Politeracy Nigeria

When faced with new and different-looking candidates from political parties that they do not know, many voters respond with - the alternatives are not credible. They are not popular enough our people say, and they do not have experience, and most of all they are not prepared to do what the more popular and experienced candidates do to win the elections.  Let us examine each of these three characteristics of candidates that are considered not credible by Nigerian standards. Before we do, just answer this question - what are the results that we have gotten so far from the so-called "credible" ones? Are we more comfortable with the devils that we know than with the angels that we do not know? Or are we like rape victims who having been raped so many times start inviting their rapists to continuously violate them?  So, are the present crop of establishment Nigerian politicians who have failed to deliver the dividends of democracy actually popular or are they actually “notorious”....

In every election cycle in Nigeria there always emerges a brand of forward-thinking, energetic candidates that speak truth to power, campaign in disruptive and unconventional ways and unfortunately do not belong to the political parties that seem to know how to win elections.  The general sentiment around such candidates is that they are an unnecessary “distraction” since in reality they can never win the elections. In fact, putting it simply even people who believe in their approach, manifesto and plans remain skeptical and keep convincing themselves and others around them, that voting for such candidates will be a waste of their votes. Is it therefore a surprise that such candidates never win?  Let’s imagine that it takes 1,000 people to choose a winner in an election. 120 of the people (12%) already know that they will be voting for Candidates A or B - the usual suspects from the two dominant parties. There is a third candidate C from another lesser known party who has real...

One of the reasons why many educated and enlightened people do not bother voting in Nigerian elections is that they believe that elections will be rigged anyway. Little do they know that in reality, the chances of rigging only exist and increase when registered voters do not actually go out to vote.  Let’s explore this with an example: You see if there are 1,000 registered voters at a polling unit and only 300 of them show up, it means that corrupt party officials can collude with corrupt election officials and security agents to finger-print unused ballot papers in alleys and empty buildings near the polling units and then stuff the empty ballot boxes with these fake ballots. This is how rigging happens! If on the other hand, all the 1,000 registered voters show up, there will be no excess un-used ballot papers to finger-print and stuff and even if fake additional ballot papers are introduced later, the total number of votes counted at the polling unit will exceed the 1,000 maximu...

You often hear people say rather dismissively about politics that “our votes don’t count”. This statement was spun in the deepest recesses of hell by Satan himself to deceive Nigerians and to prevent us from exercising our democratic franchise. In a country where only 12% of eligible voters actually vote, saying these words only discourages people further from voting.  So, let’s examine the veracity of this statement. If our votes do not count, why do evil politicians spend a fortune giving out gifts and inducements to voters before elections? Why do incumbents go around with public funds under the guise of state-sponsored empowerment initiatives to give out cash gifts and incentives while wearing party T-shirts just before elections? Why did we see videos of people exchanging cash for pictures of their ballot papers after elections in Nigeria?  The answer is simple, evil politicians are not stupid! They will not spend all that money and resources on trying to “buy the love” o...