Senegal, Nigeria [Insecurity, Vote Buying, Intimidation, Arson, Ballot Boxes Snatching, Killings, Collusions & Thuggery], South Africa [Corruption and ESKOM] and Malawi [vote forgery claims] all has concluded their elections, but disputes over retail corruption [vote-buying-scheme] has trailed the results!
Since the beginning of 2019, Africa has witnessed elections in; Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa and Malawi Peter Mutharika winning by 40.9% of the votes with suspended election in Algeria. Benin Republic holds it’s parliamentary elections on 28th April, 2019 and council polls in Ghana and Egyptian referendum of President Abdul Fatah el-Sisi tenure elongation by the parliament till 2030.
Algeria and Sudan re-written Africa’s democratic struggles, the citizens of thee countries embarked on ‘democratic revolution’ that saw the eventual resignation of Algeria’s fifth term ‘ailing’ president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika on 3rd, April, 2019 [who has being in power for 20 years] and Sudanese 30 years ‘sit tight and war crime criminal’ Omar el- Bashir who was forced out of power by protests and civil disobedience on 10th April, 2019.
Nigeria elections witnessed a new dimension in election manipulation through ‘retail corruption’ – [vote-buying-scheme]. It was a sophisticated deployment of voters’ influence by desperate politicians. There about four folds and types of these deployment:
1.Snap your thumb-printed ballot paper in the voting cubicle with your phone and present same to a party agent as a proof that you actually voted for his/her party, and pronto you are paid on the spot for N5,000. This scenario manifested weightily in Osun State gubernatorial election.
2.’Vote-and-cook-soup’ – ‘dibo-ko-sebe’, this mantra was heavily deployed in Ekiti State gubernatorial election.
3.Permanent Voters Card [PVC] Numbers are collected by respective party agents and after the counting of votes at the polling units, and the party agents verify your number that you voted for his/her party, you are paid.
4.Cold Calling: Political parties called prospective voters numbers and inundate him/her with their party achievements and manifesto’s, also the issue of unsolicited SMS, Social Media ‘fire hose streams’ are used to influence voters thorough false and fake news, brainwashing, indoctrination, and vulgarize use of words against political opponents all in the bid to secure votes and voters empathy.
It was estimated that Africa is losing over $80 billion annually to Illicit Financial Flow [IFF], according to former South Africa President, Thabo Mbeki, African Union Chairperson on Illicit Financial Flow [IFF]. This act is been perpetrated by corrupt African leaders, due to lack of; good governance, responsibility, accountability, transparency, integrity and selfless service.
The ascension to power through fraudulent means by politicians in Africa has continued to put the continent on an easy leeway for perpetuation of ‘laundromart’ of its resources by its leaders uncontrollably.
By some estimates close to US $400 billion was stolen between 1960 and 1999. Sani Abacha alone is estimated to have stolen the equivalent of 2 – 3 per cent of the country’s GDP for every year that he was President.
With over 201 million people presently and estimated 300 million people in 2050, Nigeria is set to become the third most populous country on earth. Nigeria is seemingly preparing for a ‘humanitarian catastrophe revolution’, the country presently has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world of over 13.2 million children after India and Afghanistan.
Only 45% of girls in northern Nigeria attends school, while Ebonyi State, South East accounts for the highest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria. One in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria.
United Nations Children Fund [UNICEF] estimates that 60% of out-of-school children lives in the northern Nigeria as government funded schools has collapsed due to poor funding.
The country also remains the poverty-capital of the world, with over 91 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty level. Six Nigerians receding to poverty level in every 30 minute as they earned .
Nigerian politicians and assembly men keep increasing their allowances, ‘failed and non-executing’ constituency projects, and budget padding. Nigeria National Assembly has the highest overhead running cost assembly in the world.
Nigeria’s outgoing 8th National Assembly has allocated to themselves over N23.7 billion as severance allowance and gratuity, while the poor electorates are made to sweat, toiled and suffered in the midst of plenty!
Retail Corruption [Vote-Buying-Scheme] has continued to put the enthroning and institutionalizing of good democratic governance in Africa at risks and the grave danger it portends has seen African countries battling; poverty, terrorism, strife, unemployment, famines, disease ravaged population, dearth of infrastructural development, fraud, corruption, insecurity, nepotism and ‘laundromart’.
Senegal’s Macky Sall, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Malawi’s Peter Mutharika all has destiny tied to their aprons!