Give us the ballot or keep your Diaspora Investment Trust Fund

Recently, the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari gave a thumbs up to a government initiative geared towards diaspora remittances. He called it the Diaspora investment fund. A private-sector investment window where Nigerians in the diaspora can funnel in cash for investment purposes.

Predictably, the president lashed on to remittances from the diaspora, being that it is how he and his epigones in the National Assembly see the diaspora community- a treasure trove of money bags only good for sending cash. Whereas over this past decade, billions of dollars in diaspora remittances had flooded the country primarily to shore up families suffering under the weight of Buhari’s venal and dysfunctional policies. Howbeit, the fat cats are scrambling to cash in on the cash flow. They finally invented an avenue to take their slice of the cake or rake off remittances meant for school fees and hungry children.

Who said the diaspora needs a private investment fund to invest in their fatherland? Who said the diaspora needs the government to tell them how to invest their money? Is an investment fund what we need at this critical time? A time where the nation is in a continued precipitous fall? Who invests in an environment devoid of accountability and transparency? A habitat rife with corrupt handlers like a swamp of sharks waiting to devour the hard-earned remittances meant to support families the government has neglected.

Hastily, an investment fund is created. A surreptitious avenue for windfall into the hands of greedy public servants, who sees their bank account’s size to be superior to the needs of the nation. While, at the same time, the diaspora is relegated, disenfranchised, and excluded from participating in determining who gets to lead them or picking who manages how their money is spent.

For decades the diaspora has asked for access to the ballot, a fundamental principle enshrined in any true democratic norm so that they can exercise their chiefly civic duty to their country;the core of every democratic institution, the most patriotic thing a citizen can do for his country. For decades successive presidents and legislators have systematically and deliberately denied them access while pathetically blaming the constitution or the haphazard electoral process.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila,  indicted his government and his own chamber in February 2020 before shutting down a bill to advance diaspora voting when he said: “Our elections here are not yet perfect, so how do we deal with diaspora voting?” He added, “here, we consistently have litigation after elections, so how do we deal with that in diaspora voting?”

In other words, because the government, which he is part of, cannot secure a free and fair election in the homeland free from litigation, how can it guarantee fraud-free diaspora voting—quite a cockeyed statement coming from a man of his calibre. Mr. Gbajabiamila must take pride in his impeccable style and fastidious attention to detail. However, his reason for blocking diaspora voting only lends credence to the naked absurdity from this privileged bunch.

Imagine openly admitting that our election is a sham that should not be trusted. Perhaps we should question whether his election to the House of Rep is legit.

He is not alone in this duplicity and attempts to disclude and veto a heightened diaspora voting block eager to change the political landscape; the president himself is the master tactician, the Machiavellian in the scheme. First, in 2015, he shut down the idea while putting the onus on the legislature: “….Nigerians living abroad will have to wait before they can realize their dream of participating in elections taking place at home,” adding, “to achieve this, the National Assembly will have to legislate.”

Those were the president’s actual words. Meaning: millions of people should take a chill pill and wait. The diaspora should go snooze off while the country’s health continues to deteriorate.

It is now seven years, and the legislatures are still legislating. Really?

Who is he deluding?

Then again, in 2018, during his reelection campaign, while speaking to a group of Parisian diaspora, he stated: “the country’s electoral process has not been fully fine-tuned to permit their participation in the electoral process,” therefore, “they will consequently not be allowed to participate in the 2019 general elections.”

This is his version of inclusiveness.

On and on, these politicians continue to throw dust in the diaspora’s eyes and dupe us in the process while they recycle themselves into leadership.

And now the president wants the diaspora to jump on his Investment Trust Fund. Is it easier to create a fund portfolio than allow citizens to vote? No wonder many have dismissed the whole thing as a political stunt.

Most functioning democracy worldwide has a provision where citizens abroad can participate in the electoral process and voice who makes rules that govern their lives. But it is only in Nigeria that the diaspora is recognized only for the money they’ll remit, and not whether they should participate in determining their future and that of their family. Essentially, the government’s position is, “send us your money but not your ballot.” A classic Twenty-first-century case of “taxation without representation.”

The Nigerians in the diaspora speak with one voice on this topic. From the peninsulas of Europe to the tropics of Africa. From Asia to the hills of the Americas, they are demanding access to the ballot now. Give us the ballot, or you can hug your Diaspora Investment Fund.

Labode Obanor is a Social Justice Advocate and current President of the League for Social Justice

Email: jlabode74@gmail.com

Twitter: @obanor