Voter Apathy Among Young People
Way forward
The lack of interest among young people in the election of political representatives has caused us more harm than we can imagine. A lot of countries are plagued with voter apathy, especially, people within the age brackets of 18 years to 35 years. When the government makes bad decision, we are fast in apportioning blames, but we forget that our choices to remain indifferent during elections indirectly contributes to this. We leave this decision to the poor and illiterate amongst us, who are easily deceived by tribal and religious sentiments, and in very common cases, vote buying.
I, for instance, have never voted in an election despite owning a voter's card for several years, which is one of the primary requirements of an eligible voter. I am among the sets of people who believe our votes do not count due to a popular and wrongly told lie. In Nigeria, voting is marred by a lot of violence and systematic rigging sponsored by those seeking to hold political offices.
In my immediate family, only my dad has consistently voted in general elections, while the rest of us sit back at home; glued to our phone screens and observe the process from afar. When people of questionable characters are eventually elected into public offices, we cry the most, because at the end of the day, we realize we are victims of the poor choices made at the polling unit.
February 2023, Nigeria holds another general election to elect her president, governors in over 32 states, and over a thousand members of the national assembly. Somehow, due to an experience young Nigerians had on October 20, 2020, (where hundreds of armless youths who were protesting against police brutality were murdered by military personel on the order of the government), they have taken it upon themselves to partake in the process and are jointly backing one aspirant running for the presidency, including myself, who will be voting for the first time.
After the brutal murder of these protesters, it occured to us that those who were elected to lead us were infact, without dignity and had no respect to life. Police brutality is something that is common in most countries of the world, but in Nigeria, it seemed more like a war against young successful people. Young people who are targets of these rogue police officials are stereotyped based how how they dress, their hair styles, types of gadgets they own, and the cars they drive.
These poorly trained officials believe that every young and succesful looking person who either has tinted hair, dreadlocks, tattos, uses an iphone/macbook, or drives an expensive car, is into internet fraud. Their victims who are mainly males, are targeted and whisked away at gunpoint. Bribes would be requested, and if u are unable to meet their financial obligations, they threaten to kill you and dumb your body in a bush, or in most cases, they are framed up, with little or no evidence, and in less than no time, you realize you are serving a prison sentence for something you have absolutely no ideo of.
We have complained, we have protested, we have signed petitions, we have asked for help from the international community, nothing changed. We then realise that the only weapon we truely have and control is in the ballot. We want to vote in people who are ready to listen, those with human sympathy. In the past, we didnt care, now it is a matter of life or death.
I hope young people get to understand that not voting in an election is as bad as voting in bad leaders. The results of this poor decision will reflect in government policies that affects every aspect of our lives.
The survey below only requires your name, place of origin, and a "yes" or "no" response.