2023 Election: How Nigerians can be angry reasonably

Over the years, there are three words that have characterized the anger of many Nigerians: misdirected, misguided, and destructive. Yet, this anger has yielded us nothing, and in the worst way possible, it has brought us way backward and portrayed us as citizens unable to articulate our anger into meaningful actions.

Many Nigerians have the peculiar characteristics of getting angry at anything, even the seemingly little thing; for instance, they may get angry at the cab driver who refuses to give them their 10 naira change, or even at a young boy who refuses to add ‘uncle’ or ‘brother’ to their names.

A typical Nigerian may even get angry at someone who buys a new Range Rover because the former believes that the latter is inconsiderate. You know that the masses are suffering.

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A typical Nigerian may be angry because he gets caught cheating or cannot use other people’s good offices to get what he wants. Or he may get angry at someone who is able to use someone else’s good offices to get what they want. Nigerians’ waves of anger are multifaceted and always fascinating to behold.

In fact, these present times have even aggravated our anger. The prevailing circumstances around us (for instance, fuel and naira scarcity, inflation, insecurity, unemployment, etc) often get us angry, but it seems we have also bottled up this anger and always carried it with us wherever we go.

According to Aristotle, in his classic work The Art of Rhetoric, he wrote: “ANYBODY can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody’s power, that is not easy. ”

From my personal experience and other people’s, I have come to realize that while it is human to be angry, it is foolishness to be perennially angry without making efforts to address things that trigger our anger.

READ ALSO: 5 Effective Ways to Manage Anger

We often think of anger as a negative emotion, but when it used in the right way anger can improve your health, job prospects, relationships – and whole societies.

Our anger should drive us toward the direction of change. Our anger should drive us toward making choices that collectively affect our lives. And there are many ways we can channel our anger into meaningful actions.

The first thing is to tell Nigerians to get their voters’ cards ready.

According to INEC in earlier January, 93.469 million registered voters were yet to collect the cards. This is a worrisome development for a nation whose citizens are dissatisfied with the socio-economic realities. Some Nigerians spend hour and days in churches and mosques praying to a god who may have probably given up on them or may have been expecting them to be responsible citizens.

Secondly, this period is calling us Nigerians that it is not a time to be politically apathetic.

Politics affects every aspect of our lives and who becomes our leader plays a great role on what will become of our future.

According to Plato, “one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors (in my words, by people whose actions and inactions have the potential to affect our future negatively).”

Come February 25, 2023, if we truly desire change, we must get our voters’ cards and troop out en masse to vote candidates of our choice.