Tag: by-election

Last week’s House of Representatives by-election in Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency, Lagos State was characterised by abysmally low turnout. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, who monitored the election, highlights the reasons for the unusual apathy.

RESIDENTS of Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency, Lagos State went to polls last weekend, to fill the vacuum left behind by the death of Dr. Elijah Adewale, who passed away on July 20. According to the Returning Officer, Prof. Clement Aghatise, Mr. Olaitan Akinwunmi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the contest, with 7,640 votes. He defeated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Babatope Akinyele, who got 1,771 votes. The opposition party has rejected the outcome of the poll, threatening to contest it at the electoral tribunal.
The election, which is the first since Governor Akinwunmi Ambode assumed office last year, was marred by low turnout. The constituency has a total of 339,864 registered voters. But only 9,884 residents, which represent 2.90 per cent of registered voters, actually voted last Saturday. One hundred and ninety-five ballots were invalidated.
Though there was restriction of movement the election, vehicular and human traffic was high during the election, as people went about their business as if nothing was at stake. People were seen trying to eke out a living. Though security operatives mounted roadblocks at almost every junction, they nevertheless had challenges stopping people from going about their businesses.
Observers have attributed the development to lack of interest on the part of voters. This is not unconnected with the prevailing socio-political and economic situation in the country. The low turnout has raised questions about the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the political parties for the election.
Respondents who spoke to our correspondent said INEC and the two major parties particularly did not mobilize the electorates well enough before the election. For instance, Pa. Gabriel Odunayo, 75, who voted at Ojokoro Polling Unit 2, Ward A, said many people do not realise the implication of staying away from the election. He said many people do not realise that their failure to vote means that they would be subjected to the decision of the minority that turned out for the exercise.
Odunayo said he took the trouble to come out, because of his passion to contribute his quota in the process and that the youths ought to be more proactive because their future depended on it. He said: “When I was coming, I saw many of them playing football; almost as if they were not aware of what is taking place in their community today.
“They will be the first people to take to the street to protest, if those we elected act wrongly. I think it is time they are educated on the implication of their action. Government must do enough to mobilise the people during an election. In the days of yore, then I was a youth, we were eager to participate in electoral process and ensure that we defended our votes.”
Addressing reporters shortly after casting his ballot, the PDP candidate, Akinyele, said the lack of interest on the part of majority of the voters is a reflection of the general economic challenges in the society. He said the recession was hitting the people hard and that the country faces a bleak future, if the Federal Government fails to do something urgently to address the situation.
Akinyele said it was unfortunate that the Federal Government has not been able to meet the needs of the ordinary people. He added that the APC leadership at the centre has made it difficult for the people.
He said: “There is very low turnout, but it is expected. People are very angry; people really want something different. However, I must commend the process of the election. The INEC staff did well and the Card Readers and other items are equally in good shape.
“I have to give kudos to INEC, the police and other paramilitary agencies that have been part of the process. In view of the low turnout, I will be surprised if we have up to 25,000 voters. During the general election we had 70,000 voters in this very constituency.
“I think people are really fed up with what is happening in the country. They are fed up of the state of the economy, fed up with our political parties that have not lived up to their campaign promises. They are fed up with the decaying infrastructure and other things.”
Akinyele, who maintained that he would emerge victorious after the election, noted that the PDP had done enough work to enable it win the by election. He said his reaction would be the normal reaction if the election did not come out in his favour.
The APC candidate, Akinwunmi, on the other hand, said the low turnout was because the people did not understand the concept of a by election. He explained that over time the by-election has been relegated to the background, because all stakeholders do not take it as serious as the general election.
He said: “They don’t seem to understand that there is anything like a by election. They were expecting that there will be a restriction of movement, but unfortunately there is nothing like that. The movement of people was not restricted; this gave them the ample opportunity to go about their businesses as if there is nothing at stake.
“People went to their places of work because you cannot stop them going about their businesses. I want to say the little turnout recorded today is due to the APC’s effort. The APC actually went far with the campaign to wake the people up to their responsibilities. We met the artisans, civil servants, commercial drivers and all the sectors to wake them to perform their civic responsibilities.”
He added that not all polling units recorded low turnout, because some areas people actually came out in their numbers to vote.
