That Choice of Yours. You cannot be making harmful choices that affect not just you, but the people around you and even strangers, and then expect people to respect your choices. It doesn’t work like that.
This is why no APC person’s choice when it comes to leadership should be respected because the choices of some people are exactly why we are in the mess we are today. Before emotions come in, let’s talk facts. Since 2015, Nigeria has gone backwards in ways that are clear and measurable. Not opinions, but reality.
In 2015:
Dollar was around ₦200
Today:
Dollar is around ₦1,500
That is not growth.
That is a collapse in value.
In 2015:
Fuel was around ₦87 – N145 per litre
Today:
Fuel is around ₦1,000 – N1,200 per litre
That is more than 7 times increase and in Nigeria, once fuel goes up, everything follows. Transport, food, business costs, everything. Inflation today is over 30%. Food inflation is even worse.
So even if you are earning more money, that money is worth less. You are working harder just to survive. Poverty? Over 130 million Nigerians are living in multidimensional poverty.
More than half of the country. People are not just complaining, they are struggling. Insecurity? Since 2015, tens of thousands of Nigerians have been killed due to insurgency, banditry, and violent attacks.
Thousands have been kidnapped. Entire communities have been displaced. People are afraid to travel, afraid to farm, afraid to even live freely. Now put everything together.
The naira has collapsed. Cost of living has skyrocketed. Poverty has increased massively. Insecurity has worsened and someone will still look you in the eye and say: “Respect my choice.” Respect what exactly? A choice that has led to hardship, suffering, and loss of life for millions of innocent people?
There is a reason why, in some situations, adults are placed under conservatorship, because they have shown a pattern of making decisions that are harmful to themselves, to people around them, and even to strangers.
So their decisions are no longer treated as harmless or personal. The same logic applies here. If your political choices consistently produce suffering for millions of people, people are allowed to question it.
Also see: Environmental Crisis: HOMEF Calls for Immediate Global Intervention
People are allowed to reject it. People are allowed to say they cannot respect it and this is where the gaslighting needs to stop. You cannot support a system that has clearly made life worse for millions, then turn around and demand respect for that choice.
This is not about insults. This is about consequences. Let me add this, if after everything Nigerians have experienced since 2015, someone still cannot connect the dots, still cannot see the impact, still needs to be convinced that things have gone backwards, then they are not confused.
They are choosing not to see. So when next someone tells you to “respect their choice,” understand what they are really asking. They are asking you to ignore the outcome. They are asking you to ignore the suffering. They are asking you to pretend that decisions don’t have consequences.
Reality does not work like that. Choices have results and right now, those results are everywhere. In people’s pockets. In their daily struggles. In the fear people live with.
So no, it’s not about disrespect. It’s about refusing to normalize decisions that have clearly caused harm on a national scale because if we keep pretending that every choice deserves equal respect, even when the outcome is this damaging, then nothing will change. We will keep paying for the same decisions over and over again.
- Iniobong Udoh
