Exactly 51 days from today, Ndi Anambra will go to the polls to elect a governor to manage the affairs of the state for the next four years.
The state had its first democratically elected governor in 1999 when Nigeria returned to civilian government. For one, the 2003 and 2007 elections were marked with a lot of controversies as the state paraded four individuals as governors within the period.
With regards to electoral participation, voter turnout has been relatively low in the state. According to the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the state has maintained a culture of high voter apathy. In its report on the 2007 governorship election, CDD noted that the state recorded only 68% voter turnout, the highest turnout the state had in the last 4 elections.
According to the CDD, the voter turnout figure for the 2007 election might be a bogus claim, due to high cases of electoral irregularities associated with that election. Since 2007, there has been no election in Anambra where such high voter turnout was recorded.
In the 2010 elections, only 16% of the 1.8 million registered voters turned out to vote. Although the next election recorded lower registered voters, the turnout was higher. A total of 442,242 voters, representing 25% of the 1.7 million registered voters, came out to vote on the election day. The turnout dropped to 22% in the 2017 election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will conduct the governorship election in the state on November 6, 2021. The electoral body noted that they recorded a high number of registered voters during the continuous voter registration exercise. While this is a good development, the level of turnout on the election day will however count more. Yiaga Africa already pointed to this, predicting that poor turnout of voters will pose a major threat to the success of the upcoming election.
Besides Anambra’s poor voter turnout trend, the fear of a possible sit-at-home order from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on the election day looms on the horizon. In recent times, the group has issued a sit-at-home order in the south-eastern states with almost total compliance.
Even on President Buhari’s visit to Imo, a neighbouring south-eastern state, last week, the usual large crowd that fills the streets to welcome the President whenever he visits any of the states were not seen. A report noted that major spots in the Imo state capital were empty.
Simon Ekpa, a follower of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed secessionist group, said last month that “a no-election order will be activated by members of IPOB”. He boasted that elections would not be held in Biafraland “starting from the Anambra election”. With such statements and the level of compliance seen with most of the sit-at-home order in Nigeria’s southeast region, the level of voter turnout during the Anambra gubernatorial election this November becomes a source of real concern.
Although the federal government has warned that it will not allow any group to disrupt the election in the state, it remains unclear how it wants to dissuade the people from honouring the likely sit-at-home order from IPOB and persuade the people instead to come out and vote on election day.
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