To many Nigerians the 2023 general election fell short of their expectations.
In the run-up to the 2023 polls, Nigerians were hopeful that after decades of controversial and flawed polls, since the advent of the current fourth republic in 1999, which had drastically affected public confidence in the country’s electoral system and led to wide apathy among eligible voters in the country the situation would be different in the 2023 polls.
Parts of the reasons for the high expectations came after the amendment of the Electoral Act by the parliament, which gave way for the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), through which election results can be transmitted electronically in the polling units after the announcement of results.
The euphoria was seen in the huge turnout by Nigerians, especially among the youths in the one year long, Continuous Voters Registration Exercise (CVR), where they would register and get their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs).
Across the country, Nigerians turned up enmass to claim their PVCs and with the hope that this time around their votes would count.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) , 93. 5 million eligible voters were registered for the 2023 polls, but only 87.2 million Nigerians collected their PVCs in a process that was hindered by bottlenecks.
However, INEC data show that only 24.97 million voted in the February 25 poll, which is equivalent to 29 percent.
With that number, it means that it is less than three in ten Nigerians who had PVCs turned up at the poll on February 25, making it the lowest voter turnout since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
In light of the high enthusiasm among many Nigerians in the lead up to the election, the low turnout has left many analysts surprised and disappointed.
Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the presidential election with 8.8 million votes.
INEC officials said Tinubu satisfied all conditions required by securing both the majority of votes as well as 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the country’s 36 states.
Tinubu only managed to secure 36% of the valid votes cast, with the remaining 63% of voters choosing other candidates.
The three leading candidates, including Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party each secured victory in 12 states with some other dominant politicians failing to win in their own states.
Read also: Nigerians condemn ethnic division ahead Lagos election
Tinubu’s win also marks one of the lowest thresholds secured by an elected president in Nigeria’s democratic era, which began in 1999.
Elections in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest democracy, have been dogged by low voter turnout which has declined every year since the 2003 election.
However, experts say the low turnout is not healthy for democracy and eludes legitimacy of the elected government.
Political analysts said the results from the presidential and National Assembly elections was an indication of the deep division in Nigeria presently which was along religious and ethnic lines.
Sylvester Odion-Akhaine professor of political science and public affairs analyst said several factors may be responsible for the decline in voters’ turnout, stressing that the prevailing state of the economy cannot be ruled out.
He pointed out that the decision of the federal government to redesign the naira and the scarcity of the new notes may be partly responsible.
According to him, “Voter turnout universally is 30 percent, in Austraila it is 30 percent; people just go to the polling units and take the ballot paper and put it in the box without voting, so that they would not say they did not do anything.
“The inability of people to get their PVCs could also be responsible; I mean the process was difficult for people to collect their cards.
“We saw what happened in the South East where people’s PVCs cards were dumped in the bush and people could not have access to them. Some people belong to that category and could not vote.
“Also the changing of polling units of hundreds of people at the last minute by INEC could also be an issue. Some people could not go online and check their new polling units.
“The non-availability of cash for people to move round the country is a serious issue too. There was also suppression of votes in some parts of the country, especially in Lagos here”.
Sadeeq Gombe, political analyst, said that the president –elect could have performed better at the polls, adding that the spread of the votes revealed a lack of national unity.
“Now, he faces the difficult task of uniting the country.
“Tinubu must not make the mistake of President Buhari by looking at it that other regions didn’t vote for him.
“The way we are today, I think we need a president who can come and unite Nigerians, carry everybody, irrespective of their socio-political, religious, regional sentiments, “Gombe said.
With the results and turnout, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kwara,Ogun, Ondo and Osun all saw a decline in voter turnout in 2023 compared to 2019.
Jigawa state recorded the biggest slump in voter turnout as only 42 percent of Nigerians who collected their PVCs in the Northern state voted on February 25. That’s down from 71 percent in 2019.
Ekiti, Kwara, Osun and Ogun states, all sitting south west of Nigeria, followed with the biggest drop in voter turnout.
Only 33 percent of Nigerians who collected their PVCs in the South Western state of Ekiti voted compared to the 59 percent that voted in 2019
The conduct of the February’s 25 presidential and National Assembly elections have been criticised across the country, judging from the commission’s failure to transmit election results electronically according to the Electoral Act and promises made to Nigerians and stakeholders.
Several local and internal observers have faulted the commission describing the election as failing to meet expected standards.
A civil rights organisation, Yiaga Africa said that INEC missed an opportunity in the history of conducting elections.
Yiaga Africa also faulted the presidential election results in Rivers and Imo States, declaring that the results were inconsistent with its observations.
The organisation raised the observation in its post-election statement signed by the Chair, Watching The Vote and Executive Director, Samson Itodo, obtained on Wednesday night and titled,
They said that the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission were manipulated.
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