued to insist that the struggle for justice was not over and there was more work to be done.  Parks received national recognition and medals including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Some States in USA commemorate  Park’s  birthday on  February 4, while others  commemorate the occasion on the anniversary of the day she was arrested, December 1.

CONCLUSION

(1) You Nigerian! Anti-ELECTION-BOYCOTT-Vanguard, have you learnt or understood something from this write-up?
(2) Do you understand that for you to be eligible to vote, you must register?
 (3) Do you understand that you must belong to a party and remain consistent in your support?
(4) Do you know that you must stick to your party’s POLITICAL IDEOLOGY expressed in its MANIFESTO?
(5) Do you know that You vote for your party, whether you think it would win or lose?
(6) Do you need to DECAMP, change PARTIES – FROM APGA to AGPA, PDP, APC, YPP ……..to the party you think, presume would win!
(7) Have you heard about AMERICANS whom we copy from, change parties overnight?  There you are ALWAYS, almost TO THE END TIME either a DEMOCRAT or REPUBLICAN or INDEPENDENT ?
(8) Can you name any American politician, a DEMOCRAT who switches over to REPUBLICAN PARTY and a  REPUBLICAN who DECAMPS and joins the DEMOCRATIC PARTY overnight, at the least provocation?
(9) Can you tell me where NIGERIA is heading to?
(10) Now, hope you know that BOYCOTT is not an evil term, but has POSITIVE connotation.

3 comments

  1. Good information and great insight. Keep it up and thank you so much for that submission Reverend Father.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for your time and consideration in putting these records together, it's important to know and learn from history. God bless you Sir.

    ReplyDelete

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