Safety First

_{Photo by Element5 Digital}

The next couple of days is probably going to be one of the toughest and this is simply because of the upcoming presidential election happening on Saturday. Elections in the country has never been known to be peaceful, there's always going to be hoodlums looking to attack polling units, injure voters and then run away with ballot boxes.

My friends joked about going to the market to buy as much foodstuff as possible in preparation for the coming election, and though he said it as a joke, we all knew there was a lot of sense in what he had just said.

It has always been like that for all of the elections in the past and I don't see this one being any different, especially seeing how the country is going through challenges due to the fuel scarcity and the whole lack of physical cash in the bank due to the whole new naira design.

Back in the days, during election periods like this, my dad will always ask us to remain indoors and this wasn't because he didn't care about voting or anything like that, it was mainly because of how violent every election was back then. I honestly don't think there's ever been an election where no one died.

There has always been casualties and it has never been a politician, it has always been ordinary citizens like you and I who gets killed by another ordinary citizen who was probably paid five thousand naira to cause chaos and help rig elections.

So with the upcoming elections on Saturday, all I can say to everyone of us out there is to be safe. Perform your rights as a citizen and don't involve in any violent acts. We know we all plan on making a difference this coming election, we all plan on letting the government know that the citizens of Nigeria has one voice, but while we do that, don't forget we have families at home waiting for us to return.

As for me, I will be exercising my rights as a citizen by going to vote but I plan on leaving as soon as I'm done voting and not waiting for them to count out the votes because I currently live at one of the hot zones (a place with a high possibility of violence breaking out) and I have no plans of being a part of that or a victim.

You all be safe out there and God bless each and everyone of you.