Nigeria, May 19 -- In the wake of Abdullah El-Kurebe's thought-provoking editorial, "Why Nigerians Don't Vote-and Why Forcing Them Won't Fix It," published on May 18, 2025, on The Story, I found myself stirred-not just by the clarity of his argument, but by what was left unsaid. El-Kurebe's central thesis is compelling: that Nigeria's low voter turnout reflects more than apathy; it is the symptom of a fractured system, scarred by distrust, electoral violence, and political redundancy. He rightly dismisses the idea of compulsory voting as a simplistic fix for a complex problem. But while his diagnosis is honest and urgent, I believe it overlooks a deeper, more insidious ailment-one not of the system, but of the soul.

To illustrate this, a...