— Chioma Rosemary Onyekaba
Nigeria remains trapped in a time warp, and this generation has willingly reduced itself to a supermarket for politics, where conscience is cheap, loyalty is bought, and the future is sold in bits to the highest bidder.
It is often said that life becomes harder toward the end. There comes a moment in a nation’s journey when delay stops being patience and becomes a dangerous choice. We stand at that moment now.
I struggle to comprehend the collision of our realities:
the vulnerability of old age,
the squandered strength of youth,
the ruthless tussle for power,
the unrestrained worship of money,
the cycles of love and hatred we inflict on one another,
and above all, the one enemy that humbles all—death.
There was a time when democracy had no rival and justice walked boldly as a friend of the people. This land once blossomed like a flower; today, it stings like a bee. Old age once promised calm and dignity; now it is haunted by regret and fear, weighed down by memories of a nation that could have been.
Yet perhaps we are not merely at the end of things.
Perhaps this is not the “end time” many proclaim.
Perhaps this is the painful birth of a new age, one that has come to teach us hard lessons we refused to learn gently.
Across Africa, the core ideals of democracy and peace are catching fire, spreading like the unbearable stench of decay long ignored. Nigeria—the “Giant of Africa” still holds immense potential. Our economic, political, military, cultural, and scientific influence has not been completely shattered. It has endured, expanded, and waited.
If these forces are harnessed with integrity, they can lift future generations to a distant, sunlit highland where people will celebrate with fullness of joy, their triumphant entry into a world of unity, dignity, and purpose.
But let us not deceive ourselves.
Progress is neither automatic nor inevitable.
It rests squarely on the quality of leaders we choose.
The future of this nation will be decided not by prayers after elections, but by courage at the ballot. Let us rise, exercise our civic responsibility, use our Permanent Voter’s Cards, and liberate our land from the shackles of bad leadership, recycled failure, and convenient silence.
Africa must not die in our hands.
Nigeria must not be lost to our apathy.
Let God and truth prevail!
