Possibly what is happening in Nigeria currently also happens in a number of countries but to date I have not been actually involved in a country where it happened so it has interested me as a topic.
The Nigerian elections have been delayed for 6 weeks!
This whilst the current government concentrate apparently on dealing with the terrorism mainly in the north east of the country.
Their actual statement said they postponed “to give a new multinational force time to secure northeastern areas under the sway of Boko Haram.” as “Millions could be disenfranchised if the voting went ahead while the Islamic extremists hold a large swath of the northeast and commit mayhem that has driven 1.5 million people from their homes.”
Now the elections will be held on 28th March and 11th April and the main contender Mohammed Buhari is making a stand to say they will not tolerate any further delays. He also states that the ruling party have done this to avoid defeat.
Goodluck Jonathan (ruling party) maintains that the handover day of 29th May will be upheld whatever occurs and he “remains committed to vacating office if not re-elected”
Well – YES – you would have to vacate surely – if you are not elected you move out UNLESS you are having a coup of some sort – I am correct on this point am I not?
Of course the USA has also put it’s thoughts into the mix and stated “It is critical that the government not use security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process”.
What is the democratic process anyway?
In my mind, every country seems to have different ways of counting votes and deciding on their leaders so to what method of democracy do they refer?
I am put in mind of the older style beauty pageant contests where the participants were partly judged on what they said in an interview. When they were asked what they wanted to do with their lives they mostly stated they wanted to take on charitable roles or work for world peace. Having gone on to win (or not, in most cases) where are they all now?
What are the real concerns?
Are those protesting against the postponement truly concerned with the “democratic process” or are they intimating that something is possibly being rigged here and that politics is corrupt in some way? SURELY NOT!
Of course, it would be silly if that were the case as they themselves are all politicians and God forbid people should believe that they were only working for their own benefit..
After all political parties worldwide and in particular the heads of the parties are only pursuing their career paths and working for the good of their country and people and world peace aren’t they?
None of these politicians truly wants to stay in power purely to earn huge financial rewards and advancement for themselves do they?
They want to be remembered, just like the “Miss Pageant” girls, as great leaders (or is it winners?) who help the people of their countries, work for world peace and do great charitable acts.
And so the pageant continues.
