Steemit Engagement Challenge S8-W3 | Elections in my Country

Flier by @talktofaith from canva

Hello dear friends, welcome to the week 3 of the Steemit engagement challenge. The previous weeks' challenge had been amazing, and today we have a very interesting topic in Steem Cameroon Community.

In today's challenge, we are to talk about elections in our various countries, if you missed the contest post you can access it here. Meanwhile in my entry here, I am going to be talking about the Nigerian Election.

Questions

The below are the questions I will be answering in the context of my post here.
What do you think about Elections in your country:

What do you think about the electoral system in your country?

How is it done in your country?

Is it transparent and fair in your country..

Elections In Nigeria

Before I proceed with the discussion of elections in Nigeria, let me throw a little light on election definition.

Election according to the Oxford Dictionary is defined as a formal and organized choice by vote of a person for a political office or other position. It is a formal way by which the people (organization, country etc) decides who to lead them by way of voting.

Relating to Nigeria, election is a means in which Nigerian citizens decides who sits on each political position as our leader. But unfortunately, the reversed is the case in Nigerian elections.

The Nigerian general election was held for the first time on 20 September 1923. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) won three of the four elected seats in the Legislative Council.

After the 1923 election, another election was conducted in 1959 which ushered in political independence, conducted and superintended by the British colonial government. It produced the political leaders of Nigeria at independence from 3 political parties ( The National Council for Nigerian and Cameroons (NCNC), Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and Action Group (AG)). There was seeming arrangements that portrayed power sharing and no political party looked too irrelevant in the political process as at then.

Fast-forward to 1964 till date, the Nigerian elections had been characterized with intense rigging, violence and manipulations.

Since independence, the outcomes of fraudulent elections had always been a threat to the national peace and security of Nigerians. These manipulations had continually questioned the existence of Nigeria and brought its economy to its knees; creating an ugly image of Nigeria as a nation that takes one step forward, while taking several steps backwards in a bid to achieve it's nationhood and economic development.

These manipulations were so bad that most citizens including myself, lost interest in participating in elections.

But recently, many young Nigerians has woken up in view of this election as their chance to have a major say in the country’s complicated politics, and to push the reset button. But the echoes of the past kept repeating.

The Nigerian Electoral System

The Nigerian electoral system is organized and supervised by a special electoral body called INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission). This body is supposed to be independent of any Electoral decision. They are supposed to ensure that free and fair Election is been carried out in Nigeria, but unfortunately the reversed is the case.
This body had been corrupted and manipulated by the corrupt leaders. They ensure the rig of elections, even the very obvious ones that is open to all. And if they refuse to comply with the rigging terms of the corrupt leaders, they either get sacked or assassinated. Basically, the Nigerian Electoral system is highly corrupt.

How Electoral Systems Are Done In Nigeria

Pre-Election Run:

This committee (INEC) organizes and controls all the conditions of this period, and prepares everything needed for the voting process. The different registered political parties selects their candidates. Then these candidates presents their manifestoes to the public, run campaigns and try to win the hearts of the citizens.

Citizens Registration:

All citizens who has attained voting age (18years) gets registered and obtain their voter's card. Only registered citizens are eligible to vote. The campaigns of parties should never collide with the right of citizens to express their political preferences.

The Secret Ballot System:

This secret ballot system allows citizens to cast their votes secretly into the ballot to avoid intimidations. Here only the voters goes to the ballot boot to cast their votes for their preferred candidate.

The Electronic Voting System:

This is supposed to be the most effective invention applied in the Nigerian voting process. Here everyone tomb prints on the electronic machine (BVAS) and as well as face capture. This machine is supposed to make it impossible to falsify results of the votes or even rig an election. The BVAS takes accurate count of everyone that casts their votes on the set voting day, their tomb print, facial capture to compliment the secret ballot system.

Transparency And Fairness Of Nigerian Election

Just like I said from the onset, Nigerian Election has never been transparent and fair right from 1964. It had been from one rigging and manipulation to the other. Even with all the processes put in place to ensure a free and fair Election, the corrupt guys still find a way to manipulate and rig the election. The votes of the masses had never counted for once.

Normally Nigerians will always keep quite after each election, but after the 2023 presidential election which was open to all, we are not keeping quite any more. The honour must be restored to the rightful winner.

Solutions For Free And Fair Election

Currently Nigerian leaders operates as lawless individuals. They live and carry out operations as though they are above the Nigerian laws and constitutions. So they do things mindlessly and get away with it. That is why they rig the election and nothing is been done about it.

So my suggested solution to free and fair Election is this:

• Some Foreign Bodies To Oversee The Final Result Of Nigerian Election:
  Bodies such as the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union(AU), the Commonwealth, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations should delegate candidates to see to the final outcome of Nigerian elections, since Nigeria is also under these bodies.

• Let an independent judiciary be set up to interpret the electoral laws.

• Let there be an honest and competent non-partisan electoral body to manage the elections.

• The citizens should insist on their right for their votes to count, other than swallowing whatever the leaders come up with.

Conclusion

Nigerian Election really need a serious attention. The recent 2023 presidential election was a clear evidence of a lawless and corrupt leaders we have here in Nigeria. Citizens needs to rise up to their rights and stand by it without compromise.

I also invite some of my friends @beewrites, @ninapenda and @okere-blessing to come and share their view of the Nigerian Election.

Thanks guys for visiting my post, don't forget to drop a reasonable comment.

Best regards