{"id":175020,"date":"2025-08-19T08:51:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T07:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:55:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T08:55:58","slug":"democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections","title":{"rendered":"Democracy a Joke in Nigeria Mahdi Shehu on Kano Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The recent bye-elections in Kano State have drawn sharp criticism from observers who say the democratic process is being undermined by cash inducements and systemic failures.<\/p>\n

Political commentator Mahdi Shehu shared a video on X on Monday showing a politician distributing money, while commenting on the situation.<\/p>\n

He described the elections as a clear reflection of the state of democracy in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy is simply a joke in Nigeria where everybody is living in denial until suddenly that day comes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shehu highlighted how politicians openly gave money to voters, with security agencies allegedly standing by without intervention.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThe politicians are unapologetic in inducing the electorates with money, and the police are often willing to facilitate this and support them. Voters and thugs are eager for the politicians\u2019 one-off \u2018cash gifts,\u2019 while election officials will always look the other way for a price.<\/p>\n

\u201cINEC does not have the courage to enforce the law against monetary and material inducement because even INEC itself is unteachable. Election tribunals and courts are unlikely to admit such evidence as credible, since some of their members are part of the democratic failures. Yet local and foreign election observers will validate the results regardless,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The recent bye-elections in Kano State have drawn sharp criticism from observers who say the democratic process is being undermined by cash inducements and systemic failures. Political commentator Mahdi Shehu shared a video on X on Monday showing a politician distributing money, while commenting on the situation. He described the elections as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":175019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[12617,427,372,15521,254],"class_list":["post-175020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-by-elections","tag-democracy","tag-kano","tag-mahdi-shehu","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocracy a Joke in Nigeria Mahdi Shehu on Kano Elections - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The recent bye-elections in Kano State have drawn sharp criticism from observers who say the democratic process is being ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democracy a Joke in Nigeria Mahdi Shehu on Kano Elections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The recent bye-elections in Kano State have drawn sharp criticism from observers who say the democratic process is being ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T07:51:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T08:55:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755581313.104756.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Democracy a Joke in Nigeria Mahdi Shehu on Kano Elections\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-19T07:51:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-19T08:55:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections\"},\"wordCount\":225,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755581313.104756.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"By-elections\",\"democracy\",\"Kano\",\"Mahdi Shehu\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/democracy-a-joke-in-nigeria-mahdi-shehu-on-kano-elections\",\"name\":\"Democracy a Joke in Nigeria Mahdi Shehu on Kano Elections - 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