Abuja: A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Joseph Daudu, has opined that voter apathy in Nigeria is caused by the “winner-takes-all” mentality of political leaders and poor governance of those in power.
“Such situations alienate voters,” Daudu, Coordinator of the Rule of Law Development Foundation (ROLDF), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday after the just-concluded webinar (series 16), organised by the foundation in Abuja.
He urged politicians to embrace an inclusive approach to restore public trust and encourage electoral participation
“They must move from selfishness, total absence of principles or ideological politics, money politics, ostentatious lifestyles to a people – centric brand of politics.
“In other words, politics should not be about the acquisition of wealth which most politicians now indulge in. It should, instead, be about the people.’’
The objective of democratic governance, he said, is to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
“For democracy as a system of government to succeed in a country or territory, there must be participation by the people in a way and manner those who run the lives of the people through governance are selected or chosen.
“This is usually achieved by way of periodic ‘elections’ where persons who aspire to hold elective offices through which the people are governed, are chosen.’’
The senior lawyer said it is not “rocket science” to discern a direct correlation between optimal voter participation and good governance and legitimacy of existing government.
“In the 2015 general elections, we had 68,833,476 registered persons, while only 29,432, 000 persons voted, making it a 43.65 per cent voter turnout.
“In the 2019 general election, 82, 344, 107 persons registered while the actual number that voted was 28, 600, 000, bringing the percentage down to 34.75 per cent.
“In the 2023 elections, the total number of registered voters was 93, 470, 000 persons, while those who actually voted were 24, 900, 000 making the percentage rate even lower at 26.72 per cent.
“Thus, the decline in citizenship participation in general elections as demonstrated above shows voter apathy or a lack of interest.’’
Daudu said that people are not willing to participate in electoral process because they believe that most politicians allure to public office is to take their share of the national cake.
“Consequently the Nigerian voting public have become increasingly discouraged and despondent, aside from their noticeable impoverishment and decline in their lifestyles as a result of the non-performance of the said political class.
“The voting population is completely fed-up, demoralized, dehumanised and wasted by the non-delivery of what politicians call the dividends of democracy.’’
He warned that for a society to thrive, its government structure, including its elected officials or leaders, must be above board.
“This means therefore that they must not be corrupt, exploit the people or lie to them, and must not enrich themselves at the expense of the people that they claim to represent.
“Can we say that our elected officials have fulfilled the promises they made to the people on the wings of which they rode or flew into power?
As voters become more enlightened as to the real reason or cause of their non-progress in life, which they attribute to the political class, he said, they naturally keep away from participating in elections.
“Indeed they ask themselves, is it worth it? Why should they keep repeating the same cycle of unproductive persons without getting any result?”
The senior lawyer therefore called for placing of the education of the Nigerian citizenry on the front burner in formal, religious and civic education.
“We must return to the drawing board and set a new template of wholesale education and re-education of Nigerians.
“The effect of this new template will take at least 25 years to achieve, but the foundation of a new Nigeria as described above must be laid today,’’ Daudu concluded.
