By Aliyu Isah Chiroma
A battle that has a beginning must have an end. Even if it is fought under our imaginative thoughts, we need to have a stopping point and reflect on our past. This will be an assessment to carry out as warriors in the battlefield of our destiny in our county. We need to come together as individuals with collective ideas and make this choice.
Time has come when citizens need to open their minds and listen to the aspirants, who are engaging our atmosphere for our vote. It is the responsibility of all of us to choose our candidate, a candidate who knows how to approach the present looking at the past and approach the future looking at the past and present. When we come together and become strong with our collective ideas, after listening to all the promises, then we should choose the best candidate, who can fulfil those promises.
Over the years, a lot of promises have been made, and always unfulfilled. What is needed of us is to sit down and think about who can fulfil those promises. Someone who can steer the wheel of the nation, towards overcoming challenges in the race of excellence.
This choice has come to us as the last hope for a citizen, which is inevitable by the fact that we have gone through a lot of troubles. I considered this choice to be the greatest turning point we would have to take in our history.
Looking at our ancient history, however, that history implies momentous decades. A moment filled with promise and visionary leaders who are Patriotic and I think that is one vital quality most of those candidates lack. But we need leaders who can put the interest of their people first; who would not sleep at night when their people are in danger until they find solutions to their problems.
It is now time to make a wise decision, a decision that we will enjoy as citizens and coming generations. We all need a collective decision that can change our situation to better and impact our lives positively. A choice made from past experience which we will reflect on our present and think of our future.
History shall only be fair to us, if we navigate our way towards changing those circumstances and our failures into opportunities. This can only be achieved if we change ourselves as individuals. In a global community surrounded by self-interest, changing ourselves is the opening door to development of our communities and we as individuals.
Starting at the walls of our society, everyone has a time to play and to change our history; we all need to start from somewhere. Parents at home should play their roles as parents, by not only training their children in morals and conduct, but by also changing their mindset, filled with love and sympathy for their fellow men. A school teacher should play his role not only by passing knowledge to the student, but by also teaching morals and conduct, and what they need to know on how to tackle challenges and equations beyond the walls of the classroom because knowledge without morals is useless.
The Imam and Pastor at worship centres should play their own roles by addressing the audience according to their religious beloved and also charging them with responsibility of changing themselves.
Everyone as a person has a role to play in his society. Individuals should not only be concerned about their children, but also address other children as their children, even if they are not from us, by building them to do the needful and leave out what the society doesn’t need. That is how we will build a society of youths who can change our new history.
To win this battle of change, we need to take charge of our future and change ourselves, to have a sustainable change from the grassroots, which is deeply-rooted to transformation as collective individuals. Only then will the future will smile at us.
Chiroma is a student at the Usman Dan Fodio University Sokoto
