The Explosive Elections

When I hear of bomb blasts my mind strays to the middle east. But in recent times, my intuitive judgment has been wrong and it doesn't really have to go as far as the middle east, it just stays here, at home (Nigeria). Today, Nigerians would go to the polls to vote who would stay in the House of Assembly and just yesterday, 11 people were killed in INEC (the electoral committee) office in Suleja and the police also discovered 100 strands of dynamite in Kaduna.

Dynamites

The rate at which bombs and explosives are becoming a common weapon in Nigeria is disturbing. I thought that during elections, the thugs use guns and knives. I never knew they have graduated to the levels of explosives (but I knew they would get there). What does this signify? I believe it shows how "power hungry" our politicians are that they can go to any level to get into the office. It's not that surprising because a seat in the National House of Assembly means that you can never be poor. President Obama has to work for three (3) months to make the pay that an average lawmaker in Nigeria is making in a month. A senator in India has to work for 36 years to match the salary a Senator in Nigeria takes home in a year. And the people that they are serving have to work for over 435 years (if he is collecting minimum wage) to make what his senator his making in a year.

Welcome to Delta State

So tell me why should not they use explosives? I wouldn't be surprised if we see fighter jets during presidential elections (at least they deployed armor tanks  during Delta State's gubernatorial elections). With all these show of fire arms how would they expect people to leave the security of their house to come out and vote. And for people like us who registered in a desolate place, (I did my voter's registration in a station located on the University's farm where no car passes, no farm settlement, no sign of civilization only bush) we have to take police escort to vote because those thugs can come out of the bush and we don't know what they would use to attack (maybe nuclear weapons) and just trust God to preserve our lives while on the farm.
But Seriously...WE WANT PEACEFUL ELECTIONS!