Many politicians see public office as avenue to eat, loot —Aborisade

Legal practitioner and human rights activist, Comrade Niyi Aborisade, is among politicians jostling to succeed Governor Seyi Makinde in the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, Oyo State. He speaks to KUNLE ODEREMI, on zoning policy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defections by politicians, and poor voter turnout during general elections, among other issues.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has just reactivated the Continuous Voter Registrations (CVR) nationwide, with the number of eligible persons bound to go up in the voter register for the 2027 general election. How do you envisage this vis-à-vis the rising trend of poor turnout of voters over the years? 

Yes, for some time now, there has been serious concern over the rising poor voter turnout in every election after 1999 when civil rule returned to Nigeria after the incursion of military on December 31, 1983. There was a average turnout in the 1999 elections that ushered in General Olusegun Obasanjo (retd) as an elected president because people were full of hopes that a new dawn had arrived and that their votes would count to turn things around for the country. The percentage of the turnout was 52.3 percent

In 2003, the people had more zeal than they had in 1999. They showed real interest in the elections more than any elections in the past and they trooped out to cast their votes. The campaigns resonated with the voters. Overall, 69.1 percent turned out to cast their votes. In 2007, the trend was different;, there was a sharp decline as only 57 percent of the registered voters turned out to cast their votes. From that time, it was down the hill. In 2011, 53.6 percent turned out to cast their votes, and in 2015, it was 43.65 percent. In 2019, it was 34 percent, and in 2023, the turned out recorded the worst ever when only 26.71 percent of the registered voters turned out to vote.

The people are unable to differentiate between the two major parties because those that you see in the All Progressives Congress (APC) before, you now see them in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and later to APC. No political ideology for them to understand what they stand for, the campaigns are just routine and monotonous. The candidates will just promise change without identifying what will change. They would invite a local musician as if they are in a jamboree to entertain the people and distribute money to those who attended as an allurement to catch them.

The people particularly the youths noticed this anomaly in their community and decided not to waste their time in casting their votes anymore. They also noted the judicial rascality, where those who were not on the ballot were winning cases to become governors or senators. It did not go unnoticed to them that the altar of justice has been sacrificed for money. Then, there is no longer any reason to perform their sacred civic duty since it will not count.

 Gone were the days when you could hold politicians accountable for failing to fulfill their promises. President Bola Tinubu, during his campaign, promised to bring down the cost of petrol and diesel. He told everyone to put their mind at rest. However, on assuming power, his first act was to remove the subsidy from oil and the decision sent the cost of fuel upward beyond anybody’s imagination. From N195 to N500 overnight, the consequences were devastating to the people, and Nigerians were yet to recover from the shock.

The issue is that less than 30 percent of registered voters decide who governs the country. Yet, the same eligible citizens accuse of leadership failure and insensitivity?

There is yet another worrisome factor behind the seeming despondency of the average Nigerian voter. The classrooms where children are studying are like dungeons. Nigeria has become a shadow of itself, and what we have today in politics are sycophants that would say all is well when all are not well. The president, the governors and the elites generally no longer have faith in our hospitals. They seek medical assistance abroad at taxpayers’ expense. The poor have nowhere to go

The hardship that the people are facing every day are overwhelming, the insecurity, the rampage of the bandits, the menace of herdsmen, economic downturn,  the low quality of life that are forcing our youth and even elderly one to leave the country for other countries accounts for the low turnout of voters in the country as a whole

The situation is even getting worse under this regime, and the majority of the people that are not able to flee the hardships are turned to beggars. A man who has not eaten would not consider going to the polls to cast his vote unless they will give him money there.

Beyond the CAR exercise, what needs to be done to address voter apathy so that we do not have a recurring decimal in the nation’s election cycle? 

Things can change, and high turnout on Election Day can return when people begin to see the benefits of democracy.  Democracy, in my own terms, means the best for the rest. There will be changes, when those who are in power begin to make positive changes that benefit the masses and not the few cliques at the corridors of power. There will be a new dawn when good policies are reintroduced to the country like the one introduced by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to the Western region on January 15, 1955, even before he became the Premier of the region. We will witness a new era when politicians begin to see that public office as not an avenue to make money but a call to service. Many politicians see public office as an avenue to eat and loot. When the late Chief Bola Ige was the Minister of Power under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former deputy governor accused Ige that “Obasanjo asked him to come and eat but he is holding Obasanjo’s hand from eating.” Ige replied to him that Obasanso did not ask him to come and eat but called him to come and serve. You can see the difference; one man saw political office as a place to eat, whereas the other one saw it as a place to serve. A political office is a place to serve the people, and not to loot the treasury.  When the judges begin to strike the hammer of justice in accordance with the laws, justice will prevail in our land. When people begin to see the dividends of democracy then their zeal will return to them and there would be a huge turnout on Election Day.

The response of eligible Nigerians to the CAR exercise which began with online registration on INEC portal in some states raises questions about the level of public awareness on such an important process. The data of the commission on the exercise indicated poor response in many states. Is that the way to go by the populace? 

The Continue Voter Registration should also generate high publicity to create awareness for the people and to give reasons why people should go and register. Vote is the power to make positive change in Nigeria because power is meaningless when not cemented by the will of the people. Those who have turned 18 and those who are about to turn 18, those who have registered before and those who have moved houses should update the records. I, therefore, entreat people in the above categories to take advantage of the registration, and on Election Day, they should troop out and cast their votes. They should also stay behind to ensure that their votes are counted in their presence.

It appears the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is on the way to revival after a prolonged supremacy struggle that paralysed its main organs. The main opposition has zoned its presidential ticket to the southern part of the country. Some observers, however, say it is not yet Uhuru for PDP?

The PDP held their meeting and decided to adopt a zoning formula for the choice of who will represent the party in the presidential election since the chairman of the party had been zoned to the North. This was their agreement to prevent the concentration of power in one region. This was what the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) did in 1978 when Chief Adisa Meredith Akinloye from the West was made the Chairman of the Party and Alhaji Shehu Shagari was chosen to be the flag bearer of the party as president. Alex Ekwuene from the East was the Vice President. It gave the party a national outlook that covered all the regions. The only disadvantage of this zoning formula is the deprivation of the best candidate that is good for the country may not emerge. It reminds me of the 1993 election of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), where zoning formula was adopted and Abiola emerged from the west as the flag bearer, Late Abubakar Rimi was aggrieved and felt that the zoning formula disadvantaged him. He declared: “My only sin is that my mother born me in Kano.”

On the way forward for the PDP, the recent defection from the party should be put behind and efforts should be made to get new members that can drive the party forward. People-oriented programmes should be introduced to our manifestos so that people will see the party as a credible alternative to the moribund APC. The APC-led government has turned the country upside down and an alternative party that can change the fortune of Nigeria is needed at this critical stage.

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