The Lagos State PDP Publicity Secretary, Taofiq Gani, said the election was a reflection that the political class has failed the people. He noted that the electorates are usually abandoned to their fate each time elections are over. He called on politicians to brace up to the demand of the offices they occupy; stressing that power resides with the people.
He said: “In the election just conducted at Ifako-Ijaiye, there was acute case of low voters’ turnout. What that portends for democracy is that, there is a threat to democracy. This is a threat, because we are supposed to progress; rather what we saw with the election is a clear case of retrogression.
“We should also ask ourselves why the electorates are so disenchanted that they need to be persuaded to come out to vote. Does it mean that unless voters are induced by money, they would not come and vote? We ought to have grown beyond this level in our democracy. I want to be fair to the electorate; as such I want to believe that the reason they probably did not come out to take part in the election is because they have not enjoyed the dividends of democracy.
“They have equally not enjoyed what the government is supposed to provide for them in terms of services. I do not want to sound as if I am blackmailing the government, because I am not. The political class in general is to blame; we have disappointed the electorate. Majority of the politicians have disappointed the people; only few politicians are working.
“What we should do as politicians is to educate the people on this type of exercise. They should be well empowered to know what is going on at every point in time, so that the average electorate should know what his rights are. For not coming out to participate, this portends very grave danger for the polity. Therefore, we reject the outcome of the election and we are going to the court to make our case on this matter.”
In the same vein, the Labour Party (LP) Chairman, Pastor Biodun Popoola, expressed misgivings about the way INEC handled the electoral process. He said some parties opted out in view of the lacklustre attitude displayed by the electoral umpire.
He said: “The first thing is INEC’s role in the election; as I speak to you today I almost had a brawl with the representative of the commission. This led to the non-participation by the opposition parties and in turn the low turnout recorded in this election. But, beyond the INEC thing, if I may tell you, the truth is that the political parties have failed as well, particularly the two major parties.
“In the history of this country, they have failed the people woefully, not just in their promises to the people and in the understanding of the need of the people. Today, you have an economy that is not working; we have a President that does not listen; and we have governors who will not conduct local governments’ election.
“In totality, you have a system that is not working and what you saw at the Ifako-Ijaiye election is a manifestation that people are getting tired. If I were not the chairman of the LP, I will tell you to expect a revolution soon. We are getting there, whether we like it or not. This silence is going to turn out in a way that we least expect. It might injure what the founding fathers spent many years to build.
“That is what we see there; we have seen a situation where people are not interested in what we tell them as political parties. They are not interested in what we offer them and as a matter of fact most of these parties don’t even have ideology or principles. All together, they are political prostitutes; that is what they are. In a situation where you have political prostitutes running elections, that is what you get.
“That is not what God has planned for this country. I have been to everywhere possible in the world; you don’t need a prophet to tell you that this country is richly blessed. This country has got great people, but they will not allow them to come out to contest because they are forces of darkness. The people are now beginning to understand that the money they collect during election is like selling their birthright.
“They are no more interested in selling their birthright, so it would take just more than election to bring them out to vote. I think it will take a reorientation to bring people out to vote in future, particularly the youths.”
Former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, urged the party to learn from its mistakes. He said the PDP’s failure to obey the wishes of the people during the primary was a mark of injustice.
He said: “What has happened is a lesson for the PDP. They should know that Lagos is a cosmopolitan state where your origin does not matter. Lagos is the only state you can find various ethnic group that uses their bloc votes to get result. That is why you have the Igbo, Hausa and other group forming a block in any political party in Lagos.
“What that means is that if the people had said they wanted Fatima Mohammed for the House of Representatives election, I think it is in the best interest of the party to respect the wishes of the people. The party substituted the candidate who won the PDP primary for another person who did not even take part in it. Her supporters may be aggrieved and decided to not to come out to vote. I think it is a lesson for the electoral process.”
The politician explained that Nigerians have become sophisticated in political decision, stressing that the time have gone where people will sit somewhere and be playing godfather, instead of listening to the voice of the people.
He called on politicians to always carry the people along when taking crucial decisions. He noted that the apathy recorded during the election was a reaction to the prevailing situation in the country.