register to be voted for

Don’t just register to vote; register to be voted for also.



In one month Nigeria has witnessed a cataclysmic change in leadership, power changed from the North to the South, but not to the connected Yoruba with their sophisticated power structure and strong institutional human capital base, not to the commercially minded, republican Igbo but to the minority, people of Bayelsa state.

The people of the Delta have long been associated men, who fished at night and slept all day (literally), but without a shot being fired or the intrigues reminiscent of a proper African palace coup, a colourless Delta fellow became the most powerful black African in the world. Make no mistake the president of Nigeria commands oil revenues and juicy appoints he can dish out without going through any pesky congress.

What does this mean? I being a praying man, fully understand God is speaking to Nigerians, who have since crowded out His prayer request box with cries of “God, give us light”, “God give us water”, “God give us road”, so God answered Nigerian, “fellas, you can’t win a lottery unless you buy a ticket”.

In simple terms, Nigeria dodged a bullet in the form of YarAdua and his absence from governance, the Nigerian political class acted with maturity in following the constitution instead of a “gentleman’s” agreement by some old farts to rotate power amongst them. This maturity was enforced by ordinarily Nigerian in the mould of the “Save Nigerian Group” but most importantly by the direct and forceful pressure exerted by the United States of America. It was no coincidence that the Houses of Parliament agreed to “appoint” the Vice President as the “Acting” President only after a high ranking US official Mr Carlson met with the House and Senate leadership and a certain gap tooted general.

America does not want to fix a problem like Nigeria, for them, it is much cheaper to make sure no problem like Nigeria occurs. The problem with Nigeria is elections, because elections determine who controls the oil money and public spending. So fix the electoral process and you have fixed Nigeria, so goes the US theory. Hence to this end, the US signed a Bi National Commission pact; BNC, with Nigeria, central to that agreement is an explicit promise by the USA that they will do all in their power to ensure the 2011 elections are credible, free and fair.



Let me explain the strategy in simple terms, register to contest for a position, if you are running against a stronger opponent, you do not need to get more votes than your opponent, all you need to do is to prove your opponent cheated (stole a ballot box, used thugs etc) and i suspect the election tribunals will hand you the victory. This theory is not a product of the BNC pact, the election of Rotimi Amechi in Rivers was based on this precedent, but the BNC will seek enforce that precedent. Iwu was sacked because of the BNC, the new INEC chairman will be someone the US can work with, and the elections will be devoid of the “do or die attitude”. I predict that a large number of incumbents will lose out.

And the incumbents know this; they have sought to amend the constitution to help them in this event. First they have made the position of independent candidacy constitutional, they have said an indicted candidate can run, and most importantly they are looting the treasury (by increasing their constitutional allowances) to fund their re-election campaigns.



In 1999 many “smart” people (like you reading) stayed away and left the field clear for the “illiterate” politicians, the result has been years of corruption and mismanagement, do not let 2011 be like 1999. Many people are thinking, do i resign from my middle class job and seek the Governors House? Remember there are many non-executive positions, Ward Councillors etc, Do not only seek the high profile executive positions like Governors, Senators, etc, remember Ward Chancellor, LGA Chairman even State House seats also carry the power of change. Obama started as a community organiser.



Do not stand by, don’t just register to vote, register to be voted for also.



That’s one way of fixing this our problem.