National cake and ‘millionaire voters’ club’

PAUL ARHEWE
(Published 30/06/2011)

The phrase ‘millionaire club of voters’ may not be a familiar term to some observers of happenings in our local politics. Apparently, it is one of the latest inputs in Nigerian political lexicon, as its emergence is linked to the last April general elections. What interpretation would you give to the above phrase? Probably, some people may decipher it as a club of rich electorate congregating to appoint politicians of their choice.

Those who followed this answer path will be astonished they are far from its connotation. When Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State visited President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja recently, he went there to remind the Nigerian leader that his state is among those that gave him at least a million votes; wanting an assurance that Plateau would get its share of the national cake. Last week he brought back the good tidings to his subjects in Pankshin, using it to assuage and boost their optimism for fair treatment from the present administration. In his words, “I was with the president at the Villa and I told him that this time around, Plateau must get its own share of the national cake because we joined the millionaire club of voters.”

An emerging pattern of balloting in Nigeria

PAUL ARHEWE 20/04/2011 02:43:00

A significant voting pattern was observed as the results from last week’s presidential election began to trickle in on Sunday Nigerians, to some extent may have jettisoned the moribund pattern of voting en-masse along party line. As it was made obvious in the poll that the electorate voted based on personality preference; this also took into consideration the ethnic and religious pathway. Thus, clearly dividing the country dangerously in two halves: -the northern and southern- like the prototype the late Gideon Okah proffered during the botched April 22 coup in 1990.