By Gabriel Ameh, The Sight News
Deepening democracy through local government elections is a major aim of decentralisation in a multifaceted democratic system in Nigeria, however, where citizens do not have input in deciding their leaders, there might be some form of disconnect leading to a poor perception of the government in question, disengagement and ultimately doubts.
The just concluded Federal capital territory (FCT) Area Council elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was basically an exercise to elect chairman and Councillors into the six Area Councils of Abaji, Kuje, AMAC, Gwagwalada,Bwari and Kwali, hence, registered voters in the nation’s capital, on the 12th February 2022 a week today, filed out to participate in the election.
Statistics from INEC showed that 14 political parties sponsored 472 candidates, comprising 110 for chairmanship and deputy chairmanship as well as 362 stand-bearers for councilorship seats.
While the other 12 political parties may have merely seen the election as an opportunity to control government at that level, for the remaining two, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the poll was a launchpad to test their strength ahead of the 2023 general election.
Meanwhile, the FCT Polls was a reaffirmation of the level of apathy and disinterest amongst the FCT youths aged between (18-35) years, as their presence were not strongly felt at the February 12, Area Council elections in subnational governance in Nigeria, despite Areas Councils being the tier of government closest to the people in Abuja.
Conversely, I discovered, as The Sight News field observer at the just concluded elections, that at various polling units, the aged people between the ages of (40-70 years) were more present to exercise their franchise than the youths (18-35 years) during Elections on Saturday.
This is not unconnected to existing gaps and the overbearing influence of state executives on local governments as most youths felt they do not have any business with the area councils election because they are not feeling the positive impact of the previous and existing elected chairmen and counselors.
For Mr. Sabi Usman and Mr. Linus Ochilama who spoke to The Sight News at Polling Unit 104, Chika, Lugbe Airport road, they believe their votes may not count because of their involvement in the last general election which, according to them, did not reflect their votes.
The point of this article is not to further expose the lack of human, technical capacity and proper logistics plan of the electoral process or the absence of a legal framework that could guarantee the sanctity of the election, for these were made glaringly obvious at the election day.
For instance, the extreme late arrival of election materials and Ad-hoc staff to Polling units that I observed, was seen as non-preparedness and laxity on the part of INEC by the voters. Hence, registration/accreditation of voters was meant to start by 8:30am according to INEC guidelines, but election materials and Ad-hoc staff arrived at some polling units as late as 1pm, while voting was scheduled to stop at 2:30pm.
According to some of the election Presiding Officers, the reason for the late arrival of materials and ad-hoc staff to most polling units was logistics problems; ad-hoc staff and drivers were not familiar with their polling units environment; driving to wrong polling units and merging of four to five different Ad-hoc staff and materials in one transportation bus to convey them to their different Polling units. These were all witnessed by The Sight News Correspondent.
Another glaring lack of technical capacity and non-effective communication witnessed during the area councils elections was the oversight on sensitive election material such as when the Chairmanship ballot paper and box were not brought to polling unit 069 King of Kings, Lugbe, an action which was said to be an oversight by the Presiding Officer.Some voters were visibly angry upon noticing such errors and left the polling units without exercising their franchise.
“Why would I vote? I can’t vote here in this polling unit. I came out to vote for both chairman and Councillor and now I am seeing only the Councillor’s ballot paper, none for Chairman, after waiting for a long time since 9am. I won’t vote and I can’t vote”, said Mr. Cosmas Okolorie.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was another sensitive election tool that The Sight News Correspondent observed as a setback in delaying the smooth voting process. The INEC ad-hoc staff were seen struggling with the visibility of the BVAS on how to read/capture the details of the voters. They scrambled for positions in dark corners just to get details of voters thereby wasting precious voting time.
Despite these challenges, the polls have also revealed huge opportunities for better area councils elections going forward and by extension, a better general election in Nigeria by championing reforms of laws and processes for managing and supervising elections that have the potential to reignite Nigerian citizens’ interest in the processes especially youth participation.
Moreso, the introduction and deployment of BVAS technology for registration, accreditation of voters, voting and transmission of results to enable credibility and transparency in the process is another welcome development which has inspired citizens’ confidence in the election process.
Early release of crucial election materials across various polling units and communication platforms cum pasting of list of registered candidates few days to election rather than the election day, will not only enable access for review but will also ensure citizens know their polling centers and candidates, as this will also provide the opportunity for community-based organisations to engage the process as a catalyst for voter mobilisation.
Finally, Nigerians must wake up to their civic responsibilities as citizens and exercise their rights to vote, especially at the grassroot level, as Nigeria’s democracy can only be safeguarded if citizens actively participate and hold the government accountable. Voting remains a fundamental and the only determinant of the representatives who represent the people in government.
There is no doubt that credible, all-inclusive, free, fair and independent Area Council elections will bring the people much closer to governance and no doubt bring about the highly clamored local government autonomy that Nigerians crave for.
This can only be achieved through the active participation of citizens and civil society actors and the deliberate effort of election stakeholders in improving the process.
Gabriel Ameh writes for The Sight News Online and this article should not be used in part or whole without permission from thesightnews@gmail.com.
