THE PLATFORM 11.0 with Dr. Prince Donatus Okonkwo

Rigging Elections in Developing Countries and How we Protect our Votes

Prince Donatus started by explaining how the message about getting a PVC has gone viral. Though he agrees with this, he however believes that a more important message which is worth sharing, is the process by which the votes of people are discounted.

He went on to recount an experience he had during a state election in his hometown of Anambra State in 2003.

“On the morning of the election, there were full time business men who were fully involved in political activities, himself included. People were excited to exercise their rights to vote and the opportunity to experience change in the state. The voting exercise went through the accreditation, voting and collation processes. However the process was disrupted and voting materials intercepted by the State Government. The election was not just rigged but ‘written’. A new result was written which did not reflect the aspirations of the people of the state.” He said this while narrating the story.

He told the audience, “I agree that you should get your PVC but when you have done your civic duties, ‘monsters’ write the results and announce something else. Staying and ensuring election votes count is more important than just voting and we should ensure that we are involved in the entire process. We should protect our votes. Voting is good, protecting it is better.” 

He also shared with the audience that the reason opposition parties never win at a re-election is because there is a State Government Electoral Commission that “writes” the results of the elections to ensure the present ruling party always wins and this was broken only when they was a fight among the ruling party which gave the Courts grounds to nullify the  election and the opposition party came into power. When elections are “written”, the party that wins tells the losing party to contest the election results in court knowing that the onus will lie on the losing party to prove that the election was rigged. This was almost impossible to prove.

He added that we protect our votes by getting involved. This is the only solution.

He encouraged everyone to desist from saying “I don’t like politics ”. You don’t have to like it, just participate so that you can get the change you want to see. It is very possible.   

In closing, he advised, “We should not waste time talking about the potential of this country. It is time to take initiative and achieve these potentials. We allow our system to fail when good people stay away, criticize and don’t get involved.”

“I have come here to say you must prepare to vote, stay there for the votes to be counted and transmit your results. We do not know yet the voting process for the 2019 election, however we must vote and protect our votes.”

You can listen to the full speech of Dr. Prince Donatus Okonkwo by clicking the link The Platform, Get Involved 08 Donatus Okonkwo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *