The African Diaspora Congress (ADC) on Wednesday said Nigeria could learn from the U.S. electoral process, to build on democratic gains in the country.

A spokesman for the group, Apollos Nwauwa, NAN in Abuja that the outcome of the current U.S. election would profoundly reshape not only the United States of America, but the world.

“Nigeria can learn from the U.S. electoral system that decentralises the process and farm them out to the States and Counties,” Mr. Nwauwa said. “There is no Independent National Electoral Commission controlling anything from a central location.”

He said Nigeria should also adopt the U.S. early voting process, explaining that the majority of the 100 million who pre-voted in the U.S. election, did so by mail and not necessarily electronic.

Mr. Nwauwa disclosed that the massive turnout by voters in the election is as a result of President Donald Trump’s policies and behaviour in office.

“The current U.S. experience with politics is a mixed bag for democracy; on the one hand, efforts to suppress votes have produced unintended consequences, more people than ever have been energized to vote for or against Trump.

“On the other hand, Trump is putting strains on the main tenets of democracy by spreading disinformation about fraudulent ballots and votes that are not really there.

“He has shown that democracy can be manipulated to produce hideous results, but the divide in the U.S. has not been entirely Trump’s fault.

“America has been like this for a while; Trump’s coming only exacerbated the tension and bigotry as he became an unapologetic spokesperson for those he often referred to as the silent majority,” he added.

ADC is a coalition of the various groups and concerned citizens from Africa and African Diaspora, while the NDM comprises 20 million Nigerians in the Diaspora working together to build a progressive nation where every citizen is empowered to become and give the best. (NAN)