While I was in high school all I pictured democracy to be was a safe haven for everyone. I thought it was the way out of tyranny, wickedness, greed, and suffering.
I visualized it to be the best form of government because I presumed since we are the ones in charge, we are the ones to make choices for the kind of leaders we want, everything will fall into place but everything changed when I began to participate properly in the electoral activities of my country.
It was just like in a movie, we cast our vote that day, and everyone already knew that the person we elected for governor was going to win, in fact going by the reports we got from the polling units around us and from the local governments that are most populated, we started celebrating already.
But to our surprise, when the result was announced, the winner was someone different. One of the biggest problems we have with democracy in Nigeria is election rigging.
By nature, every foundation laid wrongly if not corrected is sure to bring the entire building down someday. If you ask me, I would say we don't practice democracy in Nigeria. The voices of the masses are thrash, the citizens are civilized slaves.
"Your voice is important, your vote will count, you are important, you are the government," this is what they kept telling us but we have been talking, we have been making moves, we have done all we know to do to get right leaders yet they fold our efforts and rights like a piece of paper and throw it into a waste bin.
In fact, if you speak in such a way that is considered to be a threat to those in the government, your life might be at stake.
Only a particular set of people rule the country, only they decide, only they suggest, unfortunately, these individuals are driven by their selfish interests birthed majorly from tribalism, personal gains and religion. The masses are like sheep that are bound to always turn in the directions they are tossed to. Sometimes, we don't even have a say, our electoral rights are only alive in the Constitution but in reality, they are invalid. We vote, they decide.
I kept wondering if democracy is now just for the leaders and the big daddies of the country alone. Look at what is currently happening in Nigeria, ever since they removed subsidies from fuel, the country has been on fire.
People protested, some died in the process, and some sustained terrible injuries just to send their voices to the government but what result did it yield? Nothing. I doubt if it's democracy we are really practicing in this part of the world.
What Is The Way Out?
Honestly, until we are able to thrash the issue of election rigging in Nigeria, we may never enjoy democracy, and to achieve that the issue of corruption has to be dealt with properly.
But is that even possible? I fear not because humans will always be humans, our selfishness and greed will always surface when we see opportunities. In the end, unless God intervenes in bringing men he has worked upon thoroughly and has instilled his fear in their hearts, this problem might not be solved.
