Economist, a well-respected magazine has just published a report about the recent elections in Nigeria. The report is titled: “Big men, big fraud and big trouble” and I have published parts of the opening paragraph, below:
EVER since Sani Abacha expired in the arms of two Indian prostitutes, possibly from an overdose of Viagra, in 1998, Nigerians supposed that their worst days were behind them. The “coup from heavenâ€, as Abacha’s death was called, seemed to release the country from three decades of increasingly ruinous military dictatorships that had brought Nigeria diplomatic isolation and economic collapse.
The rest of the article details instances of fraud, in many parts of the country. One can only wonder how the electoral commission came up with results when elections were not held in many parts of the country, or held very late in the evening.
Another part of the article I find interesting is the concluding part, where the magazine quotes veteran Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, when he wrote about corruption in Nigeria, 24 years ago!
“It is totally false to suggest that Nigerians are fundamentally different from any other people in the world. Nigerians are corrupt because the system under which they live today makes corruption easy and profitable; they will cease to be corrupt when corruption is made difficult and inconvenient. The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.â€
Thank you Sir. You couldn’t have said it better.
What did you expect in an election in which the President said that the election is a ‘do or die affair’? It is a slap on all Nigerians. But then, we always turn the other cheek.
Should we always turn the other cheek? For how long?
yes ooooooooooo naija elections was flawed we deserve better hear me make fun of the nigerian elections on youtube at this link take care
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