Elections in my country.. || 10% to steem4nigeria.

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Introduction

Before I start, ill love to complement the effort of @steem4nigeria in bringing out this viable contest. Truly your efforts are commendable and I want to make use of this opportunity to share my thoughts. Because theres a saying;

Opportunity comes but once...

Elections has been an important aspect of a democratic country or state. Weve heard several versions of Democracy, defined by certain political beaureucrats but ill love to go with that of the Past president of the United State which says;

Democracy is the Government of the people, for the people and by the people. ~ Abraham Lincoln.

As part of civilization and realization of whats to come, weve had different countries around the world that has followed in the pattern of democracy.

Election on the otherhand is how these politicians are chosen to sit on seats of authority. So to crown it all up, democracy relies on elections for support. Why is because people are the ones who are doing the vote.

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Nigerian Government

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Nigeria as a country is practicing Democracy which is a system where the people or citizens go out to vote for who they want in power.
Well ill carry you along in a brief history about my country.

We had our independence on 1st October 1960 after being ruled by the British empire. As at then, the british rule was governed by our lady, Queen Elizabeth who passed away weeks ago.
After colonial rule they handed over power to our very first Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was the first President of the country.
At some point in the country there was a military rule where military personels were in places of authority and coupdetát was their way of changing those in authority.

Election methods employed in Nigeria

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In Nigeria right from the word 'go', weve been running elections through voting at polling units. The votes are being carried out by means of balot boxes. On the days of elections, citizens queue up to cast their votes inwhich after the elections, the boxes are collated and accountability is gotten by means of counting and the candidate with the highest vote is declared winner.

In my country, voting age is at 18years. So as soon as a person reaches age 18, he or she is eligible to enroll in PVC(Personal Voters Card) exercises which will see the person eligible to vote. As at the time I turned 18, I was still busy with school things and didn't really think of participating in the elections. As soon as ASUU(Academic Staff University Union) went on strike, the youths nationwide opted for a change in the government as the present government didnt really think of the students in the country. It was then that the awareness of active political participation clouded our minds. It was also then that I decided to get my PVC and prepare for the upcoming election coming February 2023.

My Election Experiences

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Well since I didnt participate in the one that took place February 2018, I actually watched it on news and heard about how it went. When the then H.E Goodluck Ebele Jonathan handed power to the Mohammadu Buhari who won the election beating his running mate, Atiku Abubakar to some marginal differences. Not to be biased, there were level of violences experienced during that time. The one that really touched me was the death of certain nigerians who were on service to their nation and the hijacking of ballot boxes. Ill love to the experience wasn't worth it. It was bad.

Suggest a way of electing leaders

Electoral malpractice is one thing that is dominant in my country and this include all activities aimed at disrupting a peaceful electoral process. This can include hijacking ballot boxes and so on. One way of stopping this is to make the elections online and secure it with good security systems to avoid hacking. This will help reduce some malpractices. This is my thought.

I wouldn't prefer any other form of governance. Democracy is the key to any governable state or nation.