During its plenary, on Tuesday, the Nigerian Senate bowed to popular pressure and endorsed the electronic transmission of election results during the 2023 general elections. This move holds in-built capacity to alter the process of electing Nigeria’s President in 2023.
The Senate also adopted the resolution of the House of Representatives, which recommended direct primary as mandatory on political parties.
Being that the Senate position, on e-transmission and direct primaries, mirrors that of the House of Representatives, it is anticipated that it will gain the approval of the joint conference committee of the National Assembly on the 2021 Amended Electoral Bill.
When President Buhari gives his assent to this joint position of the National Assembly, a new climate for democratic elections would have been ushered in.
This climate is one which, by the aid of technology, promises that every vote will count, being not manually counted, and grants candidates direct access to the voter – bypassing party-leadership structures, influence of political office holders, political fixers and other entrenched interests.
It also holds the potential to project a competent political prospect, with recognizable performance credentials, onto the cockpit of Nigeria’s presidency, even under the aegis of a smaller, lesser-known party organization, by sailing on the wings of a popular “Common Cause” agenda.
It is no secret that these “entrenched interests” have, over the years, been regulating Nigeria’s destiny towards infamy, having hijacked the major political parties as a guarantee of control of political power.
The new legislation, welcome as it is, raises a fundamental question:
In a society which is ravaged by economic depression and hunger, and where politicians are known to give voters little money and guide them to vote, will this legislation make any difference towards liberating the needed transformational leadership?
The ‘Electoral College,’ a construct of the United States Constitution, from which jurisdiction Nigeria borrowed presidential democracy, provides a pathway to answering this question.
Recognizing the importance of the Office of President of the United States, and believing that the average American voter was not sufficiently mature to be entrusted directly the power to elect the President, the system of the “Electoral College” was established by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.
Since the term “Electoral College” does not appear anywhere in the Constitution, but is locked in Article II of the U.S. Constitution as part of the original design of the same Constitution, though ratified in the 12th Amendment in 1804, they made it necessary to pass a Constitutional amendment before the system may be changed.
Clearly, the same concerns which gave impetus to the “Electoral College” system, resonate in Nigeria of today.
Currently rated as the poverty capital of the world; under a system with low threshold of access to political power – enabling entry to persons with sub-normal intelligence, impaired vision and subordinate patriotism; and lacking the benefit of an Electoral College, bereft of the patriotic guidance of a Monarch, or a nucleoid-force for transformational politics, unconventional strategies are required to predispose Nigeria’s democracy as a reliable vehicle for recruiting effective leadership.
Why is Nigeria’s President in 2023 so important?
Nigeria is a country which is insufficiently-welded into a unity, and full of conflicting currents. The emerging signs of a deceased society are alarming, with official graft positioned as a sponge, which has absorbed no less than 500 billion USD off the national economy since 1999. Nigeria’s resources have increasingly been poured out in ventures only remotely connected with its real and vital interests.
What is required in 2023, if change is to make meaning, is the intelligent exploitation of every source of national revenue and a systemic annihilation of those forces and values that have acted as drag-wheels on the wagon of transformation.
Nigeria needs creative vitality and the continuous dynamic energy which nation-building truly requires.
As praecipium membrum (chief member) of the Nigerian State, the President is required to carry the burden of instilling an unmistakably reformed and puritan cast of thought and conduct in the polity. The absence of this climate of responsibility and duty-of-care, particularly across the leadership strata, strikes at the economic independence of the country and makes its political independence dubious.
The President is Nigeria’s symbol of independence and security. The silhouette of the Nigerian president that is fitting to accomplish the arduous task identified above, is the character-image with the Spartan discipline of a Miser, who is allergic to squander-mania, but is addicted to making productive investments.
Now, such a ‘Spartan’ character is unlikely to be supported to power by the Nigerian political establishment, or the major parties. But, the anticipated 2021 Amended Electoral Act would enable an unusual pole-vault, or three-point bypass to Aso Rock Villa.
Yet, there is hope. In the game of basketball, a “three-point” field goal is a field goal made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two points awarded for field goals made within the three-point line and the one point for each made free flow.
And that’s precisely the point of this musing. A transformational President needs to navigate the obstacles of the political system to execute change, because change is warranted. The prospect President could, with the provisions of the coming Electoral Act, largely score or win from outside the establishment “arc” or surround, without vitiating his or her vision when elected.
The fantasy of the writer is that, with the provision of “unhindered” flow and count of votes electronically, this Spartan imagery could craft a popular “Common Cause” agenda, reach out to voters directly countrywide, employing both traditional and new media and staking the reputation built during past public office outing, and emerge victorious.
Such a “Common Cause” agenda could have winnowed priorities, bonding measurable commitments-to-action in job creation, security, power supply, transportation infrastructure, trade, and education-for-skills.
But, I’m just musing, running wild in my fantasy.
In a paraphrase of Boney M, in his song “Felicidad:” “And I can’t help but feeling this way. You, president-in-waiting, are the one who can change Nigeria’s tomorrow today (2023);
“Won’t you ride on the wings of my fantasy; And this summer song, will last a whole life long.”
