Over the years, Nigerians have looked towards election periods as an opportunity to fix Nigeria, especially since this current democratic dispensation began. This is of course understandable in a democracy. It also explains why nonprofits and international organizations (and observer groups) put a lot of effort and resource into sensitizing, educating and mobilizing the public to participate in the general elections.

However, elections have become an over exaggeration of what one may consider a basic duty of a citizen in a democratic state. In fact, electing public officials, as important as it is, is one of the most primary and arguably the least of the duties of a citizen in a democracy. That is why it is a basic right and duty. It constitutes only a fraction of what democracy expects of citizens.

The current narrative, which over the years has become a constant feature of the electioneering process, tends to portray the general elections as the altar upon which the fate of a nation is marred or made. This is hardly a correct notion, yet it has been swirled around over and again. More so, it portends a certain dysfunction within our public consciousness whereby citizens accede to the idea that the only duty they owe the state is to cast the ballot during the polls and wait for another four years to repeat the process.

This is not only a flawed thinking, it is fatal as well. This is so because it relegates the more important duties of watchfulness, of advocacy, of been vanguards, to the background, and consign it to a minute few, who in turn have carved it as an opportunity to obtain for themselves special morsels. The citizenry over time thus become lethargic to issues of governance, and eventually become senile until the election cycle returns.

Indeed, to elevate the significance of election participation, without doing so in tandem with a preparedness for sustained post election engagements is an unwise denial of our political reality and the current state of our democratic evolution. For one, while our electoral process continues to evolve, it is yet to reach a state of avowed credibility where elections can be accepted as free and fair. This makes the possibility of the subversion of the people’s will a real concern. And without such credibility, democracy is weakened, and the people’s chief instrument for exercising power is curtailed.

Secondly, the contextual reality of our sociopolitical and socioeconomic states makes for a depressing purview of election outcomes even before the first ballot is cast. Factual evidences make it plain that we still reside in the dark ages as far as political enlightenment and democratic culture is concerned. To make matters worse, widespread illiteracy and poverty have become weaponized by a complicit and cruel political class. The cumulative effect of these is that the primary electorate participating in the election is already conquered and pocketed by the political class, and are therefore subject to the whims and dictates of the political class.

To consolidate and secure this duplicitous gains, our sociopolitical and economic system have become systemically rigged such that the possibility of clinching power for non-class members is simply remote, or in some cases, out-rightly impossible. Thus the entire sociopolitical and economic system is set up to serve, preserve and defend the interest of a privileged few. It s crafted in a fashion such that only this privileged few have unrestricted access to the common wealth with which they oppress and maintain the status quo. The rest are by design compelled to look up to them for sustenance.

This is why socioeconomic immobility is an intentional encumbrance, which by design is to keep a sizeable portion of the electorate entangled in the pockets of the political class. By default, once coupled with a deliberately engineered illiteracy, a psychical siege is formed that checkmates the reasoning and decision-making capacity of the average electorate and reduce him to an unfortunate stooge of the political class. When we are thus contesting against such a rigged sociopolitical and economic system, elections are of little avail.

With these, the political class becomes reclusive, and outsiders simply have no access to power. The machinery, means and tools for attaining power are exclusively controlled by the political class. Those who are not members of this class simply have no access to those tools through which they can acquire power. Thus, the political class never loses. They are strategically positioned to win regardless of the outcome of any elections since those who have genuine possibility of winning are members of their class.

Thus, to the extent that these realities exist, it remains highly unlikely that Nigeria can be fixed at the polls. While of course we must strongly encourage participation in elections, we must be quick to alert citizens to the more important duties that await them once elections are concluded. These duties, admittedly, are daunting. Yet, our present circumstances offer us no alternatives, but to embrace these difficult duties wholesomely.

To kick start this process, a massive campaign of enlightenment will be required to brew the necessary political culture and consciousness that we need for development to take root. Without adequate political literacy, especially within the context of our democracy, freedom cannot be attained. Thus, to fix Nigeria, we must first galvanize a mass of enlightened citizens, and agitate against the system through consistent citizen action that is strategically coordinated and directed.

Thankfully, the citizen movement of Nigeria (www.citizenmovement.org.ng) has started the process. It remains to be seen, whether this difficult process to transformation will be embraced by Nigerians.

*Boluwaji Davids*

We can get Nigeria working Again