It is not rocket science and data does not lie: if all registered voters who refuse to go and vote in Nigeria are lumped under a political party, Good People Party (GPP), all candidates of GPP would have won all the presidential elections since 1999. Yes, the power remains with the citizens despite the rigging: GPP would have won over PDP, APC, or whatever party incarnation. The politicians know this, and do everything to ensure you do not vote, because if you do not vote, the party faithfuls will anoint one of their own.
The number of registered voters for Lagos and Kano States were 6.5 million and 5.4 million respectively for the 2019 presidential election. Out of those, about 1.1 million voted in Lagos while Kano had 1.9 million. Simply, 5.4 million voters in Lagos sat out. Those votes belonged to the GPP, and if the GPP had received them, it would have won Lagos, over APC!
Note that having only 6.4 million people as registered voters (with only 1.1 million voting) is also a concern as Lagos has at least 10 million people who are eligible to vote. The implication is this: about 10% of eligible voters actually vote in the nation’s largest city.
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Why am I making this post? I am responding to those who think Nigeria’s problems are so unique that you must be living in Nigeria to understand them. America wanted change and they went out to vote. Yes, as I noted here, I voted against Trump because I hated his education policy which failed to understand one thing: in a class of 40 students, 4 black and 4 latinos might have needed affirmative action to get in, but on graduation day, 8 of them possibly would not have ended the bottom of the class.
So, that they needed help to get in was due to the system not being fair to them. If that is the case, you cannot abolish affirmative action without fixing first the systemic discrimination the black and latino kids face in America. It has nothing to do with lack of merits: it is simply this: even the “merit system” is tainted.
In Nigeria, we want change, and yet no one goes out to vote. That is why the “minority” of party faithfuls who always show up will continue to decide the destiny of all.
Your vote remains the missing power Nigeria needs to be transformed. Learn to use that power if you want a different nation.
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That is a challenge with democracy, it works better if you have enlightened and sophisticated citizens as majority, but it’s a disaster when you have low information public people as majority; the latter is Nigeria’s case for you.
The good guys can try their best, go out to vote, but they are in minority. Just hold a conversation on the streets, and you will appreciate how rotten and terrible an average citizen is. I fear for this land, you struggle to meet decent humans; it’s quite tiring and discouraging. Even when people talk as though they have principles or they are ethically sound, just wait until it’s time to take a stand on something.
If those GPP gang came out to vote, many would still exchange their votes for N500, gala or face cap. Elections can’t save Nigeria, even if you bring angels to conduct them, until we begin to produce decent humans in large numbers; for now it’s a hopeless situation.
Strange people, in a strange land.