Lagos LG poll, voter turnout, danger of apathy and a nation in need of electoral revival

The Lagos local government election is taking place today in the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the state.

Early reports indicated some logistical hiccups in the movement of electoral officials and materials to the polling units. The frustration the officials experienced at Ikosi-Isheri LCDA is a reference point.

The officials were said to have decided to trek to the centres because they were told that the polling units were not far from where they were.

Some of the officials were seen struggling to board the few available buses. Some were seen hanging at the door of a bus with big bags containing voting materials.

These lapses could breed electoral fraud as some unscrupulous elements could hijack the ballot papers for some untoward motives.

Although the vendor, who supplied the vehicles was said to have delivered based on agreement reached with the organisers, the number of buses supplied was inadequate. This questions the quality of planning and arrangements that were put in place considering the number of officials recruited to do the job.

It is the belief of some analysts that such hiccups should not have allowed to happen on the election day, which exposes Nigeria as a country of people not prepared to get their electoral processes rightly.

Read also: Low turnout as council poll begins across Lagos

No voting materials in Amuwo Odofin

Prospective voters were waiting for the officials of LAISEC at about 12noon. Reports indicated that the voters were waiting to vote, but nobody was on ground to attend to them. Some critics alleged that it was a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise certain people in certain areas. They point to a pattern that has been playing out in such areas. While the authenticity and veracity of the claim is not yet determined, the officials of LAISEC are urged to move in quickly to remedy things.

Apathy trails voting

If the early hours of the election could determine what happens throughout the day, the election would not enjoy massive turnout of voters. Some of those who spoke with BusinessDay Saturday morning said they had no interest in whoever that emerges either as council chairman or councillor. It is safe to state that many Nigerians are now seeing elections as business of party men and women.

“I am not ready to waste my precious time to go vote for somebody who would become very rich on the back of my vote, and I will continue to live in poverty. The worst part of it all is the indiscipline the so-called elected politicians bring to office. They disrespect the very people that elected them into office. In the next one year from today, those that would be voted now would have bidden goodbye to poverty forever. So, why would I waste my time? We are not really ripe for democracy in Nigeria. For me, all I see is ‘government of self, by the people, and for self.’ They ride on the back of the people for their own good,” Tony Akeem, a political analyst, said.

Danger of apathy

Although Nigerians have their reasons for electing to stay away from polling units on election day, they are unwittingly populating the clan of bad leaders. When good men and women are not elected into political offices, the country suffers. The quality of those to be elected today in Lagos will determine the quality or otherwise of healthcare, rural development, human capital development/good education system, among others.

Read also: Late commencement, low turnout mar LGA poll in Lagos community

Loss of faith in governance system

Many Nigerians have lost faith, not only in local government administration, but also in the state and federal government. The people have seen it all and seem to have decided to leave the political practitioners alone to humour themselves. The apathy that is seen today, has a history. The people have seen that their votes no longer count. Politicians do everything and anything to run away with victory and tell their opponents to go to court. In Nigeria, the sanctity of the constitution is no longer respected, that is why many citizens see the constitution amendment drive by the National Assembly as mere fulfillment of righteousness.

What is going on in Lagos today may have been termed election, but it is indeed, a coronation of the anointed. It is likely to produce a predetermined outcome. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is likely to win in all the LGAs with landslide victory. This is not peculiar to Lagos. It is the same story across the country. Every sitting governor organizes LG election to win. The result of the poll today may not likely reflect the pattern of 2023 general election where other parties made a great showing, even the Labour Party (LP) winning at the presidential election.

Complicit judiciary

Many people believe that the Nigerian judiciary has since lost its essence. It has become a toothless bulldog. Its judgment on election matters and governance has made a nonsense of its raison d’etre. The inability of the Supreme Court, for instance, to insist that its landmark ruling in 2024 on the autonomy of Local Government must be respected and implemented, may have confirmed it as just living by name. One year after the Supreme Court ruling mandating that allocation to the local government must be paid directly to the council and not through the state governors, the Presidency has not been able to implement it. The judiciary has lost the respect of many Nigerians. Why would a Supreme Court feel comfortable when its rulings are no longer respected and ruling political class is just cherry-picking? Today, there are all manner of interpretations given to rulings by courts of competent jurisdictions. Today, because the judiciary delights in playing the ostrich, the Certified True Copies (CTCs) emanating from the courts are giving room for all sorts of interpretations which is causing confusion all over the place. Judgments must be declaratory. The CTC refers to a copy of a document that has been officially verified as an accurate representation of the original document. But this is no longer the case as things are degenerating by the day. The judiciary has messed up Nigeria’s political system. It must redeem itself from the morass it has sunken and which is driving the entire country into the abyss.

LG autonomy: One year after Supreme Court ruling, what next?

The Supreme Court and the Presidency have continued to keep mum as the local governments across the country continue to behold the faces of their state governors. Allocations meant for the councils are still going into the state coffers. The question is when will the ruling going to be implemented.