The last time I checked, February 20 each year remained the World Day of Social Justice. This implies that, today, the world is commemorating the laudable event.

The World Summit for Social Development was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995 and resulted in the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action regarding Social Justice.

Nearly ten years later, precisely in February 2005, the United Nations’ (UN) Member States reviewed the Declaration when they gathered at a session of the Commission for Social Development in New York, U.S.A.

Subsequently, on 26th November 2007, the UN General Assembly named February 20 as the annual World Day of Social Justice. The day was scheduled to be first observed in the year 2009.

On that day, the General Assembly urged the leaders of the various Member States to allow their citizens to exercise their civic responsibilities as well as grant them their respective entitlements irrespective of background, status, or age.

At such a time like this, we as a people are expected to do everything humanly possible towards ensuring that credible elections are being upheld in our various societies or jurisdictions.

An election is a process in which people or the public choose a person or group of persons to hold an official position through voting or ballot paper.

In the same vein, a credible election, in a concise term, could be described as an election in which no one is disenfranchised and no iota of injustice is employed. It can equally be described as an election where each of the electorate is entitled to equal rights, and no foul play is witnessed.

On the other hand, social justice is a situation in which individuals or citizens of a certain society are allowed to fulfill their civil obligations as well as receive what is due for them.

Social justice, which is a justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society, assigns rights and duties in the institutions of a given society which enables people to receive the basic benefits and burdens of cooperation.

Considering the significance of social justice, no doubt, it is only by the acknowledgement of its existence, that, a free, fair and credible election would be guaranteed in any country or organization. This is why thorough practice of social justice is required by any nation that claims to possess a good number of true democrats.

It was Abraham Lincoln who said in 19th May 1856, that, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” Furthermore, in his first inaugural address as the President of the United States of America (U.S.A) in March 4, 1861, he said, “This country with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it.”

To this end, it is high time the aspirants of any forthcoming election in Nigeria or elsewhere started playing politics of vision to be accompanied by mission with the view that the electorate are the major determinant in every election regardless of its nature/level, rather than the usual alleged believe that the polls do not require the participation of the people for an election to take place, or be successful.

On their part, the electorate ought to comprehend that the future of their country lies in their bare hands by ensuring they concentrate on the real visions of the respective aspirants instead of laying emphasis on his/her ethnic, social, political, or religious affiliation.

They must, therefore, endeavour to focus on the aspirant’s antecedents and background, contrary to the ongoing tradition where aspirants are scrutinized based on their affiliations.

In his words, John Quincy Adams said, “Always vote for principle; though you may vote alone, you shall live to cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

Also, in his speech, Woody Allen stated, “We stand today at a crossroad: one path leads to despair and utter hopelessness while the other leads to total extinction. Let us hope we have the wisdom to make the right choice.”

In Nigeria for instance, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which stands as the sole umpire for elections in the country, as well as the various states’ electoral commissions, should in their corporate capacities not attempt to compromise the confidence majority of Nigerians have in them.

By acknowledging the fact that many Nigerians have become skeptical over the effectiveness of elections in Nigeria due to the porosity of the ones conducted in the past, it’s therefore the responsibility of the INEC to prove to the doubtful electorate, beyond reasonable doubts, that subsequent elections in their respective jurisdictions would be the best of its kind in the history of the country. Such measure if taken seriously would help tremendously to eliminate the enormous apathy witnessed among the electorate.

As the world celebrates the World Day of Social Justice, there is need for all concerned, particularly electoral stakeholders such as the civil society, religious bodies and the mass media, at all levels, to strengthen the ongoing awareness on the need to exercise free, fair and credible polls.

As regards this, we are expected to continually preach the gospel of “One man, one vote”, and the need for every Nigerian to participate actively at the polls.

We shouldn’t forget that, for us to actualize the future we dream of, all hands must surely be on deck; else, we will end up actualizing a goal we never wished to behold.

To this end, I appeal to all concerned, particularly the relevant authorities, to always have the interest of their country at heart whenever the people are prepared to cast their votes at the polls.

All in all, the people must note that if they failed to do the needful, they shall all live to exclaim “Had I known” which invariably comes at last.

On Saturday, the 19th day of February, 2022, both All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP);  the two most prominent political parties in Nigeria (at the moment) held their rallies and conventions just a stone throw away from each other’s venue  in the city of Calabar, Cross Rivers state. While the APC was hosting the APC Cross Rivers youth summit at the U. J. Esuene stadium, Calabar, the Peoples Democratic Party Just some few kilometers away from the stadium was  hosting their own campaign in the Calabar sport club for the upcoming Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency and Akpabuyo State constituency bye elections.

