On 18 March, following a one-week delay by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enable it to comply with a Court of Appeal judgement, Nigerians returned to the polls to cast their ballots in governorship and state house of assembly elections. Voters in 28 states had the chance to elect new, or re-elect existing, governors in the March 18th 2023 vote, with the remaining eight states operating off-cycle processes, three of which are scheduled to take place later this year. This is a summary of the report of the Election Analysis Centre of the Centre for Democracy and Development on the elections.
Author: Editor
In order to further implement its strategic plan of advancing Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) on the African continent, African Scientific, Research and Innovation Council (ASRIC) brought together scientific minds from across the Africa and diaspora.
A free and fair election is defined by political scientists as an election in which coercion is comparatively uncommon. It involves political freedoms and fair processes leading up to the vote, a fair count of eligible voters who cast ballots, and acceptance of election results by all parties. An election may partially meet international standards for free and fair elections, or may meet some standards but not others.
Miraculously, the election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) as the next president was uniquely different from how the past three and current presidents became number one citizens. President Olusegun Obasanjo did not plan or dream of becoming Nigerian president before he was overwhelmed and persuaded to become PDP flag bearer and won the election in 1999. He garnered 18 million votes to beat his close rival, Chief Olu Falae who contested under a joined ticket of AD-APP.
Despite having roots in Ilorin Emirate, traveling through the 52 wards of Kwara Central was never on my bucket list. However, I started my 2023 embarking on that journey, experiencing the saying, “the best journeys are the unplanned ones.” so, I am glad I did.
Eighteen days after the last presidential and national assembly elections in the country, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is yet to congratulate declared winner of February 25, 2023 electoral process, wherein its candidate-of-interest it openly and massively mobilised the Church across the nation to vote failed to emerge.
After the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the former governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the Nigerian president-elect, ethnic tension and rivalry ensued between supporters of the presidential candidates.
“As a villager, I loathed paying taxes, or what they called revenue, in our weekly open air market,” said Maitabo, the livestock trader who is now an industrialist in the big city where he established factories that turned out a basket of consumer goods, including polished rice.
In the Nigerian social media space, battles are fought 24/7. Politically, those who stand with President Muhammadu Buhari are at daggers drawn with those who think the apostle of “change” should be changed. Those who want Buhari to give way are also rooting for their various heroes. Muslims and Christians do not see eyeball to eyeball while at the same time contending with intra-religious quarrels.
In Nigeria, tension, apprehension, anxiety, and uncertainty enveloped the nation few days after the 25th February 2023 presidential election. On 23rd February, two days before D-day, I was on a trip to Kano from Zaria and found myself driving in the campaign train of one of the four leading political parties. A journey of one and a half hours took me four hours with all my maneuvers and knowledge of alternative routes. The mammoth crowd of youth, elderly and women campaigners shouting and cursing with euphoria made the scene look like a war zone. No one was talking about any political party agenda of good governance, economic emancipation, illiteracy eradication and the like. It was simply a show of political force with rented and other crowds to outwit other parties. That scenario was replicated in almost every nook and cranny of Nigeria in the name of political party campaigns from a few months to few days before the election. The scene created tautness and nervousness among the electorate while eroding hopes for a glorious Nigeria. With this scenario among the lower class of Nigerians, the political elites were spiritedly undoing each other in the spirit of “either I or my stooge get political power by any means or no one gets it”. Right from the parties’ primaries, Nigerian politicians showed their true colors as each one of them was pursuing personal and primordial interests above that of the nation. Delegates of the two major parties were transported, fed, camped, and teleguided on whom to vote for a handsome price in hard currencies.