The search for the word 'Nigeria' jumped to about 146% (according to Google Trends) and all over Nigeria, international observers were collating their own data about Nigeria's elections.
Nigeria is often treated as something of a criminal nation among white people, and one can half-understand why. Last year, I interviewed a British woman for an MBA event, she had a funny (to me, that is) story to tell.
I had asked all the regular questions ('what distinguishes your institution from the hordes at this symposium?' 'Are there special privileges for foreign students?'), and I had found her singularly delightful to talk to, so when I was done I, in a spirit of camaraderie, asked her: 'so how has your stay in Nigeria been so far?'
She had hesitated at first, before asking me quietly, 'is this off the record?'
I promised that it wouldn't go into the article I was writing her, at least not with her name in it, and she reluctantly answered.
She told me Nigeria was a horrible place - 'they took the light at my hotel!' - and that after she arrived the airport, her bag (with her laptop and mobile phone) was stolen within the hour. She blamed this on poverty and on Nigeria's incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan.
'It's a really sad place to live,' she had said. 'I just feel the president is so complacent and that the corruption here is really unprecedented, you know? I'm not sure this country can sustain itself for much longer. I've seen systems like this before. They never hold up for long.'
I had listened quite coolly to her answer, but inwardly I was regretting asking at all. I had expected a blanket answer ('my stay in Nigeria was fine, Justin!'), but confronted by this woman's 'brutal honesty,' I wasn't sure if it was patriotism or just irritation, but I was seething inwardly.
The thing is, she is not the only foreigner who has held that view of Nigeria. It will be recalled that Uncle Sam himself, the United States of America, 'prophesied' a few years ago that 2015 will be the year Nigeria would split up.
As Nigeria's elections swung into orbit, the Doomsday prophesies began to escalate, with the Boko Haram situation published, republished and re-titled with maniacal relish.
Yesterday, CBN published a story titled 'Nigeria: Muslim Candidate Beats Christian President in Elections; Now What?'
The deluge from Nigerians was almost instantaneous. The above headline, while decidedly accurate, is one of the ways the international community has been priming the pump in Nigeria.
One of the most popular headlines during Nigeria's election was from BBC (or CNN; I forget): 'Violence Mars Nigeria's Election.'
In a country with an antecedent for election violence, one might argue that this year's was relatively peaceful, but for the Westerners reporting, nothing would have given them more satisfaction than an actual breakout of violence.
A foreign reporter, Bram Vermeulen, took to Twitter post-election and tweeted: 'Here is a confession: I was one of those journalists predicting chaos after these elections. I was wrong." The Nigerians who saw that tweet practically gave him a hug and thanked him for his 'honesty' and 'open-mindedness.'
Take a deep breath for a minute and imagine an alternative universe where Nigeria's election did devolve into chaos. Imagine the media frenzy. Imagine the titles from Al Jazeera, from the BBC, CNN, Washington Post, NYPost, Time, Forbes and every single media house on God's green earth.
Speculation often meets speculation when the international community tries to predict the direction of Nigeria's future, using our complex ethnic and religious concatenation to project violence and doom upon the polity, but the fact remains that while Nigeria is a molten mass of otherwise standalone ethnic groups, we are learning from our painful, violent history, and where possible, Nigerians would choose peace over war.
In relation to the United States, Nigeria is a young nation, and while the West might be unable to keep the condescension out of its reporting from its vantage First-world position when talking about the country and Africa in general, it is quite heart-warming to see the West eat that humble pie with relish.
We promise, as Nigerians, to continue to disappoint the West's craving for schadenfreude.
- Written by Justin Irabor.
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