By Arogbonlo Israel.
In furtherance to the 16 November gubernatorial election in Kogi, many questions have been brought to the bear as regards some possible indices that may likely decide the outcome of the poll.
Among these indices is voter apathy, which mostly affects successive elections in the state. It is pertinent to note that citizens who do not vote have unknowingly lost the power to effect a change and equally allowed chance to determine the next four years.
Recall The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, 20 September 2019 had earlier said 165,631 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were yet to be collected in Kogi as at Sept. 13.
According to reports, about 5,269 PVCs have been collected in Kogi within the first two weeks out of 170,900 uncontrolled cards in the state.
The report, which was broken down per local government in the state, also revealed that 2,276 and 2,993 cards were collected in first and second weeks respectively.
Based on this backdrop, the 16 Nov. gubernatorial election in the state may likely be characterised by voter apathy, which also served as a major deterrent to the results recorded in the last general elections in Nigeria.
Since the inception of the state, Kogi’s elections have always been characterised by voter apathy as a result of political violence, bad governance among other factors imitating against democracy. A small percentage of the voting population actually vote, which is an affront to idea of ‘majority rule’ which is one of the basic tenets of democracy.
For instance, there is this perceived ‘minority rule’ in Kogi because in a population of almost 5 million there is a record of 1,646,350 registered voters in the state as collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and only 5,269 have collected their PVCs so far. This simply tells us that the percentages of those that have not collected their PVCs are above those that have theirs. Hence, there is high tendency that the forthcoming election in the state will be marred by a high percentage of voter apathy if the electorates fail to do the needful by ensuring they get their PVCs and exercise their franchise as at when deemed fit.
Having established the preamble upon which the topic above is based, I would like us to take a rundown on how ‘voter apathy’ has evolved in recent years, using Nigeria and Africa as a case study.
Voter Apathy in Nigeria
Since its return to electoral democracy in 1999, Nigeria’s elections have been characterized by voter apathy. Statistics has shown that less than 30% of Nigerians actually vote in elections. In each of those election years, the number of people that did not vote is far greater than the difference between the Winner and the Runner-up. For example, out of almost 200 million Nigerians, only 82.3 million were registered voters while 28.6 million voted in the 2019 general elections. Thus, a mere 35% of the registered voters actually voted in the past election.
The infographic above shows voter turnout in relation to registered voters and the overall population of each state during the 2019 presidential elections. Of all the states in Nigeria, only Jigawa and Katsina recorded at least 50% voter turnout. Despite Lagos being one of the commercial centers in Nigeria and the second most populous state, it recorded the lowest turnout – 18.3% of the registered voters cast their ballots.
In Rivers State, just 9.1% of the population selected the next president of the country while in Lagos and Abia States only the president was elected by a paltry 9.2% of the states’ population. Such a degree of voter apathy is endemic to the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria.
Voter Apathy in Africa
Africa is believed to be the second largest continent in the world with its population estimated at 1,216,130,000. However, there is always perceived voter apathy in terms of selecting its leaders, which many believe is as a result of political violence, bad governance, and religious egocentrism among other factors detrimental to the basic tenets of democracy.
The infographic above compares voters’ apathy in Nigeria with selected African countries. Diplomats, political commentators and analysts often regard Nigeria as the ‘Giant of Africa’ because of its large population and economy. However, these levels of apathy suggest that Nigeria is more like a ‘sleeping giant’ or ‘crippled giant’ as some scholars called it because of its failure to harness those potentials to real advantage. This is also reflected in its politics, governance, civic responsibility and other spheres. In comparing voters’ turnouts among selected African states, Nigeria has the least. If Nigeria is really the ‘Giant of Africa’ as proclaimed, the country is supposed to lead by example but the opposite is true.
In summary, citizens’ participation in electoral process is a necessity for democratic sustenance and must be well focused around who get the majority votes based on public confidence. ´But, the conduct of electoral processes and governance in Kogi do not inspire confidence, which is a call to action on the part of the electorates to ensure that the credible candidate emerge the winner. However, most are discouraged and kept away by several anti-democratic norms and culture which include electoral fraud, political violence, violation of human rights, corruption, etc that we last saw in the previous polls in the state.
Regardless, there were small improvements in the conduct of the last elections in Nigeria when compared to previous elections that have held. Previous elections were marred with electoral malpractices including use of fake voter’s card and impersonation of voters. Use of Card Reader machines in the 2019 elections reduced such electoral fraud. This could be consolidated if INEC adopt electronic voting. However, on their own, such improvements still fail to restore confidence and inspire citizens to participate in electoral processes. Therefore, it is expedient for the INEC chairman alongside other principal officers to be on the alert as event unfolds, and in turn, ensure that the needful is done before the slated date for the election in the state.
Additional report by Seun Akinyemi
