The Presidential election has come and gone, but the details of the election has found its space in history unchallenged.

Prior to this year’s election #NigeriaDecides2019, the 2015 presidential election had the lowest figures as it relates to voters turn out, just 42% of Nigeria’s registered voting population came out to choose their leaders. The general expectation amongst Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) was that the figures would improve by the next election.

The militant and evangelical advocacy carried out by notable CSOs including YMonitor on voters’ education practically had little or no effect with regards to voters turn out on the day of the election. This is not to say that our collective efforts amounted to nothing, as we recorded a high level of awareness and involvement in the process. And if the numbers of those that registered are anything to go by, we might say that having 84 million Nigerians register to vote, is a considerable achievement.

				Elections
S/N	State	No. of Registered Voters	No. of Accredited Voters	Total Votes Cast	Total Votes Rejected	Voter Turn Out %	Vote Rejection %
1	Abia	1,793,861	361,561	344,471	21,180	20	6
2	Adamawa	1,959,322	874,920	860,756	49,222	45	6
3	Akwa Ibom	2,119,727	695,677	605,140	26,365	33	4
4	Anambra	2,389,332	675,273	625,035	19,301	28	3
5	Bauchi	2,453,512	1,075,330	1,061,955	37,648	44	4
6	Bayelsa	923,182	344,237	335,856	14,089	37	4
7	Benue	2,391,276	786,069	763,872	34,960	33	5
8	Borno	2,319,434	987,290	955,205	35,419	43	4
9	Cross River	1,512,915	461,033	446,046	24,145	30	5
10	Delta	2,719,313	891,647	882,254	52,492	33	6
11	Ebonyi	1,392,931	391,747	379,394	20,263	28	5
12	Edo	2,150,127	604,915	599,228	38,517	28	6
13	Ekiti	899,919	395,741	393,709	12,577	44	3
14	Enugu	1,935,168	452,765	451,063	30,049	23	7
15	FCT	1,335,015	467,784	451,408	27,457	35	6
16	Gombe	1,385,191	604,240	580,649	26,446	44	5
17	Imo	2,037,569	585,741	542,777	31,191	29	6
18	Jigawa	2,104,889	1,171,801	1,149,922	43,678	56	4
19	Kaduna	3,861,033	1,757,868	1,709,005	45,402	46	3
20	Kano	5,391,581	2,006,410	1,964,751	73,617	37	4
21	Katsina	3,210,422	1,628,865	1,619,185	63,712	51	4
22	Kebbi	1,802,697	835,238	803,755	47,150	46	6
23	Kogi	1,640,449	570,773	553,496	32,480	35	6
24	Kwara	1,401,895	489,482	486,254	26,578	35	5
25	Lagos	6,313,507	1,196,490	1,156,590	67,023	19	6
26	Nasarawa	1,509,481	613,720	599,399	18,621	41	3
27	Niger	2,375,568	911,964	896,976	45,039	38	5
28	Ogun	2,336,887	613,397	605,938	41,682	26	7
29	Ondo	1,812,567	598,586	586,827	30,833	33	5
30	Osun	1,674,729	732,984	731,882	17,200	44	2
31	Oyo	2,796,542	905,007	891,080	54,549	32	6
32	Plateau	2,423,381	1,074,042	1,062,862	28,009	44	3
33	Rivers	3,215,273	678,167	666,585	24,420	21	4
34	Sokoto	1,895,266	950,107	925,940	54,049	50	6
35	Taraba	1,777,105	756,111	741,564	28,687	43	4
36	Yobe	1,365,913	601,059	586,137	26,772	44	5
37	Zamfara	1,717,128	616,168	597,224	18,785	36	3
	Sum	82,344,107	29,364,209	28,614,190	1,289,607	36	5

 

In the last Presidential election, Nigerians just decided to stay back, do not be moved by the numbers you saw on your way to the polling unit. At the end of the day, when the numbers were counted, only 36% of the eligible voters decided who became the President of Nigeria!

This is unprecedented in the history of democracy in the country, worse than in 2015. Is it not an irony that Lagos, which has the highest number of registered voters, at the end of the election, had only 19 percent of that figure show up, making it the lowest in the country?

Kano was second in terms of the number of eligible voters, it fared better in the number of voters turnout – 37%. Jigawa registered the highest number of voters’ turnout, with what could be considered a stellar performance of 56%. Only three states had more than or exactly 50% of voters’ turnout, and the three are in the North. The rest were below, with a majority within the range of 30%.

Analyst are saying that the next election would be better, but we cannot be so sure of that. Prior to the 2015 election, we anticipated so much and when the mantra of change began, we felt that it was going to be the best election so far in terms of participation, not knowing we were in for surprises. No one could have anticipated that the 2019 figures would be lower than 2015, but here we are with an all-time low voters’ turnout in an election. Maybe we should stop being carelessly optimistic, maybe we should equally agree that if the necessary things are not done, 36% voters’ turnout may just be a better figure compared to what would come in 2023.

Every election in Nigeria is worth the effort. Since 1999, all the elections that we have had, have one peculiarity or the other that makes them sacrosanct; a river that need not be trivialized to get to the other side. Hence we are being reductionistic when we say that 2023 is what matters and by then we may have a better figure.