RIDDLES OF MANIPULATION OF NUMBERS

 

One day the father of algebra called, Muhammad ibn Musa Alkhwarizmi, was passing through a village on his camel. At the outskirt of this village he saw three men in hot argument with confusion on how to share their father’s inheritance. Their father left 17 camels as inheritance for them to share according to their ages with a clear statement in the will that the oldest should take half of the camels. While the second born should take one-third and 2 camels for the last born. These young men have tried all formulas but it was to no avail. As they were narrating the puzzle, Mr. Algebra just asked for permission to assist them and they all agreed. He came down from his camel and told them that he will add his camel to theirs so as to make it 18. Thereafter, he asked the first to take his half portion which is now 9 and the man did. For the second born, he is to take one third which is now 6 and he also did. Mr. Algebra then removed his camel and they were left with 2 for the last born. They were all happy and about to leave the scene, and then said Mr. Algebra, “Part of success in life is ability to manipulate numbers”. 

This short story will broaden my take about the just concluded presidential election held on 28

th March, 2015 in the most populous black nation called Nigeria.

The statistics of 2011 and 2015 presidential elections are available in public domain for all to see for diagnosis. In 2011 the two major contestants pulled about 35million votes altogether with Jonathan of PDP having over 22million votes. While in 2015 both contestants again pulled about 27million votes out of 68million registered voters with GMB having over 15million as the winner. INEC bent on using card readers and PVC can be attributed to this reduction in voting volumes, it was not only affected some eligible voters but predetermined the outcome. To me election is not just voting and counting but a process with many strata. From the creation of additional polling units to distribution of PVC, we have recorded imbalances and unfairness. Out of about newly created 30,000 polling units 21,000 went to the North and 9,000 came to the South, to the extent that Abuja got more than one of the geo political zones in the south. My big question was what rationale did INEC used to arrive at this vital pole. Although, some southerners went against it but the siting president did not see it as a doom for his pursuit.

Followed by this double standard was rate of distribution of PVC in the two poles called North and South. The North got almost 95% of PVC for their registered voters while south was struggling around 68%. The most amazing drama was that states battling with insurgency even got better than some southern states. It was at this point that I concluded that it will take a magic for the incumbent to win this election as Nigeria Politics is still clouded with religion and ethnicity sentiments. In 2011, GEJ got 11million votes from SS and SE while 7million was the case in 2015. The bombs blast and rumor in Enugu and Anambra were not miscalculations to scare voters but a mission concluded with previous PU and PVC anomalies.

While both parties used all means to rig and perpetrate election atrocities, accredited voters cannot be more than distributed PVC, so the means justified the ends. Another surprising game was what South West Politicians demonstrated; they remained silent about these impartialities in electioneering process for their selfish ambitions against the soul of their zone. According to Franklin P. Adams, “the trouble with this country is that there are too many politicians who believe with a conviction based on experience, that you can fool all of the people all of the time”.  I know many people will antagonize me that in 2011, these same zones including northern zones voted for GEJ but be reminded that political calculator was in the hand OBJ for PDP in 2011. 

However, my analogy is not for this present occurrence but for the future juxtapositions of our dear co-existence for national unity.

It was a great lesson indeed for the southerners; the northerners have shown us that they are good at political mathematics while SS and SE were busy with business math and SW swimming in academic math.

Let us put partisanship apart, with inconclusive population census by OBJ in 2006 and another one coming in 2016 that might be in the hands of our born to rule brethren, will the north-south disparity come to an end? Thus, Nigeria false marriage will continue with land mass power dominating the truly populated coastal region and Peter will continue to be robbed to pay Paul.

My dear compatriots will need equity for unity on our political dashboard for this marriage of diversity to last.

 

 

 

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