Odita Sunday 
I am not fighting for APC, PDP, NDC, or any other political platform.
Political parties will come and go. Politicians will rise and fall. Governments will change.
But Nigeria must remain.
My concern is not who occupies Aso Rock today or which party controls the National Assembly. My concern is that Nigerian democracy is slowly bleeding, corruption is becoming normal, institutions are weakening, poverty is deepening, and impunity is beginning to look like a system of government.
I criticize because I want a better Nigeria.
I want a Nigeria where being poor is not a death sentence.
A Nigeria where there is a genuine social safety net for the vulnerable; where poverty does not push young people into kidnapping, fraud, prostitution, banditry or desperation; where a brilliant child does not lose his future simply because his parents are poor.
I want a Nigeria where roads are fixed because government understands its responsibility—not because citizens must first cry, protest, beg, die in accidents or make the road trend on social media.
I want a Nigeria where electricity is normal, not a miracle.
Where hospitals have doctors, medicine and equipment.
Where a pregnant woman does not die because there is no blood, no electricity or no functional ambulance.
Where public schools are good enough for the children of ministers, governors and senators—not institutions they destroy while sending their own children to expensive schools overseas.
What kind of nation destroys its hospitals and then flies its leaders abroad for treatment?
What kind of nation abandons its schools and then educates the children of the political elite in London, America and Dubai?
I want a Nigeria where the police investigate crimes professionally and cases are brought to logical conclusions.
I want anti-corruption agencies that do not receive instructions from politicians.
A Nigeria where joining the ruling party does not suddenly become a baptism that washes away allegations of corruption.
Corruption cannot be criminal on Monday and become irrelevant on Tuesday because the accused politician has changed political parties.
I want a Nigeria where money budgeted for a road produces a road.
Where money allocated to a hospital equips a hospital.
Where money appropriated for schools reaches the schools.
Where every public officer can account for every naira entrusted to him.
Public money belongs to the public.
It is not inheritance money for politicians and their families.
Above all, I want a Nigeria where elections belong to Nigerians.
INEC must never become the institution that decides who should govern the people. Its duty is simple: faithfully record, protect and announce the votes cast by Nigerians.
No president should own the electoral process.
No governor should own it.
No political party should own it.
No godfather should own it.
The people must own their democracy.
The Constitution must be supreme.
Institutions must be stronger than individuals.
Nigeria’s poverty cannot be blamed on fuel-subsidy removal alone. For decades, corruption, waste, abandoned projects, inflated contracts, stolen public resources and political impunity have bled this country almost to death.
A nation cannot continuously lose billions to corruption and expect its hospitals to work.
It cannot loot education and expect educated citizens.
It cannot steal money meant for roads and expect safe highways.
It cannot destroy jobs and expect crime to disappear.
It cannot impoverish millions and then act surprised when desperation explodes.
Even more frightening is the growing belief that when Nigerians complain, security agencies can simply be deployed against them.
That citizens can be beaten, arrested, intimidated or even killed, and afterward the government can issue denials and move on.
That is not democracy.
A democratic government does not fear peaceful citizens.
Government belongs to the people.
Frederick Douglass warned us long ago:
“Power concedes nothing without a demand.”
That truth has never expired.
If Nigerians want accountable government, elections must have consequences.
A leader who performs should be rewarded.
A leader who fails should be peacefully removed.
That is the essence of democracy.
Electoral fraud must therefore cease to be treated as ordinary political misconduct.
Stealing an election is one of the greatest crimes that can be committed against a people because it steals their sovereignty.
Anyone who knowingly participates in serious electoral fraud—politician, electoral official, security officer or citizen—should face severe punishment under the law, including lengthy imprisonment or life imprisonment for the gravest offences, subject to constitutional safeguards and due process.
Because when you steal an election, you steal far more than ballot papers.
You steal four years of people’s lives.
You steal their hospitals.
You steal their roads.
You steal their schools.
You steal their electricity.
You steal their jobs.
You steal their opportunities.
You steal their children’s future.
And sometimes, through the consequences of bad governance, you steal lives themselves.
Nigeria must become greater than our political parties.
Greater than our tribes.
Greater than our religions.
Greater than our political godfathers.
Greater than our personal ambitions.
Country before party.
Constitution before politician.
Institutions before individuals.
Citizens before godfathers.
Nigeria before personal gain.
That is the Nigeria I want.
A Nigeria where the powerful are accountable.
Where the poor have dignity.
Where elections have meaning.
Where public money serves the public.
Where institutions obey the Constitution.
Where justice does not depend on who you know.
Where citizenship itself is enough to guarantee your rights.
We are not asking for a perfect Nigeria.
We are asking for an honest Nigeria.
A functional Nigeria.
A compassionate Nigeria.
A just Nigeria.
A Nigeria where government works.
A Nigeria where democracy means something.
A Nigeria where the poor can dream again.
A Nigeria that finally belongs to Nigerians.
Because in the end, political parties will disappear from history.
But the consequences of what we do to Nigeria will remain for generations.
Chris Okobah PhD
Award wining author.
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