The last Saturday’s Area Councils election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, exposed Nigerian youths’ unpreparedness for the 2023 general election, despite their clamour for ‘generational change.’
BusinessDay observed that only a few of them turned out for the election that was generally characterised by voter apathy.
A total of 1.373 million registered voters in the FCT spread across the six Area Councils of Abaji, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali, 62 Wards and 2,822 Polling Units in the Territory participated in the election.
However, BusinessDay observation after visiting several polling units across the Area Councils showed that less than 50 percent of the voters turned out to exercise their franchise.
It was noticed that of the few voters that came out to vote candidates of their choice, majority of them were people from middle age upwards, especially old women with just a handful of youths.
This is despite the upsurge in the number of youths that have been registering in the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), young Nigerians between 18 and 34 have dominated the ongoing voter registration exercise.
INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who has always emphasised this, equally noted this during the first quarterly consultative meeting with the media in Abuja.
Yakubu said: “Since the exercise commenced in June last year, reports show a consistent pattern of young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 constituting the largest majority of registrants.
“In terms of occupation, students constitute the largest majority of registrants, which is consistent with the dominance of young Nigerians as voters.”
But this dominance or large number was not reflected in the FCT Area Council election, which many view as a prelude to the 2023 general election.
FCT could be best described as a microcosm of a macrocosm Nigeria since it became the nation’s capital decades ago, having been populated by almost all the ethnic groups in the country apart from the indigenous inhabitants of Gbagyi/Gwari.
Consequently, most of the non-indigenous residents of the FCT who have lived in the area for a long period, especially the youth with some of them giving birth in the city are registered voters and they exercised their franchise in the Territory.
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However, during the last Saturday poll, most of the youths were not seen at the Polling Units, instead they were going about their normal businesses as there was no enforcement of the restriction of movement by security agencies.
Some of them were seen hanging out in parks and gardens, other relaxation spots and sports viewing/betting centres while those who do informal jobs such as motorcycling, driving, haircut, dry cleaning, among others, stuck to their trades.
Some of the youths who spoke with our correspondent at Jordan Garden, Area 11 and Area 8 Gardens in Garki District said they have Voters’ Cards but did not want to stress themselves going to the polling units, as according to them their votes will not even count.
For instance, John Madaki and Bala Musa chorused to our correspondent: “My brother, I can’t go there to stand and wait in the sun. After all, whether I vote or not, they will announce who they want. In fact, let those who have been given money by politicians go and vote. Moreover, this is just a local government election.”
INEC officials in polling units around Nyanya, Garki, Wuse, Asokoro, Bwari and Kuje told BusinessDay that the youths, unlike the older people could not exercise patience when the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices delayed or failed to function; they left angrily.
“As you can see, only people from 45 years and above are here. The young guys even few of them that came didn’t want to wait as we are struggling with the BVAS. We were also told that some of them that were here because we couldn’t reach here on time have gone back saying that they have other important things to do and can’t waste their time just for the sake of voting,” a presiding officer, who simply gave her name as Cynthia, said.
The attitude of the youths to the FCT Area Council election, which took place less than a year to the 2023 general poll, has therefore cast doubts as to their readiness to fully participate in the election not just in terms of vying for offices but voting.
A politician nursing presidential ambition told BusinessDay on condition of anonymity that he was worried about the low turnout generally and that of the youths, particularly as they were the target of those in opposition.
He said it was unfortunate that the youths, which are being looked upon as beacon of hope for the change Nigeria is looking for could exhibit such a lukewarm attitude to an election that is supposed to be a benchmark for 2023.
The presidential contender said: “They, politicians, have to change tactics by targeting other age groups and not depending on the youths for their campaign messages on social media.
“The FCT Area Councils poll showed we must take our campaigns to the rural people, those who are old and uneducated that don’t have android phones to access messages on social media. In fact, political parties and we politicians must change strategies because who knows if what happened on Saturday will repeat itself in 2023.”
This is contrary to the belief of many that the youths with their energy and numbers hold the key to the 2023 general election and they must wake up and take their destiny in their own hands by participating in the entire electoral process.
Expressing this view recently was the National Youth Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee, Ismaeel Ahmed, who stated that youths were the key to the 2023 election and beyond.
“In 2023, young people are going to demand what office seekers are going to do for us. We must work on gaining the young people on our side more. The youths are the key to the 2023 elections and beyond. I keep saying that 2023 is going to be a battle for the young people as it has been clearly demonstrated,” Ahmed said.
A political analyst, Adeyemi Dotun, also threw a wake-up call to the youths to participate fully in the 2023 general election to take over power from the ‘gerontocrats’ who have not been able to meet their yearnings and aspirations.
“The Nigerian youth population must present themselves as a force to reckon with in the 2023 election by their political activism and by raising candidates with people-driven representation and uncompromised prospects for good governance.
“This political overhaul of gerontocrats will not be without resistance or barriers ranging from suppression to finance; however, the youth-led representation must be resilient in demanding a change of government with their vote and active participation in the 2023 election poll,” Dotun stated.
But defending the youths, Solomon Gbenga, deputy national youth leader of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), said they are not actually unprepared for the 2023 but their attention is rather focused on the presidential election to the negligence of other polls.
He said: “The problem with Nigerian youths is that they are not prepared to go out and vote but they are looking up to the presidential election. There are National Assembly; State Houses of Assembly elections which they should participate in. Nigerian youths should begin to understand that, election starts with local government, the State, National Assembly before the President.
“They have to also take by-elections seriously in Nigeria. They should not think their business is only with the presidential election. They are prepared but they feel other elections are not actually important. They didn’t pay cognisance to the local elections but that is where the real elections happen.”
