Those who expect a hungry, uneducated man to have an understanding or care about the power of his one vote expect too much. As long as man has a hunger problem, his life choices will always be dictated by the immediate satisfaction of that urge. Abraham Marslow already answered these questions.

I once watched in Abuja during the local government elections as voters sold their votes. It is a constant phenomenon in Nigerian elections and the practice cuts across all the political parties and all the regions of Nigeria. This reality then makes something clear; it would always be in the interest of politicians to have as many poor people in their constituencies as possible. It is easier to pay a man or woman N500/vote than it is to convince a conscious population to believe in your vision or manifesto. In the end, as long as the majority of Nigerians remain poor, elections will NEVER produce the right kind of leaders for our country. Where is a country that constantly elects the worst of its people headed?

One man/woman, one vote sounds great and just in theory but while it appears a just balance for the election of leaders, that appearance becomes skewed in certain societies. In a country of mostly poor people, one man/woman, one vote is not what it is; it is what the worth of each poor person’s vote is. If the average cost of buying the votes of poor people is say N500, then it is N500, one vote. In Nigeria today, one man/woman one vote is a sham. In the United States, not all votes are equal. That’s why the Electoral College remains a very powerful political institution. If we care about producing the best in a pool of leaders available for election, we’d have to focus a lot of energy and resources on educating voters. If people do not know the opportunity cost of the N500 they prefer to have for their vote, we’d never produce the right leaders in this country.

Government will not carry out this voters’ education. If they do, the purpose would not essentially be to educate voters; it would be to have a reason to spend. It is in the interest of most incompetent people in government to have the status quo remain. They know that having enough money to share during elections is about the only barrier to have to cross to return to office. If it is true that an average politician just wants to win the next election, then we should not expect that they would be in a position to canvass for the education of voters. Those who care about change must bear this particular cross. Civil society, the media and active citizens must adopt this burden of voters’ education if they really want elections to matter in Nigeria. Expecting the INEC to do this is expecting too much of an organisation that has not even been able to do its basic responsibilities even up to the general mediocre standard acceptable in Nigeria. The less we burden such an incompetent organisation with, the better for everyone.

It needs stating again, we will never produce the right kind of leaders for this country as long as our people, mostly poor, mostly illiterate continue to be shackled by what they will eat and what they will wear. If we don’t change this, we can’t change anything.

I am @omojuwa on Twitter

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