With only a few days to the 2023 Nigeria general elections, the atmosphere is vividly expectant. The Voters’ Register swelled by more than 9 million registrants, bringing the number of registered voters to 93 million from the 2019 number of 84 million. Citizens appear anxious to troop out in their numbers to cast their votes ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly polls on Saturday, February 25. Even the biting pains of current conditions do not appear to have dampened the determination to turn out to vote. Citizens are stranded or squabbling and fighting for cash from the banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), which are barely dispensing cash. Fuel queues continue to extend despite government promises of fuel supply. Incredible insecurity ravages the country. And it would appear that Nigerians have never had it this bad.
With President Muhammadu Buhari’s non-renewable second term coming to an end on May 29, a new President is set to emerge from the February 25 elections. Out of 18 Presidential candidates, it is interesting that the major contenders for the election are from across Nigeria’s major ethnic groups.
This will be the first general elections to be conducted in Nigeria with the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the new Electoral Act 2022. The Electoral Act introduced new reforms, including the use of technology to reduce the human element in the conduct of elections. On several occasions, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured election stakeholders and the generality of Nigerians that it is prepared to conduct the elections and put to rest concerns over postponement of elections and potential adverse effects it could have on the already heated political and economic environment in the country.
Th naira re-design policy which inflicted so much hardship on Nigerians has been in focus in recent weeks, with the initial January 31 and the subsequent February 10 deadlines for the use of old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes coming into effect. The scarcity of new naira notes and downtime of online banking platforms have made it difficult for people to make transactions to meet their daily needs. The ensuing frustration has welled up to protests and unrest in different parts of the country, with bank staff attacked and properties belonging to banks vandalised.
Political party activities ahead of the elections have not been devoid of violence. Since parties commenced campaigns in the latter part of 2022, some rallies organised by the various political parties have been characterised by violence and there have also been threats of voter suppression by certain groups and party supporters in some parts of the country. Also, some candidates and their spokespersons have made inciteful statements, which have spurred their supporters to attack supporters of other political parties.
With the current situation in the country and Nigerians expectant about the elections, it is important for the polls to be peaceful. Security agencies, including the Police and paramilitary agencies such as the Nigeria Immigration Service and Federal Road Safety Corps deploying personnel for the elections, are expected to carry out their election duties in line with INEC’s directives, and respect the rights of citizens who come out to perform their civic duty. Nigerians expect that security agencies, who are involved in providing security in the elections will do their duties professionally.