Election Morning

It's election morning in Nigeria, people are sharpening up their PVC to vote and in the process, pick a new President. There's palpable expectation in the air because this particular election feels like it'll be quite pivotal in Nigeria's history.

There are about 18 political parties vying for office but three of the lot are quite popular. Those three candidates are Peter Obi, Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar.

They're all within their rights to try to be President by virtue of being Nigerian. They are all very rich men but only one of them got his wealth legitimately.

Anyway, this publication isn't an opportunity to campaign for Peter Obi or tell you why he is the best candidate. This publication is to talk about the general mood in my area and how people feel.

Apocalypse shopping

Yesterday, I went to the supermarket to restock rice in our home and I saw a decent number of people doing apocalypse-style shopping. There was a big crowd, they were scared and they looked like they were going to board up their houses when they get home.

I try not to get caught up in panic shopping but if you've lived in Kaduna or anywhere in the North that has been ravaged by violence, you will know the importance of apocalypse shopping.

Assuming things go crazy during the election today, it is not out of the question for the government to institute a 24hr curfew and that's what many people are preparing for. Kaduna, my city, is notorious for being a hotspot for craziness so that further explains why people were doing apocalypse shopping.

We also did some shopping ourselves but not necessarily of the apocalyptic variation. We basically got our standard stuff we'd get and put the house in tip-top condition.

Naira scarcity

One thing that has brought a lot of tension and is still a big problem is the unavailability of Naira notes. In fact, in recent times, these notes have become somewhat of a luxury for many of us.

When I and my wife hit the market some days ago, we didn't have any physical cash. Keep in mind that the market is not the kind of place where you swipe cards but we were fortunate to have regular customers with bank accounts.

All we did was take their bank account numbers and then transfer whatever we owed them later at night. It was quite tedious but hey, at least we got what we needed.

Crypto policies

Cryptocurrencies don't form an integral part of campaign manifestos because Nigerians have more fundamental problems. For example, there's no electricity in my house right now.

In any case, based on the precedence of the three major candidates, it is safe to assume that they'll all be pro-crypto. However, I expect Tinubu to institute a lot of regulations, I expect Atiku to be loose-handed and Peter Obi will be intentional about generating Internal revenue with tax.

Of the lot, Peter Obi still seems like the one that will have better ideas about how to treat crypto in Nigeria since he has some years of experience working in the SEC. I still don't trust politicians but I think the banks will take kindly to his victory and crypto will no longer be as maligned as it is today.

In summary

I'm not expecting a miracle from the winner because the problems with the country run deep. However, I want a president that will work for the common good of the country and not be a cunt.

Even if the president doesn't do well, I want to experience democracy and not this pseudo-dictator that condones the shooting of unarmed protesters.

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