Do you really think Nigeria is still democratic?

Hey beautiful person, been a long time, I know, I’m disappointed in myself too😔.



Anyway, I’m not someone who enjoys talking about politics but when I do, I like to get my facts right.
I had a conversation with some friends about this whole “democracy” “godfatherism” and finally “ the ridiculous amount required of aspirants of political seats in Nigeria”.

That’s what prompted this 🤗.

 Ever heard of “godfatherism”?

 Yes, no? Doesn’t really matter honey, either way I want you to have a key idea of what “ godfatherism” is. Godfatherism is a form of political corruption in which an influential member of a political party helps another person in the climb to leadership.
Political parties demand ridiculous fees for nomination forms from political aspirants. 

That’s not even the juiciest part... so the senate passed an electoral act amendment bill that promises to abolish the arbitrary fees for nomination forms fixed by political parties.

Basically, these people felt that reducing the fees slightly would automatically make things better. 

Our very own president Buhari claims to have borrowed the 25million naira for his nomination form in the build up to the 2015 general elections.
So that last part wasn’t exactly important, I just felt you should know, cause it is funny, I guess 😂.
Okay okay enough goofing around, so basically just to get a nomination form to contest for presidency as at 2015 you needed to have one 25 million naira that you are not using 😂. Sad. Really.

However though, due to the amendment bill the senate passed, now in 2018, one needs 500,000 naira to get a nomination form for house of assembly, 1million naira for House of Representatives, 2 million naira for senatorial, 5 million naira for governorship and 10 million naira for presidency.That’s just for the form excluding campaign. 

Basically only the elite can truly afford it on their own and these people know this.
In relation to the upcoming 2019 general elections, the age requirement for nomination for presidency, senate, governorship is 35 years and 25 years for house of assembly and representatives.

Here’s the big question... 

How does an average young woman or man with sincere motives and the desire to run for any of these offices afford the  ridiculous fees while also being aware that winning is a 50/50 chance?
Some can afford it, fine but what happens to those who can’t, they either give up or rely on a godfather. 

Let’s throw it back a little... I told you what godfatherism is. From the definition, you can already tell that it poses a negative impact on the leadership and development of a country. How? You  may ask.
The godchild has to pay gratification to his or her godfather by doing their every bidding, including things that are illegal. At this point, corruption is already seeping in. You dig?
I don’t know why I firmly believe that if the younger generation is allowed to take charge of things, Nigeria would be better but let’s come back to reality, how can we take charge with all these outrageous fees required to run  for office when we merely can afford the everyday cost of living as average Nigerians.
 
Finally, I have a bigger question,
How can we curb (corruption through godfatherism) while the situations ranging from purchase of nomination forms for political seats to campaigns for elections are still almost impossible for a young average man or woman who intend to run for such seat?

Have a comment/contribution?... don’t be shy love, use the comment section, I’m glad you saw the post interesting enough for you to read this far.  Thank you.  😅 phew! My thumbs are slightly sore from typing so much. 

See you soon ❤️

CHINWEKENE🌹