ONE MAN ONE VOTE AND THE WORLD IN BIG TROUBLE

The entire democracy project hangs on an intriguing concept: all men are born equal. In other words, the great Aliko Dangote with his zillions of Naira, many trucks and thousands of employees has the same voting power as his cook. In a democracy, the opinion of a Bill Gates whose intellect created the incredible Microsoft software that drives almost all of human activities has the same weight as his janitor. A Barack Obama with his political sagacity and deep experience in world affairs casts one vote and that vote is in no way superior to that of a homeless man begging for coins in front of Washington DC’s Union Station.

I told people that the British would never vote to leave the European Union. It made no sense to me. I was wrong, terribly wrong. Please forgive me for believing that the British are a thinking people and as a thinking people, would not ignore the warning of the array of world leaders and experts that told them of the devastating effect of walking away from their kith and kin in Europe. I was sure that the British had a high opinion of Barack Obama and would listen to him. But, if they had suddenly changed their minds with respect to Obama who is an American, what of David Cameron who the British elected as their Prime Minister? Gordon Brown, Prime Minister before Cameron warned them not to leave and so did Tony Blair, the one before Brown. Even David Beckham, their soccer duper star begged them against Brexit and they would not listen.

Now, Theresa May is wrestling with crocodiles. Brexit is making the poor woman dizzy and her grey hair is going greyer every day. There is simply no way to implement the result of the referendum. In the last fortnight, two of her key ministers resigned including her loquacious Foreign Affairs Secretary, Boris Johnson, a stone thrower that wears his hair like Donald Trump.

Talking about Donald Trump, he was in London last weekend before his fiasco with Putin in Helsinki. In London, Donald, the king of braggadocio, was too scared to go near the city center where hundreds of thousands were waiting to tell him what they think of his racist rantings. That did not stop him from messing up his host, Prime Minister, Theresa May with comments that signified that she is incompetent.

This guy, Donald Trump, who cannot keep his hands off the twitter handle of his not so smart phone and who tells blatant lies about practically everything was elected by Americans in a one man, one vote process, even if it is the electoral college variety. Should that not make us think… Abi?
The world must watch out! What has happened to the British and probably the Americans should be a warning to humanity as to how dangerous romantic terms like ‘self-determination’, ‘independence’ and ‘sovereignty’ have become in the hands of demagogues with the skills to manipulate innocent people around the world looking for someone to blame for their frustrations, difficulties and short comings. In a system of one man one vote, all that is required is to introduce hate and voila!

It is really not that difficult to aggregate the votes of the uninformed and frustrated and unleash mayhem everywhere. One man one vote does not mean one good man one vote. It is does not mean one intelligent man one vote. Just ask yourself how a person as despicable as Donald Trump insulted everyone and manipulated his way to the most powerful office in the world.

Back home, we are faced with the same challenges. I have little doubt that if a one man one vote referendum is held in Nigeria’s South East today, it will not be difficult to get enough people to vote for an independent Republic of Biafra. The concept is romantic. I am a proud and unapologetic Igbo man. I am however not sure that my people have given sufficient thought to the cataclysmic consequences of Independence. For instance, where do you fit the millions of Igbo men trading in every nook and cranny of Nigeria? What do you do when your market of 180 million people suddenly shrinks to 40 million? What happens to the investments, properties and deep ties that the Igbos have developed across Nigeria? Where is the guarantee that the suspicions and persecution that we complain about in Nigeria will not be replicated in Biafra or even made worse with some Igbo groups lording it over others? There is no question that we love the concept of Biafra, a romantic land full of milk and honey that we will enjoy to the exclusion of others.

The problem with romance is that when you are in love, you see only the good things about the one you love. Almost always, you are blinded to the fault of your lover. Why do you think there is so much divorce?

What applies to the Igbos applies to our brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta who want to blow up the country because they want ‘self-determination’, ‘independence’ and ‘sovereignty’. Investigate and you will find that always there are puppeteers pulling the strings and hoping to deploy the values of one man one vote to achieve their pecuniary objectives.

I hope you do not come to the conclusion that I object to the concept of one man one vote. No! I am a democrat, but this human system has its flaws. It can be hijacked and is being hijacked with dire consequences. The world must watch out! Recently, with the quantum progress that China is making, people are beginning to pay serious attention to the Chinese political model so derided not long ago.
I was talking with a big player in the present Nigerian government. I had asked him why the government does not appear to listen to what the Nigerian intelligentsia says especially as elections are coming close. He looked at me, sighed and said mockingly, “the government does not need the votes of the intelligentsia to get to power. Their vote is too expensive! Go to the motor park and the market place with some bags of rice and salt and some Naira notes and all the votes you are looking for are there with very little grammar” You see? One man, one vote, indeed!
See you next week.