The Governor of Cross Rivers state, Prof Ben Ayade  who last year had dumped pdp for Apc did his political maneuvering and with the state political might to make sure the pdp campaign didn’t hold in Calabar on Saturday.

The police and other security agencies in the state  acting at the directive of the governor, barricaded the Calabar sport club, the proposed venue for the pdp campaign in the early hours of Saturday.

This funny and petty political tactics has been the Nigerian’s politicians’ games and gimmicks especially when it is  election period. A political stakeholder in another political party will always try to sabotage the electoral plans and activities of the other opposing parties. 

In some states, the sitting governor who is a member of another party will declare that the other competing political parties do not have the security clearance to host a political rally or campaign in the state and for the matter of national security, the rally must be canceled or rescheduled. These are just made up stories to sabotage the opposition party political activities in the state.

Some governors go as far as declaring curfews and restriction of movement on the day an opposition political party is hosting their campaigns and rallies in the state just to make sure that the political party gets little or no turnout for the campaign.

Nigerian politicians and political stakeholders should learn that the beauty of democracy and multi party system of government is that every political party has the legal status and right  to organize themselves, hold their rallies and campaigns and carry out their political activities, in as much as the rallies and campaigns are not a security threat to the state and they are acting in accordance to the law.

The political leaders of a state should therefore  avoid playing the petty games of always looking for a way of grounding the political activities of other political parties in the state.

It’s noteworthy that mere speculation may lead to more expectation. Also, real jubilation could warrant rare tribulation.

The above clause calls for deep thought amongst wise thinkers. But in case you need my assistance while romancing over it, don’t hesitate to call my attention so we can collectively do the analysis.

A few nights ago, I ran vigorously in my dream more than I’d ever done since my childhood. I couldn’t imagine myself indulging in such tedious activity, just as anyone who knows me too well cannot possibly imagine seeing me in such a mood. But I knew why I ran, and that was my utmost joy. Thus, I saw the euphoria coming as a consequence to that.

I know you may be asking yourself what kind of run I solely indulged in. Never mind, since the fact remains that I achieved success. Therefore, the Lord is good and shall continue to be good. In other words, if you embarked on a certain worthwhile activity and came out successfully, you must not relent to give the Supreme Being an eulogy irrespective of the nature of challenges you may have faced in the process.

Lest I digress, today’s topic is very much concerned about ‘love at first sight’, which has remained a recurring phenomenon in contemporary global society.

Love is a symbol which signifies your appreciation for someone/something’s existence. Thus, love at first sight is the act of appreciating something/someone’s existence at your first meeting or encounter with the person or thing.

Love has been a very strong factor existing between two or more animals or persons, and remains the most outstanding symbol that unites and strengthens any existing relationship. From time immemorial, taking human beings as a case study, the womenfolk has remained a force of attraction to the menfolk. Such attraction can never be formidable or real if love is not involved. Let’s ride on!

Several actions and reactions in respect of love have been emerging unabated, which have hitherto resulted in many pathetic phrases or clauses such as “The first time I set my eyes on you, I fell in love with you”, or “My spirit told me I have found my missing rib, at my first meeting with you”, just to mention a few.

Love, which is one of the branches of emotions, has ruined or misled millions of people worldwide who had mistaken lust for it (love). There is a very strong demarcation or dichotomy between love and lust, which we are bound to understand. In Physics, it’s called “parallax”. Parallax is defined as two parallel lines that have no meeting point.

Beloved, it sounds extremely crazy for one to say that he/she fell in love with a thing or person at his/her first meeting with the thing/person. There are certain ingredients/qualities that lead to appreciating something or someone as the case may be.

You can never discover such qualities in a person or thing at your first encounter with them. Take for instance, if you’re a man, for you to appreciate a woman who just walked into your life, you must discover the general or entire beauty of the woman, which can never be done even in a few weeks.

The general beauty of any woman does not end on what or those things you can see by merely looking at her. It’s the interior and exterior qualities of a person that constitute his/her general beauty.

The exterior ones are those you can see while looking at him/her, which could be discovered within a day, while the interior ones are those that seem to be hidden and can only be discovered having spent some reasonable time with the person in question, which could take months, or even years.

The interior qualities/beauty of a man or woman are his/her mentality, manners, morality, level of simplicity, and so on. These are the qualities that can enable you to fully appreciate his/her nature or personality.

Same process is applicable to a thing. For example, you can never love a car at your first sight. For one to love a certain car, he/she must have discovered the entire qualities of the car.

In a nutshell, apparently, there’s no ‘love at first sight’. It’s appalling that virtually everyone has derailed due to this anomaly. So it’s high time we woke up.

We must, therefore, desist from this lingering naughty jubilation that could lead to disastrous tribulation.