My Experience in the Second Republic

Honestly, I did not know it was in 1983. I did not also understand what election was all about. I did not also understand what it means to support a candidate for election. However, I still remember so many things about the election that gave Shehu Shagari his second term in office. I remember that my father bought a calender the the portrait of the Zik of Africa where he was greeting with his two fingers. As a child, I learnt to great same way. My father and other elders would always be talking about Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Awolowo while I would always squat beside them to listen to stories that made little meaning to me.

There were so many activities to arouse political awareness in the life of anybody that existed in this period no matter how young or old the person might have been. The radio jingles could touch the heart. Unlike what we have in the state level where the opposition is denied of the opportunity of using state owned radio for campaign (for instance, Abia state in 2003), the major political parties were able to air their programmes to the general public unrestricted. Even till today, I still remember the words used used by both NPN and NPP. Their jingles were always coming successively. For example, NPN would always say:

Anyi ganu anyi ganu

Anyi ga

Any ganu anyi ganu

Anyi ga.

Ebe e ka anyi na-aga?

Anyi na-aga NPN

Ebe esere ulo n'oka abuo

Onye obula wete vote ya anyi tunye ebe o ga-adiri anyi mma

Anyi ga.

This song would be sung as if they meant it. Before you relax a little, you would hear that of NPP. They would always say:

Ebe e k'anyi ga-abinye aka?

Ebe esere mmadu....

It was an interesting period. Then, the two States in Igboland were Anambra and Imo States. The States were controlled by the NPP and the governors were performing governors. Jim Nwobodo and Sam Onunaka Mbakwe were great sons to be proud of. I was always hearing their names but I did not know they were governors.

These things kept happening until I started noticing wooden boots constructed all over the Enyimba City. I did not really have business with these boots but I was just seeing them. One day, I noticed that my father did not move out as usual for his business. He went out and returned with his finger painted in a colour I later understood to be blue. That day, I saw many elders standing on a queue in front of one of the wooden boots by Port Harcourt Road Aba. I still remember the particular location but it is a pity that the spot has a gigantic building today. In my inquisitiveness, I started wondering what these adults were doing in this small boot one after the other. As I grew up, I learnt in Government that it was a secret ballot system of election in practice. However, a child I wanted to understand everything about the process.

One great day, precisely on a Sunday, I pulled my younger brother to this boot. The election had been over and there was no restriction at all. To my amazement, I went into this boot with my younger and I found nothing. No seat, no desk, no pen. All I could see was a torn piece of paper. This disappointment got registered on my mind for a very long time. How could adults be queuing up to enter a boot with no plan? The same way I found nothing in this boot, the election eventually became a waste of time.

Furthermore, it did not take time when I started hearing of Dogonyaro. In the Igbo Society, 'dogonyaro' is a name given to a particular medicinal leave that is also known as 'akum shut up'. This leave is used to cure malaria. Due to my phobia for tablets, I preferred this leave to taking injections and tablets whenever I had malaria. The leave when well squeezed is very bitter. However, I would always eat dry garri to remove the bitterness in my mouth. As a child in the second republic, it was very funny when I listened to my father's conversation with other elders about Dogonyaro taking over power. For those who existed in this period, the name of Dogonyaro was more popular than Idiagbon and Buhari immediately the Soldiers struck in the second republic. Eventually, I realized that Joshua Dogonyaro was the man that announced the death of the second republic. Exactly the way I found nothing in the booth, the republic ended as nothing.

As a result of following Nigerian politics from 1983, though as a child, I felt disappointed when the term 'nascent democracy' was made popular under the Obasanjo regime. My reason was based on the fact that I saw campaigns and politics with my innocent eyes in the second republic. I knew we could do better than we were rated. I also feel disappointed to read and see Nigerians warming up to destroy what other men fought to achieve. I hereby call for peace among the people of Nigeria. Let the efforts of our heroes not be in vain. Let us not allow our collective efforts to go same way I found nothing in the booth.

Finally, a man that lives with you, understands your language, eats your food, marries your daughter is your brother. In the traditional Igbo Society, such a man in accorded full citizenship. Such a man is allocated a piece of land for proper settlement. Those that met Nigeria on the Facebook should take note.
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