The Emrys Ijaola Commentaries

“The essence of this piece is to bring to national consciousness, what has been lurking in my (as indeed, OUR) subconscious. It is to highlight our responsibilities and the pro-active roles we must play. God has blessed several Nigerians with several ideas that would ensure that we seize the moment and so, I’m sharing mine with you with the hope that you will share yours with me and every Nigerian; holding nothing back.”

Those are the words of a well-meaning (I hope) Nigerian, Ezekiel Nya-Etok, as published in a paid advertorial on Page 16D of This Day Newspaper (Thursday, September 16, 2010). I hope the money he sacrificed to have this advert printed will not go to utter waste. It is in this hope that I wish to join my voice with his, to reach as many Nigerians as possible, with only ONE message: You NOW have your political future in your HANDS, literally.

In a short while, I will publish the full text of his message, but the summary is simple enough to understand. We can all help the press, election monitoring groups, and Transparency International, to help us. Every man and woman should turn out to register and vote. Go to the polling booths with your camera phones. Be willing and ready to record voting activities, and report. Share your recordings with others who wish Nigeria well. For once, be responsible for your own future. Monitoring agencies and press men cannot and will not be everywhere, but WE will be everywhere. We will turn out to vote, and choose to sacrifice that day to buy back the mortgaged future of our children. We will be peaceful and orderly. Where it is not possible to record nefarious dealings at close range, we will zoom the lenses on our camera phones, and do so from afar. We will not be deterred in exposing wrong-doing. We will no more be guilty of SINFUL SILENCE. We will not be helpless. Because we will arise and carry out this activity as ONE.

What must we begin to advocate going forward? That the government should make a clear public declaration that it is our right to carry and use our phones on the voters’ registration and voting premises. That Policemen should be instructed NOT to harass anyone who uses his/her phone in this manner. That it is criminal to abduct (in the name of arresting) anyone seen using his/her phone for recording, or to steal forcefully (in the name of seizing) any phone used. That INEC should ensure that anyone that so wishes should have access to the final counting of votes at the polling booths, and can record.

Technology has ensured that this activity is no longer the exclusive role of the Press. In days to come, I intend to contact the architect who came up with this idea, and share my idea with him. There will be email addresses, where recordings can be sent. There will be many repositories and database for the recordings, so that information is not easily lost. Recordings will be clearly labelled per polling station, per local government, per state, and sent to INEC, the Nigeria Police Command, Democracy activists, Transparency International, the Press, and other structures set up to ensure smooth, free and fair elections. If the government has nothing to fear, nobody should frown on having the recordings on YouTube.

Nigerians arise. Register and vote. But, most especially, do not forget your camera phones at home. The enemies of Nigeria will seek to use the old weapon of fear. Do not succumb.

“Something tells me that there will be an election, as never before in the country, in 2011. Beyond the conventional ‘Carry-go’ elections, something tells me that there will be free and fair elections 2011, where voters will count” – Ezekiel Nya-Etok