Politics
INEC Blames Government, Commissions For Voters’ Apathy
A research finding by INEC says government, politicians and electoral commissions are responsible for voters’ apathy in Nigeria.
The research, commissioned by the INEC and sponsored by the Friedrich-Eberts-Stiftung, said the trio ranked highest on the list of factors found responsible for voters’ apathy.
Briefing newsmen in Abuja midweek, after the presentation of the report to INEC, the Lead Researcher, Prof. Adigun Agbaje, said the report contained the findings of the research conducted in 12 states randomly selected.
However, a few respondents felt that voters should be held responsible for their indifference to voting while some people blamed the press for lack of objectivity in some reports .
The research was conducted in Kogi, Nassarawa, Borno, Taraba, Kaduna, Katsina, Ebonyi, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, Lagos and Ogun states.
He said out of the four pos sible reasons adduced by respondent for voters’ apathy, violence and electoral fraud were considered the most significant factors.
Agbaje said the respondents indicated that voters tended to display apathy during the voting process, stressing that they were apathetic to voters registration, voting and activities of some political parties
Agbaje said that voters’ mobilisation was very vital to redcution of apathy and it required the cooperation of the stakeholders to ensure credible,
Agbaje said the respondents indicated that voters tended to display apathy during the voting process, stressing that they were apathetic to voters registration, voting and activities of some political parties
Agbaje said that voters’ mobilisation was very vital to redcution of apathy and it required the cooperation of the stakeholders to ensure credible, posinclusive, transparent, free and fair elections.
According to him, the findings indicate that government must provide adequate support to INEC, fulfill electoral promises, ensure adequate security for voters, enforce law and order in the society to reduce apathy.
The professor emphasised the need for politicians to refrain from “do-or-die politics” and educate their supporters on the need to refrain from political violence during elections.
According to him, the press should be involved in voter education and write unbiased reports, guard against bribery and corruption.
Responding, the INEC Chairman, Prof Atahiru Jega, said the research followed the commission’s determination to come up with a driving policy.
According to him, it has become imperative that any serious effort to bring about electoral reform must consider the challenge of voters’ apathy.
The Chairman, who was represented by Mrs Amina Bala-Zakare, INEC National Commissioner, said as the commission was preparing for the 2015 elections, it had become imperative to do a study on the causes, dimensions and consequences of apathy.
He added that this would enable INEC to make strategies to tackle the challenges in the Nigeria contest.
Jega expressed the hope that the report would pave the way to shape the future political policies in the country.
The research was carried out between March and April 2011, on a nationally representative sample of 1,200 respondents while the primary sampling unit was the electoral ward.
The respondents were selected, using a multi stage sampling design comprising 12 states, 27 local government areas, 43 wards and 60 in rural and urban areas respectively.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has not registered any new political parties.
The commission gave the clarification in a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) handle last Wednesday.
It described the purported report circulated by some online social media platforms on the registration of two new political parties by INEC as fake.
“The attention of INEC has been drawn to a fake report making the rounds about the registration of two new political parties, namely “Independent Democrats (ID)” and “Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM)”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission has not yet registered any new party. The current number of registered political parties in Nigeria is 19 and nothing has been added,” it stated.
The commission recalled that both ID and PDM were registered as political parties in August 2013.
INEC further recalled that the two were deregistered in February 2020 in accordance with Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The commission, therefore, urged the public to disregard the said report.
President Bola Tinubu has asked Governor Hyacinth Alia to work more for peace and development of Benue State, saying he was elected to govern, not to bury people.
The President said this while addressing stakeholders at the Government House, Markudi, last Wednesday.
He also called on the governor to set up a peace committee to address some of the issues in the state.
The meeting included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, traditional rulers, and former governors of the state.
The governors of Kwara, Imo, Kogi, Plateau, Ondo, and Nasarawa states also attended the meeting.
“Let us meet again in Abuja. Let’s fashion out a framework for lasting peace. I am ready to invest in that peace. I assure you, we will find peace. We will convert this tragedy into prosperity,” he said.
President Tinubu urged Governor Alia to allocate land for ranching and directed the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security to follow up.
“I wanted to come here to commission projects, to reassure you of hope and prosperity, not to see gloomy faces. But peace is vital to development.
“The value of human life is greater than that of a cow. We were elected to govern, not to bury people”, he stressed.
He charged Governor Alia on working with the Federal Government to restore peace.
“Governor Alia, you were elected under the progressive banner to ensure peace, stability, and progress. You are not elected to bury people or comfort widows and orphans. We will work with you to achieve that peace. You must also work with us”, he said.
In his remarks, Governor Alia appealed to the Federal Government to establish a Special Intervention Fund for communities affected by repeated violent attacks across the state.
“Your Excellency, while we continue to mourn our losses and rebuild from the ashes of pain, we humbly urge the Federal Government to consider establishing a special intervention fund for communities affected by these incessant attacks in Benue State,” he said.
Governor Alia said the fund would support the rehabilitation of displaced persons, reconstruction of destroyed homes and infrastructure, and the restoration of livelihoods, especially for farmers.
He reiterated his support for establishing state police as a lasting solution to insecurity.
The governor pledged his administration’s full commitment to building a safe, stable, prosperous Benue State.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Rulers Council, Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ayatse, praised President Tinubu for being the first sitting President to personally visit victims in the hospital in the wake of such a tragedy.
He thanked the President for appointing notable Benue indigenes into key positions, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, while expressing hope that more appointments would follow.
Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (ret’d), says the Aburi accord collapsed because Chukwuemeka Ojukwu wanted regional governors to control military zones.
Gen. Gowon was Nigeria’s military ruler from 1966 until 1975 when he was deposed in a bloodless coup while Ojukwu was military governor of the then Eastern Region in that span.
In a live television interview recently, Gen. Gowon narrated what transpired after the agreement was reached in Aburi, a town in Ghana.
The meeting that led to the accord took place from January 4 to 5, 1967, with delegates from both sides of the divide making inputs.
The goal was to resolve the political impasse threatening the country’s unity.
The point of the agreement was that each region should be responsible for its own affairs.
During the meeting, delegates arrived at certain resolutions on control and structure of the military. However, the exact agreement reached was the subject of controversy.
The failure of the Aburi accord culminated in Nigeria’s civil war, which lasted from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970.
Speaking on what transpired after the agreement, Gen. Gowon said the resolutions should have been discussed further and finalised.
The ex-military leader said he took ill after arriving in Nigeria from Aburi and that Ojukwu went on to make unauthorised statements about the accord.
Gen. Gowon said he did not know where Ojukwu got his version of the agreement from.
“We just went there (Aburi), as far as we were concerned, to meet as officers and then agree to get back home and resolve the problem at home. That was my understanding. But that was not his (Ojukwu) understanding,” he said.
Gen. Gowon said Ojukwu declined the invitation, citing safety concerns.
“I don’t know what accord he (Ojukwu) was reading because he came to the meeting with prepared papers of things he wanted. And, of course, we discussed them one by one, greed on some and disagreed on some.
“For example, to give one of the major issues, we said that the military would be zoned, but the control… He wanted those zones to be commanded by the governor.
“When you have a military zone in the north, it would be commanded by the governor of the military in the north, the military zone in the east would be commanded by him. Of course, we did not agree with that one”, Gen. Gowon added.
Ojukwu died on November 26, 2011 at the age of 78.