As those that will be the principal actors at next year’s general election continue to reveal themselves and declare for office, we need to take care and not let our support for whoever our preferred candidate is overshadow or cloud which side we are or should be really on. Let us keep at the forefront of our minds the denominators that is common to us all: corruption, unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, inadequate health service, educational sector reform, insecurity, inadequate energy supply, welfare especially for women and the girl child, our North East countrymen etc. It will be a real shame if we lose our civility as we go about campaigning for our preferred candidates.

Whilst the tendency of us not being able to find a common ground can already be noticed on Twitter from reactions to the various declarations. We need to punish and discourage chaos. Celebrate orderliness. Be disagreeable with each other without resorting to insult or violence. The truth is we all have varying levels of intelligence and exposure, so disagreements will happen between those that have more knowledge or information on issues than those that know less. Imparting knowledge with humility should be seen as a privilege. One is far more likely to succeed in imparting knowledge by being patient, gentle and zeal than through “know-it-all” attitude, cynicism or general obnoxious behaviour.

So please know and accept that it’s okay for others to disagree with your point of view as long as such disagreements does not lead to violations of human dignity or a further weakening of our already near comatose institutions.

#OurCommonDenominator