Where does your loyalty lie?
Written by Anifowoshe Titilope
loy·al·ty
ˈloiəltē/
noun
1 the quality of being loyal to someone or something."her loyalty to her husband of 34 years"
◦ a strong feeling of support or allegiance.
The past days have seen me witness the practicality of politics. I saw beyond politics at the center. I saw the way the lives, living, survival and wellbeing of hundreds of people is chucked on the heavy arms of a politician. I saw firsthand the millions of philanthropy of Distinguished Sen Gbemi Saraki that’s not read on newspapers or social media.
The primaries of the two major political party has come and gone. Albeit marred with irregularities, the most active participants of these process are youths. The paid and unpaid social political merchants who sold aspirants with unsavory and optimum heartiness and vigor on the media space. Some of these merchants engaged in their business for profit, some marketed their merchandise for love and sincere believe in their merchandise.
Before you jump at your keypad to point a finger at me. I’m a merchant too. A self-imposed political merchant whose love for my merchandise is eternal and veteran. My loyalty is as old as my knowledge of the name Gbemi Saraki and as deep as my love for my family. The profit I stand to gain is the satisfaction I feel seeing my little drop of impact mix with Distinguished GRS’ ocean of impact. Records and investigation will enlighten you; CASE CLOSED!
I was running an errand when my eyes caught a phrase on an abandoned billboard in the compound. I adjusted my glasses for a better view; I read out loud “There is something wrong with your character if opportunity controls your loyalty”. Hmmm, strong words indeed! I walked briskly past the billboard and headed for my business that day.
As I scrolled through my whatsapp, skimming through conversation on political groups, my heart reverberated back to the quote I saw earlier. Indeed, so many of us have turned to e-rats and political merchants for the most shameful reasons. Youths who cannot affect one vote in their political wards, youths who know nothing about politics save what they read on Omojuwa’s twitter handle and Jubril Gawat’s tweets jump into conversations and make beclouded analysis. Youths whose parents wouldn’t dare to insult some personalities jump on their keyboards to insult their father’s mates and spread propaganda that demeans our nation’s unity. Youths now break age-long ties all because of political disparities. We promote and support candidates all in an effort be relevant. We jump at every opportunity that can make us “belong”.
I see youths talk about ideology. I see them criticize the political class for being political prostitutes, but I see these same youths behave and feed on political prostitution. What happened to our sanity?
”There is something wrong with your character if opportunity controls your loyalty”
Where does your loyalty lie?
If you talk about good governance, if you criticize politicians for not being good leaders. If you rant about the dilapidated infrastructures in your state. If you complain about the declining educational standard in Nigeria and so on. If you clamor for a better Nigeria, then your loyalty must be to progress, to excellence, to the voice of the people, to sincerity of purpose and for persons who have showcased these virtues in their actions. Your loyalty shouldn’t be for the highest bidder, the most popular person or the richest person or the one who gives you the highest prominence.
Dear Nigerian Youth, you need to check yourself if your voice have changed all because of opportunity. You have to check yourself if you stopped supporting mr A because mr B offered you more. Dear sister, you are the problem of Nigeria if you changed loyalty because of opportunity.
*
Comments