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Job Osazuwa
The 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections have been won and lost but there are posers from the exercise that are yet to be answered.
One of the issues that left many Nigerians perturbed was the low turnout of voters during the polls, especially when compared with the number of permanent voter cards (PVCs) collected. Pundits have said that the 2019 presidential election has recorded the lowest turnout of voters in 20 years.
A careful look at the results from all the states collated and announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shows that states with high numbers recorded in 2015 turned out low numbers in 2019.
For instance, states such as Lagos, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi recorded an average of 25 per cent of their registered voters. According to keen followers of past elections, this is in stark contrast to 1999 when about 70 per cent of all registered voters turned out to usher in Nigeria’s new democracy.
In 2015, the lowest turnout recorded was about 42 per cent, owing to issues such as voter apathy and the deadly activities of Boko Haram in the North East.
Analysts have said that the low turnout might not be unconnected with the last-minute cancellation of the 2019 polls earlier scheduled for February 16, 2019, which was postponed to February 23, 2019.
Another strong factor could be the pockets of violence experienced in some states in the build-up to the 2019 elections.
Also worrisome are the recurring killings during elections in Nigeria, the February 23 polls inclusive. Rivers, Oyo, Lagos and Nasarawa are some of the places where violence erupted that led to deaths.
National chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has said that no fewer than 50 people died during the elections.
In a chat with the reporter, a lecturer at the Lagos State University (LASU) and the director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said as long as elective public offices remain attractive, those vying for the positions would do everything possible to win elections.
On why youths would continue to submit themselves to be used as agents of destruction during elections, he said the level of poverty in Nigeria has gravely affected the reasoning of the young.
“As long as a senator or House of Representatives member knows that he or she will be collecting millions every month when elected, the desperation will continue. These amounts are humongous and they ridicule the political structure. It contradicts the reality on ground.
“People are so poor in this country, the average Nigerian survives on less than one dollar per day.
“According to reports, more than 80 million Nigerians are ravaged by acute poverty. With my interactions with students on campus, many of them eat once a day. Scholarship should be given to indigent students and the system should ensure that the elite do not hijack it.
“In that kind of situation, you find our politicians living in unimaginable affluence from corrupt practices. It is outrageous. When you juxtapose the level of corruption with the big amounts being made by politicians, you can relate it with the violence. This is why they want to get there at all cost.
“Political positions should be made exclusive for those who want to genuinely serve the people, not those who want to enrich themselves. We need to drastically reduce our lawmakers’ allowances as well as security vote for governors.
“However, this is not what could be achieved by mere wishes or pronouncements but must be backed by laws. We need the cooperation of the National Assembly and that is where we run ourselves into a conundrum because this is the same National Assembly that benefits from the ridiculous system. To legislate against it is a herculean, if not an impossible, task,” he said.
The professor said that, apart from poverty that pushes some youths to embrace violence as a means of survival, the high rate of drug abuse and other self-enhancing substances must be quickly checked.
His words: “Government has to make the various agencies fighting drug abuse more powerful. Tougher laws that will deter people from selling and consuming drugs have to be passed. For the reason that these youths are high on these substances, they are unable to reason like normal human beings and can’t realise that those politicians are selfish and wicked. You can never see children of politicians doing thuggery. They are in Canada, United States, England and other advanced countries.
“Cultism is also a strong factor contributing to the violence here and there. Government must do something radical to stop the spread of this illicit act. Unfortunately, we now have cultism even in secondary and primary schools.”
On why there was low voter turnout on February 23, Akintola said many Nigerians within the age of voting were discouraged and frustrated by the attitudes of most politicians who were elected but had over the years derailed from their promises to the people.
He called on the relevant political players to engage in aggressive voter education. He added that most of the electorate were yet to understand that voting is a legitimate power to influence governance.
“We need to let the people know that, except they participate actively, true democracy cannot be actualised. If they fail to participate, evil people will always take over. The way forward is to continue to sensitise Nigerians not to be tired and to stand by candidates who have the interest of the people at heart,” he said.
Speaking with Daily Sun, national coordinator of Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, submitted that no Nigerian politician was worth dying or killing for. He said anyone who engaged in violence in order to please a certain political godfather or for financial gain would need to be examined.
As an election observer, he said, to curb election violence, politicians must eschew desperation, place national interest above self-interest and commit to the sustenance, consolidation and promotion of Nigeria’s democracy.
“Democratic institutions must be allowed to function independently and effectively without partisan interference and manipulation. No politician’s ambition is worth dying for. Most of the politicians have their children schooling abroad. It’s only a foolish youth that will lend him/herself for use as a political thug for any politician. Such a youth mortgages his future and destiny for a small hand-out, that is if he is not hurt or killed in the process.
“The sad thing is that the same politicians abandon the youth the moment they win election and only remember them four years after when they want to contest again. Our youths must be wise and remember that the hope and future of every nation is in the hands of its youth. The youth should use their numbers to vote for good governance rather than promote violence that destroys their future,” he said.
Nwanguma differed, however, that there was low turnout, especially in the areas he monitored.
He said: “As an election observer, one of the outstanding features of the last February 23, 2019, presidential and National Assembly elections was impressive voter turnout. I didn’t see low turnout.”
A human rights activis in Lagos, Olumide Adams said the tension usually created by politicians during campaigns was a strong reason to scare people from coming out to exercise their franchise.
Said he: “For those of us who closely follow most of the campaigns by the big parties, all we heard were repeated verbal attacks on their opponents as if they were enemies. We scarcely heard of their political and economic blueprint that would improve the lives of the ordinary Nigerian.
“When you hear our political leaders telling their supporters to defend their votes from being stolen, you might agree with me that this is creating unnecessary tension in the land. The truth is that how many people are ready to take the risk and put their lives on the line when a picture of violence and danger is already painted during the campaigns?
“In Lagos, we could see that only a little above one million people came out to vote out of about five million people that collected their PVCs. This was not peculiar to Lagos. Almost the same thing happened in other parts of the country.”
