Why election postponement can trigger hypertension, death —Experts

Nigerians last Saturday woke up to receive the announcement that the Presidential and National Assembly elections had been postponed. The news which hit the airwave at about 2 am, to some was unexpected,

For Mr Henry Ajagbe, who had travelled to his village; Mrs Arinola Sanya, who had to sleep in a friend’s place to ensure she could vote because there was restriction of movement, to Madam Anike Haruna, who had prepared iced kunu, a local non-alcholic drink, for sale at a polling booth next to her house, it was a big disappointment.

INEC announced the postponement of the elections in the early hours of Saturday, citing hitches in its operational and logistic plans. The electoral body had initially fixed the Presidential and National Assembly elections for February 16 and that of Governorship, State Houses of Assembly polls and the Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections for March 3.

Unfortunately, individuals handle disappointment differently. Some people could experience emotionally breakdown; some could become anxious and others end up moody.

In any case, disappointment, no matter how it is caused can trigger a very predictable physiological response, including emotional and physical medical conditions in people with background conditions like hypertension and mental challenges.

Even a disappointment that arose from an event like the postponement of an election, Dr Kunle Adesokan, Consultant and Head, Department of Psychiatry, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State stated can leave individuals stressed and anxious.

Dr Adesokan stated that although the suddenness of the announcement can lead to shock, denial and anger which was for a period in the electorate, its health implication will be more felt by the contestants and the other direct benefactors from the election.

• Election postponement can trigger mental health disorders ― Psychiatrist

He declared “with a continuous postponement, the contestants can run into emotional problems because they would have spent money, are tired of sleepless nights and exhausted from the rigours of campaigning.

“But for the majority of people, the anxiety or stress of the postponement is something that they can cope with. So it should not be much of a problem.”

However, Dr Adesokan said there is a possibility of this anxiety or stress worsening existing diseases such as hypertension and mood problems like bipolar disease in both the electorate and the contestants in the election, if it is sustained.

According to him, “that postponement is stressful and so, that will be the trigger. Most mental problems always have a trigger. Also, for somebody that was hypertensive, it is enough to make the blood pressure shut up. If the person is not careful, such a person could develop stroke.

“During the last election in Kogi State, a governorship aspirant actually died on the election day. He was hypertensive. I am sure it was the tension when they were counting votes and the election results were coming in, that led to his death.”

Dr Adesokan said there is no research to back up the claim that people’s anxiety or stress due to the election postponement is enough to predispose people to mental health issues, except if they have some background mental health issues.

“What people had is just disappointment; people experience disappointment every time. It was just for a brief period and before you know it, people are back to their normal selves. It is not specifically right to say that the stress of that day will lead to mental health issues,” he stated.

However, Dr Surajudeen Adefabi Ogunyemi, a consultant cardiologist at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile Ife, Osun State, stated that nobody was immune from the anxiety or stress that greeted the election postponement.

According to Ogunyemi, “It is a disappointment in many forms. And it can have similar effect like other causes of stress or disappointment.

“For people that are hypertensive, especially if that person is a contestant, it can lead to exaggeration in blood pressure which can result in all sort of things, heart attack, stroke and outright death. People out of anger or frustration can commit suicide if the stakes are so high. Some can be so angered to commit homicide.”

Moreover, Dr Pelumi Adebiyi, a public Health Physicians at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, noted that many sick people had been deprived the opportunity to seek medical care promptly because of the restriction of movement to ensure the election could hold.

He said, “the uncertainty is there. The person may be worrying that if he should go and spend the little money on him on his health and trouble breaks out, how to get money to eat will be difficult.”

Arguably, the postponed election had afforded parents time to be home to relate more with children, but Professor Tanimola Akande, a community health physician from the University of Ilorin, said it had both social and health implications on Nigerians.

According to Professor Akande: “There is no doubt that blood pressure will be further raised. Then the economic loss experience by some people can also aggravate some people’s blood pressure.

“And just imagine the danger some National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members were exposed to? Most of them were unprepared for the kind of thing they passed through. I want to believe that not less than 30 per cent of them will have had to use analgesics following that experience.”

Professor Akande added that the rescheduling of events, an aftermath of postponement, will be the cause of anxiety of some other individuals.

“They will be so tensed to make alternative arrangements. The good thing is that Nigerians are very strong people, they are resilient people; if you try this with the whites, you will have a lot of psychologically breakdowns.”

“That patients might have been discharged earlier than they should because the patient might request for it to be able to vote or the doctors’ fear that restriction of movement on the expected election day would prevent easy transportation home,” he said, were issues that cannot be ruled out.