It is March 2019, Nigerians have just elected a ‘new’ President, some old and new Governors and members of the legislative houses. In this brief prezi lecture, I argue that the practice of elections in Nigeria reveals that a lot of international laws and norms were not designed for African contexts. The approach has been to suggest that African states adapt their contexts to international norms, but that seems impossible. And so we are held in a permanent state of negative peace, hoping elections do not tip the delicate balance.