Nigeria, Feb. 15 -- How many times can a nation rewrite its own ballot before its people stop believing in ink?

How long can democracy survive on correction fluid and excuses disguised as reforms?

These are not idle questions. They sit at the heart of Africa's most populous country, a nation that keeps insisting on greatness but keeps rewarding mediocrity in its most important ritual: elections.

In 2019, Malawi taught the continent an unforgettable lesson. A court; bold, unblinking, unafraid, nullified a presidential election after discovering that results sheets had been altered with ordinary Tipp-Ex. Yes, corrector fluid, the kind students use to fix spelling mistakes. Political operatives seized tally sheets, manually edited figures...