Beware Of Manipulation!

Aspirants for the highest office in Cameroon; the Presidency of the Republic,  are at the moment bringing out their trump cards in the pious hope of winning as many hearts as possible to choose them on the day of reckoning – October 7, 2018.

Understandably so as getting the honour to champion the course of a nation, especially leading a country as diverse as Cameroon, is not given to everyone. Having come thus far through the challenging electoral process, it is but normal for the nine contenders to hope for a place in the sun. More so as no universal suffrage election; with a one man one vote policy, is won or lost before the poll.

Unconceivable is however the fact that some candidates are already either crying foul of what they consider plans by this or that candidate or party to “Steal our Victory” with some even going as far as announcing the creation of “a committee for the defence of our victory.”

Which victory are we talking about when election is still to be held? Even if opinion polls have predicted the victory of this or that candidate, this shouldn’t be any justifiable reason to wholly cling to them to a point of making pronouncements that can at best derail the populace.

Better still, any candidate who relies wholeheartedly on opinion polls, whose error margins are almost always high, or depends on turnouts during campaigns to arrogate victory to himself, is utterly being naïve or deceptively so. Experience has shown that a multiplicity of factors swing votes and most often at the last minute.

Telling people that you will create a committee to defend your victory long before Election Day is either daydreaming or simply mischievously trying to win the sympathy of the population to achieve selfish gains. If there is one lawful and responsible thing any of the nine candidates can do at the moment to get to the coveted State House, it is soliciting votes.

Change should come through the ballot box and not the gun. Telling them that you will ‘defend your victory’ even before the match is played portrays intransigence even in the face of issues as unpredictable as election results. It also shows sheer irresponsibility and attempts to ruin the shoulders of citizens by someone aspiring to lead a State of law like Cameroon.

Cameroonians should not be fooled. Presidential aspirants should not transform themselves to objects of pity. The country needs men and women who can stand by the values of peace, unity and progress and work towards excellence and not those who would want to steal the relative peace the country enjoys at the moment. Sympathising with you (political leader) to give you a Presidential term of office on October 7, 2018 woul...