Nigeria’s governing party won the majority of states in the weekend’s gubernatorial election.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) party won 15 states, while the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won seven states, official figures showed Monday.
The Labor Party won one state. The candidate in the presidential election on February 25, Peter Obi, is legally challenging the presidential result (see below).
But the vote, which saw voters elect governors in 28 of the country’s 36 states, was marred by allegations of violence and intimidation.
The gubernatorial race concluded this year’s election cycle, which began with the disputed presidential election in February.
Local observer group YIAGA Africa said it found it several cases in which voters were intimidated and prevented from voting unless they agreed to vote for certain political parties.
The EU Election Observation Mission in the 2023 elections said their observers personally witnessed vote-buying as crime and violence in the run-up to the election “created an atmosphere of fear” in some states.
“Obstruction and organized violence limited voters’ free expression despite efforts by civil society to promote democratic standards,” the team said in a March 20 statement.
In Nigeria’s northern Kano state, police arrested a local politician and 164 others for attempting to set fire to the local office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
An Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official inspects damage to a polling station in Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria, earlier this year (Photo: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP)
Lagos voter apathy
Incumbent governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu won a landslide re-election, with 736,000 votes in 95% of districts in the state compared to just 292,000 for his closest rival, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labor Party, INEC revealed on Sunday.
In Africa’s largest megacity, Lagos, only a fraction of the 7 million registered voters turned out to vote in the city of 20 million.
Violence, intimidation and allegations of fraud and vote buying were blamed for the lowest turnout in Lagos gubernatorial election history.
In the latest presidential and gubernatorial elections, voter apathy was fueled by Nigeria’s bleak socio-economic situation, an ongoing fuel crisis and vote buying spurred by naira scarcity, YIAGA Africa’s Sam Ogwuche told local TV station Arise News.
“These pre-election problems on the ground have largely contributed to voter apathy and even electoral fraud. Because when you fight for survival, good governance and electoral integrity take second place,” he said.
A central bank policy of revamping the local currency to help curb pre-election vote buying backfired as citizens were desperate for cash and vulnerable to manipulation,” he said.
“If you look at the last election, the government’s monetary policy, some people felt that it was actually designed to curb vote buying. But as we found out, it ended up being a tool to buy votes. Because if you look at the way the election turned out, someone who would not normally have moved with N10,000 ($22) would have moved even with N1,000 or N2,000 due to the scarcity of the naira.
“Even in some places we saw party agents collecting voters’ bank details and compromising the whole process.”
General problems faced by Nigerians prior to the election largely contributed to voter apathy and electoral fraud. Vote buying was largely fueled by the scarcity of the naira – Coordinator, Yiaga Africa Center for Legislative Engagement, Dr. Sam Ogwuche pic.twitter.com/ktUceY6hpr
— RISE NEWS (@ARISEtv) March 17, 2023
“While the winner of the Lagos election has been announced, it is crucial to bear in mind that the election process was marred by violence, intimidation and voter suppression, which was unfortunately common in many parts of the country,” a coalition said. of Nigerian youth advocacy groups promoting good governance said Enough is Enough.
Other Lagos residents unleashed a wave of outrage on Twitter over voter intimidation.
“What is happening in Lagos, Nigeria and the violence being used to disenfranchise citizens and prevent them from voting is a new low on the continent,” said Kathleen Ndongmo, a digital content manager at Viamo.
Response from the opposition
Meanwhile, defeated Labor candidate Peter Obi and other opposition parties press ahead with a legal challenge to the presidential election result.
On Monday, Labor Party chief spokesman Dr Yunusa Tanko said Obi had officially submitted his petition to the presidential election tribunal in Abuja.
“The process of reclaiming the mandate from the people has begun,” he said.
Breaking news
It is official that Labor Party presidential candidate Peter OBI has submitted his petition to the Presidential Elections Tribunal in Abuja. The process of reclaiming the mandate from the people has begun
Doctor Yunusa Tanko
Chief spokesperson
LP-PCC pic.twitter.com/ykbaco5KVZ
— Dr. Yunusa Tanko (@YunusaTanko) March 20, 2023
