30/08/2021
On May 31st 2018, President Buhari finally signed the "not too young to run" bill into law. Two years after rancorous back and forths between the government and the campaigners. It was a hard-fought victory. Finally, ordinary people like you and me had a chance to participate more in our country's political affairs.
In 2019, I participated fully in the 2019 presidential elections in my ward as part of a group of citizens ensuring that the elections went smooth and unhindered in our wards. I voted for the first time in my life, my preferred candidate as well as stayed back afterwards to make sure all was in order. It was the first time I would do much but it won't be the last. Currently, I look forward to the presidential elections, come May 2023.
Would you rather a repeat of the October Protests that swept across the nation and quickly erupted into mayhem and violence, loss of lives and properties or forestall being resentful at the government by actively making sure, that you do play your part in choosing the nation, it's next set of political leaders.
It’s not in the least surprising that so many Nigerians don’t vote. Data available has shown that usually vote turnouts are usually far lesser than the eligible number of voters available. Most Nigerians are fairly interested in politics, I must concede. From the average Nigerian to the middle social class and the well to do. If you look at survey data, you find more Nigerians are equally, if not more, engaged than their counterparts in other countries. Lookout this morning as you step out to work, you might see a little group of men in clusters, surrounding newspaper stands. They talk about politics. They are interested in political topics at the local level straight up to the federal level.
So why don’t people vote? As a regular Nigerian and youth, I've had firsthand interactions and exchanges with friends and family and invariably their position mirrors the mindset of most Nigerians.
