As the drums and gongs of campaigns heralding the forth-coming 2019 general elections beat loud and louder, producing discordant tune of mixed reactions into the ears of the citizenry who care to listen and down to the conscience of those who have the interest of their dear country “Nigeria” at heart, vis-a-vis their diverse underlying bias, one major unanimous slogan that has rented the airwaves amongst various interest group is “Get Your PVC”! The Permanent Voters Card (PVC) is likened to a smart card, it is a secured means of identification that primarily enables the bearer to exercise his or her voting right (franchise) in favour of his or her preferred candidate during an election and voting is a popular form of inclusion of citizens in a democratic system to achieve the 3 chief functions of an election as a means to:
1. Check elected officers by threat of not reappointing them 2. Select competent individuals to hold public office 3. Reflect the true preference of voters via election results
It is worthy of note that whilst the general populace of eligible voters, may not be actively involved in the process of producing the party flag bearers vying for the various top offices, the said populace are expected to be actively involved in casting their ballot during the general elections where the final contestants are a product of the outcome of election primaries conducted in their respective parties. Quite often, the outcome, for some reasons coupled with other factors such as imposition of candidate, intimidation & violence, lack of cohesion, abuse of human right etc. crystallises into a widespread dissatisfaction, disinterest and indifference amongst eligible voters resulting in poor voters turnout in the main election which is the bane of electoral involvement by eligible voters.
In retrospect, figures from the 2015 Presidential General elections culled from www.inecnigeria.org/?page_id=31 reveals that out of approximately 67.42million eligibly registered voters, only 29.43million votes where duly casted, bringing the resulting difference to a 46.65% turnout. In other words, a staggering 37.99million registered voters were “absentee voters” despite the appreciable level of awareness, a significant proportion of registered voters did not follow through with the process of duly participating in the voting exercise.
With deductions from the aforementioned, it begs the question if the Nation’s democratic structures and institutions have grown so fragile to reduce the confidence of eligible voters in an exercise which is the core of their country’s political process? Has deep polarity along income gap, ethnic and religious lines helped increase voters apathy? If so, have these issues been properly assessed and addressed? and finally, has the culture of surging absentee voters (sit down look culture) come to stay? With the resulting turnout of the 2015 general elections, it brings to mind that, the 37.99million registered voters were indeed a larger sample than the 29.43million votes which sealed the deciding faith of that election result which is an indicator of poor confidence in the electoral system.
Looking ahead, the onus lies on the strength of awareness of every legitimate campaign group to sensitize registered voters and eligible PVC holders not to give into disinterest or the cynical act of obtaining the PVC for the sake of owing an alternative valid means of identification for filling business documents or opening a bank account, but to see it primarily as means to enhance electoral inclusion for more satisfactory and unpolarised result during elections. Also, eligible PVC holders must know that rather than sit on the fence to maintain an undecided position, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he thought could do only a little”.
Furthermore, with this renewed mind set, the festering culture of voters apathy which is inherent in democratic system depending on its level, may be a wakeup call to the significant number of voters
who can help strengthen the performance indicator of a viable democratic process through a committed participation in elections.
To this end, it is therefore not enough to “get your PVC”, though it is a very commendable step, but more needs to be done. Registered voters and eligible PVC holders must maintain a good spirit of sportsmanship to stay committed and follow through with the electoral processes from accreditation to casting of ballots correctly to make their votes count so as to promote fairness and a more integrated society through high electoral turnout leading to more credible and acceptable results.
Written by Kolajo Onijamah.
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