What We Think about when We Think about Elections in Nigeria

Every four years, Nigerian voters go to the polls and vote for the candidates they believe will represent them best in government. In the months before elections, the country is covered in the many colours of its political parties, each employing various strategies to sell their candidates to the voters. In more advanced democracies, political parties are driven by ideology. Members of these parties are bound not by tribe or religion but by unison of perspective on social, economic and political matters. These perspectives shape policy propositions and form the foundations on which manifestos are built. In such countries, citizens are able to make choices that reflect their personal leanings on issues like healthcare, education, foreign policy and security interventions. Since Nigeria’s independence, a significantly different range of considerations have framed voters’ choices. Many have argued that Nigerian political parties do not have ideologies; and that even before independence, ethnic and money politics relegated issue-based politics to the background. This is true for many reasons.