Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: My Country Is in a Fragile Place. (Published in New York Times on Feb. 28, 2023)

Imagine standing patiently in line, waiting to vote, and suddenly men with guns arrive on motorcycles and start shooting. Imagine men dashing into your polling unit, violently seizing ballot boxes and taking them away. Imagine other ballot boxes being destroyed. Imagine being beaten to keep you from voting for a particular candidate. Imagine a crowd of people chanting “We must vote! We must vote!” when polling workers failed to arrive as expected. Imagine the police doing very little. All these things happened during the Nigerian presidential elections on Saturday. Through it all, there was a chilling lack of transparency from the Independent National Electoral Commission, or I.N.E.C., which oversees elections.

Nigerian elections have a history of being rigged, of cooked-up numbers and stolen ballot boxes. This time, though, Nigerians were asked to place their faith in a new electronic voting system that would make tampering more difficult. Technology would be the savior: In each polling unit, votes would be counted in the presence of voters and then immediately uploaded to a secure central portal. Failing to upload the results in real time was the most egregious of the many irregularities of this election because it has destroyed the cautious trust with which many approached the process.

The I.N.E.C. blames technical issues for the delay. How, Nigerians wonder, can a well-funded electoral body that had four years to prepare for an important presidential election make such a significant blunder? It is reasonable, then, that many voters have assumed purposeful intent, that election workers were instructed not to upload results so that they could later be secretly manipulated.

I know Nigeria, the country of my birth, intimately. I know the political culture, where the exchange of large amounts of money makes so many people conscience-deficient, where the mainstream media’s instinct is political deference and where the will of the people is often ignored. Nigerians, especially young Nigerians, are determined that this time, their votes will matter. A majority of Nigerians are below the age of 35. They are a bright, innovative and talented generation, a hungry generation, starved of good leadership, who do not merely sit back and complain but who act and push back and want to forge their own futures.

On Saturday, many went out to vote, enthusiastic but cautious, their phone cameras ready to record any irregularities. They waited for election workers who arrived many hours late to polling stations. They braved the harassment and beatings of men paid to create chaos. They went off and bought their own ink for finger-printing when election workers claimed to have run out of it. They provided their own light from their phones as they stood in line in the dark, and according to one recorded case, a voter brought a small generator to a polling place when the voting machine stopped working. They refused to leave even though they had to wait so long that it was almost dawn when they could finally vote. And when it began to rain, they came together and sang beautiful songs. I have never been so proud of my fellow Nigerians. Many were voting for the first time, inspired by one candidate, Peter Obi, who has brought to them that ineffable thing that we humans need to thrive: hope.

Now, as results are being counted, there is growing disillusionment. A sludge of tension is in the air. A simmering rage. Some voters say that the official numbers trickling in do not match the numbers from their polling units, that the results tell a story different from what they witnessed on Saturday. They are convinced of the complicity of those who should be caretakers of the democratic process.

Elections must always be transparent, of course, but for an abysmally low-trust society like Nigeria, a radical transparency is needed for credibility. Elections must be completely transparent and must be widely seen to be completely transparent; sadly, neither seems to apply to Nigeria’s presidential election.

African democracies are criticized, often condescendingly so, in ways that stoke resentment, not because the criticism isn’t valid, but because it isn’t fair. Africa is full of young nation-states, and democracy takes time to establish its roots, and even when it does, the fragility always remains.

I’ve always found it curious that African countries were expected to form functioning democracies right after independence, even though the colonial governments they had only just freed themselves from were dictatorships in everything but name. Nigerians want a functioning democracy, and they are starting on the path to it but might be derailed unless the international community pays attention now.

Nigeria is Africa’s tottering giant, the continent’s most populous country, the most politically and culturally dominant. To pay real attention to Nigeria is to signal that Africa matters, as the United States has always maintained. The Biden administration needs to stand behind the Nigerian people now and make a firm commitment to support election transparency. Besides — my tongue is lodged in my cheek — you don’t want a wave of Nigerian asylum seekers fleeing the unbearable discontent of living under an illegitimate government.

Sometimes democracies are threatened by foreign invasions and sometimes democracies are most at risk from internal forces. All of them need support.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/28/opinion/nigerian-elections-obi.html

Americans know the truth, that's why they are watching keenly.

Moderator, please could you kindly and urgently push this to front page. It's very relevant in this our fragile time.

AdaojoTheUrchin:
Americans know the truth, that's why they are watching keenly.

Point of correction: Americans will only recognize the truth once it goes against their interest

In as much as i voted obi and l.p, this one na Over sabi wanna be woman. Very froward. Na you know pass. She's wants to be more popular. Na her pattern right from her undergraduate days for those of us who know her from early to mid 2000s.Always choosing from a host of situations, the ones that will give her more attention and popularity. I knew she would write, as if u.s/u.k no dey aware say elections aren't transparent in Nigeria. We no see am for the herdsmen killings, boko killings, eastern killings, kidnappings and beheadings, naira crisis and scarcity, igboho house siege and the killings, ekpa-cordinated killings in east, cos those ones can't bring popularity like this.

The whole country is like in mourning. Is that what one can call victory? Even known urchins are in doubt. What do you call this sham? From Lagos to Rivers, Abuja to Kaduna, the people are not happy. Even the gods are angry.

