New Telegraph 
We need evidence-based research to assert and conclude that low voter turn – out has been observed in most elections in Nigeria.
We measure voter turnout in elections by comparing the number of individuals on the voters’ register to those who vote. Occasionally, we evaluate voter turnout based on the number of people who collected their permanent voter cards.
This may not accurately reflect voter turnout in Nigeria. The foundation of the electoral system is a credible register of voters, which must include all those eligible to vote in elections.
A trustworthy register must earn the respect of all key stakeholders in the electoral process. In other words, it must not be compromised or biased. The importance of the voters’ register highlights its significance in cases of alleged over-voting.
Those who claim over-voting in elections must present the voters’ register and other documents used to record and compile results. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is responsible for compiling the voters’ register.
This duty is both constitutional and legal. Ideally, it should be a routine task for the Commission and a fundamental civic duty for citizens.
In other words, those who reach the age of 18 and do not face any legal barriers can visit the Commission’s office to register or sign up online. Unfortunately, the compilation and voter registration process in Nigeria bears a resemblance to a battleground.
Some individuals perceive it as a form of census, using it to gauge the strength of their population. This narrative is distorted by certain members of the political elite, who view Nigeria through the lens of ethnicity and religion.
Some of these elites mobilise their traditional rulers, youth, and community leaders to enlist both eligible and ineligible individuals for registration. Others regard the voters’ register as equivalent to a ballot box, mobilising and using fictitious names to inflate the register.
They source names and photographs from calendars and photo studios for registration purposes. Ultimately, they accumulate voter cards and deploy them during elections.
Over the years, the electoral management body has employed various means to clean up the voters’ register.
The Commission understood that if the voters’ register is to be used to genuinely and properly gauge voter turnout, it must command a measure of acceptability and credibility. Unfortunately, numerous factors militate against this process.
For instance, a few months before the 2011 General Elections, INEC conducted voter registration at all 119,973 Registration Centres in the country. The Commission subjected the register to Register Optimisation Process II (AFIS).
It revealed between 0.2% and 14% of duplicates in each state, totalling 4,280,979. The register was still subjected to Register Optimisation Process III, which returned between 0.5% and 37.3% of duplicates in each state, totalling 11,437,774.
Ultimately, the Commission reported 73,528,040 registered voters. When it consolidated the figures, it arrived at 74,638,834 registered voters. After applying its Automatic Finger Identification System (AFIS), it got 70,357,855 voters.
This indicated 4,280,979 multiple registrations, or 5.7%. In preparation for the 2023 general election, the Commission commenced the Continuous Registration of Voters and suspended it in July 2022.
It registered 12,298,944 voters across the four quarters of registration. After de-duplication, 2,780,756(22.6%) records were confirmed as multiple or double registrants, reducing the total to 9,518,185. Furthermore, during the 2022 nationwide claims and objections, the Commission recorded
During the continuous voter registration process, some Nigerians disregarded the Commission’s advice, refusing to update their records or apply for transfers and instead carried out fresh registrations
12,937 names of deceased persons, 656 non-Nigerians, 20,968 underage individuals, and 234 multiple registrants.
According to available records, during the February 27, 1999 presidential elections, the voters’ register contained 57,938,945, while the actual number of persons who voted stood at 30,280,052, representing 52.3% voter turnout.
During the April 19, 2003 presidential elections, the voters’ register contained 60,823,022, while the actual number of persons who voted stood at 42,081,735, representing 69.1% voter turnout.
In the April 21, 2007, presidential elections, the voters’ register contained 61,567,036, while the actual number of persons who voted stood at 35,397,517, representing 58.0% voter turnout.
In the April 16, 2011, presidential election, the voters’ register had 73,528,040 voters and 39,469,484 voted, representing 53.7%.
In the March 28, 2015, presidential election, 67,422,005 registered and 29,432,083 voted, representing 47.1%.
In the February 23, 2019, Presidential election, the registered voters stood at 84,004,084 and 27,324,583 voted, representing 34.7%, while in the April 25, 2023, presidential election, the registered voters stood at 93,469,008. 87,209,007 collected their Permanent Voter’s cards.
A total of 25,286,616 were accredited, while 24,965,218 cast their votes, and the valid votes stood at 24,025,940, representing 27.05% of the collected PVCs and accredited voters.
We must therefore locate the alleged low voter turnout inside the voters’ register and outside the voters’ register. It has more to do with what we do with the voters’ register, the desperate practices of the political elite, and less to do with the refusal of Nigerians to vote.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, captured the essence and power of the Nigerian people in deciding and shaping the character of the 2015 elections in her article “When Nigeria Decides, Nigeria Wins”.
In the article, she asserted: “Many Nigerians waited for hours, in sun and rain, to cast their ballots and see their votes counted.
When I spoke with voters, I was struck not only by their patience but also by their determination to show Nigeria’s dedication to democracy and to democratic principles.
Elections are ultimately about people—the volunteers and poll workers who manage polling stations, the party candidates and supporters who craft policies and political platforms, the civil society activists who work for transparency, the journalists who report on the campaigns and events on election day, the political leaders who accept victory or concede defeat, especially when stepping down is in the country’s best interest.
“It is about those men and women who shared their stories with me as they stood in line and those members of the security services that remained neutral and vigilantly guarded against fraud and intimidation”.
Some of the double and multiple registrants remain in the voters’ register. Some individuals who warehoused PVCs cannot utilise them due to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and such names are in the voter register.
Some of these individuals discarded their PVCS in forests and along highways, pretend – ing to be patriots while participating in an organised scam.
Unfortunately, the names of these individuals are still on the voter register. During the continuous voter registration process, some Nigerians disregarded the Commission’s advice, refusing to update their records or apply for transfers and instead carried out fresh registrations.
Some of them retain their names on the register, as the clean-up of the register is an ongoing activity. Their multiple or double names persist on the register and will be used to assess the percentage of voter turnout.
Nigerians typically do not maintain records of deaths and seldom report them. The agency responsible for recording births and deaths does not uphold accurate records.
The Commission is often compelled to document the deaths of prominent individuals based on newspaper advertisements and records. During claims and objections, Nigerians rarely present proof of death.
These names remain on the register and are used to evaluate the percentage of voter turnout during elections. Beyond the limitations of the voters’ register lies a broader set of factors that operate outside it; including structural, logistical, psychological, and socio-political realities that discourage actual voter participation.
Those prevented by political thugs from accessing polling units will be classified as absentee voters, contributing to the assessment of voter turnout.
Additionally, those unable to vote because of challenges with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and its operators will be used in assessing voter turnout.
Those who, driven by distrust and perceived lack of transparency, consciously boycott the polling units will also be recorded as absentee voters. We must consciously, creatively, and ideologically engage and re-engage Nigerians in the electoral process.
Nigerians should look forward to voting with enthusiasm. The political elite must present Nigerians with something different and exciting.
Nigerians need to perceive an ideological divergence among the political parties. Nigerians want to feel and experience good governance.
Nigeria must not consciously or unconsciously permit the younger members of our society to disengage from the electoral process or view democracy as an obstacle to progress and development.
