Election: 2023 ghost haunts Lagos LG poll

…Calls for urgent electoral reforms heighten

…INEC must take voter education seriously- Observers

Lagos State records one of the lowest participation percentages among the electorate every election circle despite having the highest number of registered voters in the country.

The constant drop in number of Lagos dwellers who cast their votes during election has become the more worrisome in recent election circles. Such was the case in the South west state in the July 12 council election.

On the election day, there was widespread apathy, across the state, many polling units were deserted as Lagosians refused to vote. Many people stayed away because they reasoned that there was no point voting since the outcome was already allegedly, predetermined by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASEIC).

“I did not vote, you can see, there is no level-playing field; are you telling me, someone else can beat an APC chairmanship candidate here? I think they should have just done selection,” Tunde Okuola, an accountant, told BusinessDay

However, pundits say that the 2023 general election experience likely contributed to the low voter turnout during the Lagos State local government election, as many Lagosians expressed disappointment and disillusionment with the political process. Despite promises by the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the run-up to the 2023 election, many Nigerians say the conduct of the election did not live up to expectation and their votes did not count.

INEC failed to transmit the 2023 presidential election results in real-time, but election for other positions was transmitted, despite its repeated assurances that it would apply its technological innovations in the conduct of the elections.

Many eligible voters have not recovered or forgiven the electoral body for what they described as electoral heist.

There are fears by stakeholders that the scenarios seen in the July 12 council election in Lagos State could repeat itself in the general election in 2027, if governments at all levels do not take proactive steps to shore up voters’ confidence.

Recent off-cycle elections in few states have been marred by apathy and other logistics challenges. Analysts say it poses a big threat in the effort to deepen democracy in Nigeria, noting that part of the reasons why many Nigerians have shown lukewarm attitude to the electoral system is because of bad governance by the incumbent administration led by President Bola Tinubu.

“This apathy is also fueled by bad governance, mismanagement of the economy that we have seen in the last two years of this administration. Many are already giving up, that whatever their votes are, it would not count in 2027 and the process would be manipulated to favour certain people.

“It is a mindset that puts our democracy in danger and you don’t blame them. A situation where less than 20%of eligible voters elected a president does not give such a person legitimacy,” Temitope Musowo, a political analyst, said.

APC’s landslide victory clouded by poll’s lack of credibility

The candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may rejoice as they prepare to assume office, however, many Lagosians say they lack legitimacy.

The APC swept the poll, leaving just one councillorship seats in Yaba to rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the victory is clouded by allegations of electoral malfeasance.

In the constitutionally recognised 20 local government areas in the state and the 37 local council development areas, a total of 6,570,291 registered voters were credited to the state with a total population of more than 21 million residents.

The ongoing online voter registration exercise being undertaken by the country’s electoral body is expected to push Lagos State beyond the seven million mark, even as the population is expected to surpass 22 million soon.

Despite these numbers, the total votes harvested by the winner of July 12 poll were 584,619, with the first runner-up, the PDP, allegedly recording a paltry 80,719 votes, from the 13,323 polling units in the state.

The outcome of the July 24 election showed that about six million registered voters stayed away from the polling booths.

Although 15 political parties registered for the poll, only the ruling APC and opposition PDP got any significant number of votes.

Read also: Voter apathy, logistics hiccups mar Lagos LG poll

Many opposition leaders in the state have rejected the outcome of the poll; they cited widespread multiple voting by suspected supporters of the ruling party, noting that the outcome was already predetermined.

The parties, including the Labour Party, Young Progressives Party, African Action Congress, Action People’s Congress, and the Accord Party made the allegation at a joint news conference on Tuesday in Lagos.

The leaders of the various parties said that the election conducted by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission was full of irregularities, while also disenfranchised many opposition candidates.

They called for outright cancellation of the council election, describing the exercise as undemocratic and daylight robbery.

Olusegun Mobolaji of the YPP, described the process that led to the polls as flawed, added that over 100 candidates of various political parties were disenfranchised over alleged LASIEC’s rigidity.

Mobolaji, the immediate past chairman of the state chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, said that logos of some political parties, including that of YPP, APP and LP, were omitted in some local governments.

The former IPAC boss said snatching of ballot boxes, secret relocation of some polling units from their official places and clandestine results collation, and other electoral law’s violation characterised the polls.

“The process that led to this poll was full of irregularities and anomalies; even the timetable was contradictory, tedious, choky and unbearable for opposition parties

“Some parties got nomination forms from LASIEC two days to the election because of some issues, how can we ascribe credibility to such an election?

“As we speak, there are lots of forms paid for by candidates: N150,000 for Chairmanship Candidates, N25,000 for Vice Chairmanship Candidates, and N50,000 for councillorship candidates that LASIEC did not take back from us,” he said.

According to him, all appeal letters written to LASIEC, the governor, the State House of Assembly and Commissioner of Police and Department of State Security were not given attention to.

Solution is to transfer LG poll to INEC or create new body- Pundits

Pundits said that the solution to the controversial and mediocre local government elections conducted across Nigeria in the last two decades is for the federal government to amend the guideline setting up INEC to empower the commission to conduct council polls in the country.

The pundits also stated that since state governors have resolved to continue to hijack the allocation of local government it would be difficult for the governors to allow an inclusive, free and fair council poll.

They stressed that since the appointment and funding of the state’s Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) was still under the control of the state government, nothing can change.

“Things can’t change, even the governors don’t want things to change, they are ok with the way it is. It is in all the states of the federation that the ruling party wins all the seats.

“What do you expect when the governors fund and appoint who heads their state’s electoral commission? If they are serious, let them implement the Supreme Court judgement on financial autonomy to the LG first, Ibrahim Okeoluwa, a public affairs analyst, told BusinessDay.

Kunle Okunade, a political scientist, said that many Nigerians would not vote because they had lost confidence in the election and leadership at the grassroots.

He called for reforms in the electoral system, noting that there was the need for the establishment of an independent body to conduct council polls where funding and appointment would be from independent sources.

“There can’t be credible elections at that level for now with this system, what we need to have is a system, an independent body that would conduct that election at that level and funding would be from a separate body too,” Okunade told BusinessDay.