For those who don't know, the Electoral College is a system that assigns points for every State in a Federation that is won by a Presidential candidate. The amount of points awarded is based on the population of the State. Since Nigeria is also using a U.S. style Federation system, I was surprised to see that Nigeria does not have an electoral college system. So, in other words, a State like Lagos, with about 13 million people, is practically just as important as Taraba, a State with a little over 2 million people.

Am I the only one that sees a problem with this? So, according to Nigerians version of Democracy, candidates can ignore the big States and spend money campaigning on the smaller States and still carry the election by merely scoring cheap land slide victories in the small States they campaign in.

They don't even have to get the majority of the votes in the votes in the entire nation. All they have to do is make sure the opposition candidate does not get 25 percent of the vote in 2/3rd of the States in the Federation.

Honestly, look closely Nigerians. This pathetic constition we have is clearly written to favor the North. No where else would 13 million people (in lagos) be just as valuable as 2 million people (in Taraba) when in comes to an election. So, in short, what the bastard that they call Abdul Salamy (President after Abacha died while banging a Prostitute) thinks is that the votes of Lagosians is worth less than 1/6th that of people the people of Taraba.

Once again, another idiot just wants us to import the American system (which by the way allowed Bush to rig his way into office) wholesale,

Chxta,

In as much as I don't agree with Afeni, I wouldn't go as far as calling him, or anyone else for that matter, an idiot, just because you don't agree with him.

If I still remember my university history well (present US history students, let me know if I am wrong), the electoral college system was set up because the "founding fathers" didn't trust the people at the time to make the right decisions when it came to who the president should be, neither did they think the people then were capable of making the right decisions. So, if the masses voted for A (say, based on popularity) but the ogas felt that A didn't have the political know-how, say, they would then turn around and vote for B. Secondly, in the US these days, it is common practice for all electoral college votes to go to one candidate, simply because the popular vote did. In the past, this wasnt the case.

Y I don't think its good for Nigeria? Cos of my first reason above. There is no need subverting the will of the people.

Chxta, as for your saying that the electoral college is how Bush stole his way into office (by the way, I voted against him twice), I don't agree. Clinton came in the same way. The good thing with the US is that, good or bad, right or wrong, they stick to their laws. If the supreme court hadn't come back with its decision, as the constitution stated, there would have been another president as of noon on Jan. 20th that year, as specified in the constitution.

If it were naija, am sure you would agree that there would have been a coup.

As always, my 2 cents

1. America is not Nigeria. You forget that the US is as big as the African continent and Nigeria is only the size of Texas.
2. you forget American style democracy may not be the best system of government for Nigeria, Example even the UK does not practice American style democracy!
3. What do you really know about politics?
4. The US electoral college is based on state population which is reliable in the US. Does Nigeria have a reliable census figure to start with? Do we truly know the number of pple in Kano vis a vis Lagos?
5. When we are still at war over revenue allocation based on the same population figure, massive rigging is still the order of the day in your so-called small states. do you think we are ready to import that style of government?
6. Was Bush not RIGGED in based on that same electoral fraud in the great USA?

davidylan:

1. America is not Nigeria. You forget that the US is as big as the African continent and Nigeria is only the size of Texas.

WTF!? Since when is the u.s. as big as the whole of AFRICA?! Dude, you can put the u.s. in the sahara and go looking for it!

C'mon champ. . . check your maps!

Now i will leave to you folks to your petty argument about european political systems and hope you also include in your discussion political systems indigenous to nigeria and west africa,

my2cents:

Chxta,

In as much as I don't agree with Afeni, I wouldn't go as far as calling him, or anyone else for that matter, an idiot, just because you don't agree with him.

Afeni I'm sorry.