28th March, Our Finest Hour, By Mark Ademola Israel

On 18 June, 1940, Wilson Churchill delivered a speech at the British House of Commons. This speech, Their Finest Hour, was delivered two days after the German forces recorded huge successes in France and were certain to invade Britain. "The Battle of France is over," declared General Maxime Weygand, the man who was called upon - two weeks too late - to Ward off the German invasion, when it was clear they'd lost.

What, for Weygand, was an end of a battle, was only the beginning of another. The Battle of France may have ended but the Battle of Britain was about to begin.

In less than six weeks, - that's If the Nigerian security forces are finally ready to provide security - Nigerians would be going to the polls to elect a new president or perhaps extend the mandate of the present one by another four years. There are eleven presidential candidates but most Nigerians only know two: the candidate of the ruling party, Goodluck Jonathan, and that of the main opposition party, Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigerians must choose, between these two, who will lead them in this period of falling oil prices and economic doom. Casting ones' vote for any of the other nine candidates would be an abuse of franchise. Just as The Economist rightly pointed out, "sometimes there are no good options." We've been presented with two evils and it's only wise that we go for the lesser evil. Are we going to stick with Goodluck Jonathan who's proved to be very divisive, inept, corrupt and still cannot, after 5years as president, tell us why he deserves a second term. Or are we going to pitch our tent with a former dictator who stiffened freedom, violated people's rights and executed citizens for crimes that ought not to carry capital punishment?

Are we going to vote for a man under whose leadership billions of Naira either went missing or were misappropriated, with no single soul in jail for this heartless haemorrahaging of our common wealth? Or you'll vote for a man who even his fiercest critics agree has zero tolerance for sleaze? A man whose achievements in twenty months as head of state is said to surpass that of Jonathan who has been in charge, with more money, in the last sixty months.

That the present government has failed is incontestable. From insecurity to epileptic power supply, from deteriorating educational system to poor health service delivery that is made worse by incessant strikes. Our roads remain death traps and unemployment has reached an unprecedented level.

Someone might ask, does it mean this government has achieved nothing? To make such an assertion would be unfair. But is the achievement commensurate with the earnings? Definitely not. The government has achieved little, yet, it makes too much noise about it. It spends huge sums in advertising non existent projects.

The country loses huge sums in the name of subsidy payment. Government spends huge sums of money to subsidize Kerosene to fifty Naira, yet Nigerians buy the product for thrice that price. That nobody has been convicted of any wrong doing in petroleum subsidy scam, Pension fund scam, and the other scams I cannot remember is horrifying. I can go on and on because for every reason why we should vote Jonathan, there are ten others why we shouldn't.

If you think I'll vote for a Jonathan when there is a Buhari, or a Sambo when there is an Osibanjo, then you must think I'm satisfied with the present condition of Nigeria.

We've a chance to change things. We've a chance to rescue our country from the clutches of vested interest. If we fail to take this chance, then we must brace ourselves because the next four years would be worse under Jonathan.
Irrespective of who we vote for, irrespective of who wins eventually, generations to come will regard 28th March, 2015 as our Finest Hour.

Please feel free to criticise, abuse, pick holes, or tear this article to shreds.

-Mark Ademola Israel