Opinion
By Peter Ojonugwa Ameh
For far too long, Nigeria has been held hostage by a deeply compromised electoral process that systematically denies the will of the people. Without credible elections, credible and committed leadership remains forever elusive.
Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, the legitimacy of those who have claimed victory at the polls has been repeatedly questioned and placed in serious doubt. When elections are rigged, the fundamental contract between the government and the governed is broken. Power is no longer derived from the votes of the citizens; instead, it is seized through manipulation, violence, and institutional fraud. The inevitable result is a profound lack of accountability. Leaders who do not owe their positions to the electorate feel no genuine obligation to serve the people.
The failure of Nigeria as a nation is rooted in this persistent criminality within our electoral system. Time and again, actual winners have been robbed of their mandates while losers have been fraudulently declared winners. This inversion of the democratic process has produced successive administrations lacking both moral authority and the incentive to deliver genuine progress.
Nigeria cannot and will not get it right for as long as elections continue to be stolen. Until the electoral process is purged of fraud and restored to integrity, the search for credible, committed, and accountable leadership will remain a futile exercise, and the nation’s development will continue to be held hostage by those who never truly earned the people’s mandate.
The consequences of a rigged election are monumental for our people, especially the most vulnerable. Electoral fraud dramatically inflates the cost of contesting elections, turning politics into the exclusive preserve of the rich and permanently excluding the vast majority of poor Nigerians from ever dreaming of seeking public office.
Only the mass participation and sustained vigilance of citizens can prevent these rascally motivated electoral heists. By standing guard over every vote and ensuring that ballots cast are not altered or stolen, the people themselves can disrupt the machinery of fraud.
Nigeria cannot get it right until elections reflect the true will of the people. Until then, legitimacy will remain contested, accountability will remain absent, the poor will remain shut out of power, and the nation will continue to pay the devastating price of stolen mandates.
The time for half-measures and empty rhetoric is over. Only free, fair, and transparent elections can restore legitimacy, re-establish accountability, and open the path to the leadership Nigeria desperately needs.
The time for passive observation is over. Citizens must rise, participate massively, and remain vigilant. Only then can we reclaim our democracy and open the door to the credible, committed leadership Nigeria desperately needs.
Ameh is
NDC 2027 KOGI EAST SENATORIAL CANDIDATE
And
National Chairman, CUPP
