Pulse speaks to Nigerians who don’t want to vote

It is election season, with the Nigerian presidential elections just two days off on February 16, 2019. On the same day, the elections for the two chambers of the National Assembly will also hold. A few weeks after that, on March 2, 2019, Gubernatorial elections will hold across Nigerian states.

Over the course of these elections and probably due to grievances with the popularly elected incumbent government in 2015, the power of the electorate seems largely under-used as random Nigerians claim they have no intention to vote for one reason or the other. Some others who even possess their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) are showing a reluctance to vote.

For the foregoing reasons, on February 13, 2019, Pulse visited the CMS area of Lagos to get the perspective on why these people will not vote and these are the things we discovered;

Faith Ikegwuruka, 20

While on a visit to Mandilas to purchase some things with her sister, Faith told Pulse that, she will not vote in the upcoming elections. Her reason was, “After voting, the person we voted for won’t fulfill their promises. And most of my friends aren’t voting because of the unfulfilment of these promises.”

Kingsley also known as Landlord, Trader, 35

Kingsley is slightly more concerned with his personal life. He claims he will not vote because he is more concerned with his usual Saturday betting which the election will prevent. He says, “Saturday is the day I play BetNaija.”

He claims he will not vote because, “They know themselves; they know who will win the vote. So, for me to go there and vote, I’m just wasting my time. So, I better use my time for surebet or play betnaija and win my money.”

Kingsley claims the last time he voted was in 2011 because the “right man was there (contesting).” When Pulse asked him who this right man was, he claims it to be former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Ahmed Pelemo, speculative 45-year-old

Ahmed Pelemo is a special case. He is on this list to represent those who might as well not be voting.

Pelemo who chose to Pulse in pidgin claims he has his PVC at home – he also claims he collected his PVC in January. When Pulse asks if he will vote, Ahmed says in pidgin that, “I go vote now.”

But the assurance fades away when Pulse asks him which direction he is going. Pelemo says, “If I first see the paper nah. For now, I never know, na when I reach there, na him I go know.”

Christian Nsah, Businessman, 45

When Nsah spoke with Pulse, he told us in clear terms that he had his PVC ready to go, but when asked if he would vote, he claims, “I don’t know yet.”

Upon further discussion about why he is unsure, Nsah claims that though he knows the candidate to vote for – whom he didn’t name, there are security risks to voting in Nigeria on that day. Nsah says, “I know the candidate I will vote for if I’m to vote, but you see, as Nigeria is now, even going out to vote is a risk, are you getting me?”

“If you can look at what is happening on some campaigns that people are going, you see on some Newspapers that people die, ’15 people die’ because they are going for ordinary campaign. Then, the d-day, that is the voting day, oga we don’t know what will happen,” he continues.

Nsah then says that governance is killing businesses in Nigeria, citing the example of Mandilas from where a lot of shop owners are packing out. He claims, “The government is not helping us.”

While he claims he might yet go out to vote, Nsah says Nigeria’s way of getting leaders into power is, “selection,” before intimating that a winner was almost guaranteed, so his votes might not count in the grand scheme.

He ends by saying that, “When you get all these messages and information, you will not have that urge to go out and vote.”

Suraj Owolabi, Trader, 35

As Owolabi, a University Graduate now trading at Mandilas first initiated a conversation with Pulse, he claims that he has his PVC and he was going to vote on Election Day, but as the conversation goes on with him highlighting the government’s dearth of care for Nigerian citizens, he used it as a way to build his actual belief.

Amongst his many concerns, he further highlighted how most of the Nigerians voters on February 16 will go to polling booths on empty stomachs. With a hint of anger in his tone, he asks that, “If someone (one of the voters) falls off there (the polling units), will they be attended to? Even if the person dies, what will be the result (end)) of the person?”

“These are what we have been enduring over the years, and they (politicians) still want us to listen to what they want from us while they don’t care about what citizens need from them.”

Owolabi claims that a lot of Nigerians are cannot eat and sensationally claims that a lot of Nigerians were unmarried because they have accounts blinking blood-red. While he was about to blame the government for the spike in ritual killings, Owolabi highlighted three things that could aid a country as; education, feeding and unemployment before lamenting that politicians continually provide none to the average Nigerian citizens.

From a seeming place of pain, Owolabi further laments the underemployment and indentured servitude a lot of youths endure just to provide needs.

He claims our leaders should, “Care about the citizens because we’re the future of this country.”

By the time Pulse asked Owolabi whether he was going to vote, he says, “With these points I have made, I don’t think so.” Right after that, he further laments the duopoly of the APC and PDP on the Nigerian presidential scape.

Towards the end of the conversation with Pulse, Owolabi says that his job at Mandilas is how he sent himself to school, hoping a better life, but after graduating last year, he is still stuck in his job of trading. 

While he claims the younger candidates on the ballot might be attractive, Owolabi asks, “Which of the campaigns hold floor as these two parties (APC or PDP) we’re talking about?”

David Emenike, Electrician, 30

Emenike says he has a PVC.

However, he vehemently says he is not going to vote because, as he says, “I know my vote won’t count. So there’s no need spending my days… After everything, my vote will be irrelevant to Nigeria.”

In the end, he says that the incumbent will win, and claims his vote might not be able to help his preferred candidate.

Mike, Banker, 38

Mike claims he will not vote because, in his words, “I am not happy with the government – the present government, life is tough.”

He claims that though the present government is responsible for poverty, killings, hunger, hardship, there is nobody else to vote for saying, “Who am I going to vote for?”

For him, he claims that basic thing shouldn’t be this hard.