Linking Selling of Birth Right in Genesis 25:29-34 with Vote-Buying during Elections in Nigeria: the Onslaught of Poverty on the Citizenry

Abstract

Money politics and poverty are intertwined ordeals that stand against democracy in most African countries. In the case of the Nigerian state, the effort of avoiding the practice of vote buying and vote selling remains an effort that continually beckons for serious and conservative attention. Several studies have been carried out on how best the process of true democratisation that is devoid of politicians wooing the electorate to surrender their votes to them as a result of economic exchange. The study utilised existing relevant literature combined with brief exegesis of the biblical passage (Genesis 25: 29-34) talking about how Jacob’s hunger and survivalist strategy to undo Esau shares contiguous analytical frame in interrogating the practice of vote buying during elections in Nigeria. From its findings, the paper posits that vote buying in Nigeria is a woeful phenomenon that bedevils both the electorate and the struggle for democratisation. A market of poverty and ignorance where the political merchants woo the poor masses to surrender their civil rights as citizens in exchange for either few cups of rice scornful petty amount of money. The study therefore advocate that vote buying should be discourage at every quarter and the masses should educated on the perils of surrendering their votes to politicians and their agents on the premise of cash and carry.