By Our Editorial Team
We, in CrossRiverWatch have every reason to thank the Creator for preserving us, all the good people of Cross River State and other Nigerians that we have successfully burst into 2015 and are full of expectation that we shall see many more years to come.
We sincerely salute you our people for the many battles you fought and the several deadly blows you received ranging from harsh economic realities including poor salary packages, delay in salary payment, cost of living, political manoeuvring and manipulation by soul-less politicians, high level of insecurity occasioned by armed robbery, ritual killings, kidnappings and other social vices that marked 2014, but you survived them all.
2015, the magical year, the year that the targeted developmental aspiration of the millennium was to be achieved; yet, in 2015 we have arrived without any of those. 2015 is equally the year which some had predicted to see the end of the entity called Nigeria.
To us in CrossRiverWatch, it is not the American prediction of the possible disintegration of Nigeria that matters or will bring that prediction to pass but the attitude of our leaders and the unwillingness of our various ethnic nationalities and tribes to continue to see the wisdom to continue to live together with one another.
It often beats our imagination when some persons say Nigeria is too large and populated, when the landmass of one state in USA, Alaska is twice the size of Nigeria, and when China has over 2 billion human beings and India, close to 2 billion persons.
To our fellow Cross Riverians and other Nigerians in our midst, we want to implore you to remain focused, resilient and determined to stand up to any challenge that is to come your way or attempt to deprive you of your right to vote persons of your conscience into offices, or denying you of other rights in 2015.
As a people, we have come so far, and have learned so well in the past years, enough not to continue to allow a few negligible percentage of politicians to keep putting our future and those of our families constantly at the edge of a dangerous cliff.
In this year’s general election scheduled for next month, we as Cross Riverians and Nigerians must with one voice for once say no to a culture of impunity and political impositions by those who see the rest of us as mere robots to be manipulated.
Yes, any system that does not allow people to exercise their voting right is actually treating its people as mere “things”.
On the part of the political class, especially those currently calling the political shots in the state, we implore them with all the amount of patriotic zeal burning in us not to do anything that will bring instability in our dear state by simply allowing a conducive atmosphere for all political actors to operate on equal grounds, and the populace to exercise their franchise without harassment, coercion and intimidation.
We equally want the leadership in Cross River state and those supporting their culture of impunity and imposition that by their actions, they are simply taking over the position of God, and that they know more than Him, and that the popular saying that the “voice of the people is the voice of God”, has no meaning to these powerful few.
CrossRiverWatch as a media organization has a mandate to warn our political leaders of the consequences of hanging on to the universally offensive tenets of totalitarianism and the principles of might is right. Might may give a leader false security that is very temporal, but its aftermath is always better imagined than real. Leaders that had experienced and drank the bitter cup of their own iniquitous brew would never contemplate repeating such if given another opportunity.
In as much as we don’t want to sound alarmists, we also insist that little wrongs and manipulations if not checked will snowball into a big fire that may consume an entire forest. The Arab Spring is a very close warning to us to learn from and avoid similar consequences.
CrossRiverWatch insist that the people must be allowed to exercise their franchise in a democratic setting such as we claim to have. We will continue to report events in the state as we have done in the previous years and shall do so this year and in the years to come in a better and more determined manner without fear or favor.
In 2015, we want to assure Cross Riverians of our unalloyed determination to continue to report the facts as we obtain them. We will always be balanced and fair without sacrificing truth in the altar of fairness, as we won’t care much whose ox is gouged, so long as the larger interest of the state is at stake.
The people of Cross River State must continue to have at the back of their minds that the worst crime any person or group of persons can commit against themselves is to remain indifferent to what happens to others and to themselves.
Come May 29, this year, we will hopefully have the opportunity to witness the swearing- in of a new governor of the state. Our concern is not who or which political party wins in the state, our concern however is that it must be seen by all and sundry that the mandate and authority to rule us from May 2015 is 100 percent derived from the people of Cross River State and other Nigerians residing in the state.
A big burden that any democratic leader can carry is the burden of the reality that he is an imposition on the people, and that he himself is a complete puppet just as his masters have reduced the people to robots; and that no amount of developmental and people oriented programs can wish away the guilt of illegitimacy in governmental powers.
In fact, such a leader is worse than military juntas who make no pretence that they derive their powers from the barrel of the gun.
Once again, welcome to 2015, dear Cross Riverians and Nigerians, as we jointly work for peace as well as justice and liberty in our paradise state and great nation, Nigeria.