On the final day of Big Brother Naija (Season 4), show host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu disclosed that the vote tally stood at over 250 million, with some 50 million votes garnered in the last week alone.
On the final day of Big Brother Naija (Season 4), show host Ebuka Obi-Uchendu disclosed that the vote tally stood at over 250 million, with some 50 million votes garnered in the last week alone.His revelation drew something of a collective gasp from the political end of the Nigerian social media space, given that only 28 million people from a pool of 84 million registered voters, turned out to vote in the just concluded presidential election.
That’s like 34.75 percent of registered voters who bothered to turn up at polling units at all.
Worse, even though Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city, tech hub and commercial capital has over 6 million registered voters, only a fraction–a little over 1 million–turned out to vote in state and federal elections, underlining an endemic apathy that has worried civil society organisations and the political class for decades
As has become the norm in all the seasons of Big Brother Naija, political commentators end up ‘chastising’ and calling out young people for not paying attention to more important aspects of nationhood or in the choice of who governs them; and for focusing instead on scantily clad housemates living their lives on international television for 99 days.
It’s been an ongoing conversation and one that often rankles a youth voting base who make up more than 50 percent of the nation’s demography.
In this very short, question-type essay, guest columnist, First Baba Isa, concludes that comparing the votes of a general election to those from a reality TV show, is a reach..
Must a person be up to 18 years and above to vote in BBN (Big Brother Naija)?
Do you require a permanent voters card to vote in BBN?
In BBN do you go to collect your voters card and they will tell you they can’t find it, maybe because one big politician has bought it from the officials?
Did BBN fix voting for a particular date, then people travelled far and wide to vote, and then they just wake in the morning of the voting day and postponed the elections?
Did INEC make it possible to vote with your phone via SMS and website?
Will INEC allow you vote multiple times?
Even the server that we thought INEC said they have, didn’t they later swear in the name of Jesus Christ, Ogun and Amadioha that didn’t have any server?
Did BBN supply card readers that were not working?
When people were voting in BBN, did police, army, MC Oluomo and cultist come to beat them and snatch ballot box?
Did the people that voted for BBN wait from morning till night for election materials to come?
Did any of the BBN Housemates gather to form coalition to choose one young candidate and later dispersed without agreement? So why do you think people should have contributed money to support one young candidate from a group of young candidates that couldn’t support themselves?
Was the collation of results in BBN done by old corrupt professors that couldn’t read figures?
Is the WAEC result of any BBN Housemate missing?
Me that didn’t watch BBN and didn’t post even one thing to ridicule or demean those that were watching it, do you have sense more than me?
If you didn’t see any lesson on BBN, those that watched it, did they tell you that they didn’t learn anything? Is it your lesson?
The money they use to vote, did they borrow it from you? The DStv subscription nko, is it yours?
If they ban BBN will you have good roads, will you have light, will you have good hospitals, will you have good leaders, will you have sense?
Do you want thunder to fire you?
Okay. Leave me alone abeg. BBN is not your problem. If you don’t know your problem, then you are a big problem sef.
Please report to the diary room.
– First Baba Isa (FBI) contributed this piece from Abuja.