Modified

Creamypie:
In as mich as i voted l.p, thos one na Over sabi wanna be woman. Na you know pass. She's wants to be more popular

She is saying the truth and standing for the truth. Please don't shut one of the voices of truth.


__It's sad seeing the number of derogatory comments against not just this noble woman but against the good people of Nigeria.

I ask you that is okay with corruption and the sad situation of the country and voted for its continuity, even if you don't fear men, are you that stupid to realise there is a God that hates wickedness and injustice and rewards every man according to his deeds.

This God is the very breath you take in every second. How can you think you can escape his wrath even when you feel good now

That is why she will never get Nobel nomination till she will kick the bucket

She should also write European union, African union Arab league, league Of Nations, union Nation organization etc .

So America should come and do what?
Have they finished sharing money and bombs to Ukraine?
Common gerrarahia

This tribal bitch should keep shut

After writing to the US government, she should write to UN, ICC, IMF, World bank and EU. It won’t change the result of the election. Tinubu will remain president for a minimum of 4 years.

Creamypie:
In as mich as i voted l.p, thos one na Over sabi wanna be woman. Na you know pass. She's wantis to be more popular

How could you type this shit? She wants to be popular? Popular with Nigeria or with what or who please, if I may ask? Please, for point of order, this woman is correctly one of the 10 most popular persons in the world with African descent. Please eschew your jealousy and think rightly.

YorubaSamurai:
That is why she will never get Nobel nomination till she will kick the bucket

Chai! See jealousy in its crude form! For you to say this about this woman already indicates she has attained the status of being mentioned in the same breadth as those deserving of Nobel Award. Besides, must she win the Nobel for her to attain validation? Chinua Achebe never got the award oh, remember!

TimiRume:
She is saying the truth and standing for the truth. Please don't shut one of the voices of truth.

Hello, Timi, I'm completely in tune with what she said. In fact, she's one voice that's needed now as we chart the course for the way forward. The whole country is like in mourning, nothing seems true.

America can’t do shit

Obi is Coming bookmark this tweet

In 2007
INEC declared Yar'adua elected with over 24 million votes
There was no declaration of a breakdown by states or even the FCT
It was just YarAdua has won and he got 24 million votes
Buhari went to court

The EU declared
The elections were THE WORST WE HAVE EVER SEEN
Many Nigerians looked away because Buhari was victim

OdogwuOga:


How could you type this shit? She wants to be popular? Popular with Nigeria or with what or who please, if I may ask? Please, for point of order, this woman is correctly one of the 10 most popular persons in the world with African descent. Please eschew your jealousy and think rightly.

damn. Jealousy? Damn again.I have never been jealous of a fellow human,since they will all leave the earth, and can't resurrect a dead person, whether bezos, gates, musk, dangote, e.t.c then na ordinary playwright like chimamanda I come dey jealous off? Even me as a fan of all Soyinka books from infancy till date, I no envy him. Where was chimamanda when Igbos were killing fellow easterners? What about boko/herdsmen killings? What about Yoruba nation members killed at igboho house, naira scarcity nko?? Oh they weren't important. Right from her uni days, na opportunist who likes choosing/selecting the most appropriate situations that would shoot her popularity. I knew that of among the many ills,she would select this election rigging by APC to write to world governments even b4 she wrote

jchioma:


Hello, Timi, I'm completely in tune with what she said. In fact, she's one voice that's needed now as we chart the course for the way forward. The whole country is like in mourning, nothing seems true.

It is well. The battle isn't over yet but victory is ours. Utilising every means to possess our mandate is inevitable. We must keep pushing because we are on the side of truth


P.s: My first post wasn't for you sir, I wanted to quote the guy above you.

Oh but she didn't ask the US government to intervene in the killing that is going on in Anambra daily?

Like we said before, they will soon resume their Biafra or death national Anthem.

These dumb and tribal slowpoke is trying to embarrass us. Always calling Oyinbo to come and save her. Werey. Obi lost. Take your L and stop disgracing yourself. Your candidate came 3rd. Not even second and you are the one making the most noise. Get out!

jchioma:


Hello, Timi, I'm completely in tune with what she said. In fact, she's one voice that's needed now as we chart the course for the way forward. The whole country is like in mourning, nothing seems true .

Nope.

Only igboes and christian fundamentalists are in mourning.

The rest of us are gleefully living our best lives.

If some people can say God has abandoned Nigeria, why do you think the US shouldn't as well?

Even the US sparogatively has her own problems. We shouldn't always run to them for help. So Dear, Chimamanda, I know this is your opinion, but 'e no follow abeg'.

Besides the US can not be trusted, because it have been proven that if they give you with one hand they would come with trucks to collect back.

Peter Obi contested on party without structure and won fairly enough.

Let it be known that the stolen mandate will be recovered, it happened thrice in Anambra and it will happen again this time at federal level.

Don't panic yet Obidients,Peter Obi has always won miraculously when it seems impossible!!!

Ok, noted.

Good

Good one

Sensible Nigeria won't want tinubu as president

dumb woman thinks we are slaves to america

Dis one na Human being?