Voter apathy in Nigeria is not an uncommon situation. But with the 2023 elections geared to be an ultimate decider for many categories of Nigerians, it has become imperative that a deep analysis be done to ascertain the level of voter apathy and highlight the many categories of Nigerians that never perform their civic responsibilities. These non-voters fall into seven categories: Doctors and medical personnel, policemen and security agents, party loyalists and thugs, INEC officials, hawkers and journalists, and skeptics. A few people in these categories reveal why they, even as members of the viable electorate, do not vote.

In the last two general elections in the country, 2015 and 2019, Nigeria wasted over 62 percent of election funds due to the low turnout of registered voters in the country. This amounts to over N255 billion wasted in each of the elections according to a report by Dataphyte.

While many might not consider voter apathy and low numbers of voter turnout problematic, the above statistics reveal that it is an even bigger problem than imagined. This in many ways poses a big problem for Nigeria’s democracy if proper measures are not put in place.

Democracy is in trouble when two out of three voters don’t bother to turn up for a presidential election. In Nigeria’s last presidential poll, incumbent Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected with the backing of 15.2 million voters compared to the 11.3 million votes Atiku Abubakar amassed.

Although this gave Buhari 56 percent of the total votes cast, in a country with a population of over 200 million, including more than 84 million registered voters, 15.2 million votes hardly qualify as a huge mandate. The 35 percent voter turnout was down from 44 percent in the 2015 presidential election and way down from the 54 percent turnout in 2011. In fact, turnout for Nigerian presidential elections has been dropping at an alarmingly consistent rate since 2003.

This then begs the question that why are increasingly fewer Nigerians feeling the need to vote in elections that decide the most powerful political office? Research by our correspondent shows seven main categories of registered voters that do not vote on Election Day for diverse reasons.

Doctors and medical personnel, policemen and security agents, party loyalists and thugs, INEC officials, some sections of hawkers and traders, journalists, and skeptics; a large majority of these groups do not perform their civic responsibilities on election day, and a number of them have given reasons.

Sarah Ayoola, a pediatrician in Kogi State explained that she does not vote on Election Day because she has to work. “I make extra income when I work on public holidays because I do Locum. I have never been off duty during elections, and I do not mind. Even if I had the time, I’ll likely not vote because I prefer to be on standby in case I am needed. During holidays, children get into a lot of trouble, and this can lead to domestic accidents, so I am always prepared for any eventuality. Queuing to vote takes away that privilege.”

Surprisingly, the reasons given by a die-hard All Progressives Congress (APC) loyalist, simply identified as Otunba revealed that most times they get carried away by activities on Election Day. The middle-aged man who conversed in Yoruba explained that “Our work is not just to vote, we have to protect our people’s votes. From the point of voting, we follow the ballot box to where the votes would be counted. It is better for the votes to get to the right place than for the opposition to rig it in their favour. There is danger everywhere and we must protect our interests.”

When asked if the protection involved snatching the boxes to prevent them from falling into the hands of the opponents, one of his counterparts responded that “we protect by any means necessary.”

An Assistant Commissioner of Police in a short phone response stated that policemen are always on duty, and this prevents them from voting. The Lagos ACP, who declined to be named, stated that; “We have to perform our duties during elections, we are always on duty.”

According to Mr. Festus Okoye of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials who do not vote do so at their own discretion. In response to our question on whether the commission gives express directives to officials not to vote, the Commissioner for Information and Voter Education of INEC, enlightened that the Commission has never given a directive to its staff not to carry out their civic responsibilities.

Responding through a WhatsApp message, Okoye said, “There is no law or constitutional stipulation that prohibits officials of the Commission from exercising their franchise. There are various categories of election duty officials. The first is the permanent staff of the Commission. The second is ad-hoc staff recruited by the Commission for the conduct of elections. The third is collation officers recruited for the collation of results of elections.

“The challenge is that these categories of staff are hardly in their polling units, registration areas, local governments and states during elections.”

Speaking on a lasting solution to the problem, especially because the non-voting of these categories of people takes away a large chunk of the informed voting population, he posited: “Maybe in future, we may introduce early voting, and this may enable willing election duty staff to vote.”

For journalists, four out of the five our correspondent spoke to gave reasons for ‘being on the job’. According to an entertainment journalist in Southwest Nigeria who pleaded anonymity, “On election day, we are all on election duty. Whether your beat is fashion or sports, on Election Day you become a political or metro reporter. That is the reality. So, when exactly are we supposed to vote?”

Abayomi Oladipo, an editor of an online newspaper stated that journalists are not supposed to vote. “How can you say journalists should remain unbiased if they are rooting for one political party or the other? We cannot eat our cake and have it. Journalists must remain fair and balanced to do their job properly and voting for one candidate would imply preference. It is just as absurd to find a journalist campaigning for a candidate during election season; it is only in Nigeria that we do silly things like this.”

In the same vein, a retired broadcaster turned publisher, who preferred to stay anonymous, lent her voice and said journalists, may be too busy to vote. “In my days as a young reporter, I don’t sleep at a stretch for five days. Two days before the election, on Election Day, and two days after. In fact, I don’t go home for a week because I have to be on top of the situation for live reports in the newsroom.

“These days though, I advise my reporters to cover elections from their different polling units to give them the opportunity to vote. But I am sure many of them do not.”

While many of the responses can be justified, the effect of the loss of these sets of viable electorates at the polls is a recurring one and is cause for concern.

Not only does this spell impending doom for poll results in the 2023 election, but it is also another way that Nigeria is losing resources. This is aside from the pressure that INEC is under to conduct free and fair elections in 2023. (Saturday Independent)

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