Politics

South East, South-South undermine voters registration

Published

7 years ago

February 16, 2018

Olu Emmanuel

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Total registered voters stand at 73,944,312

The ongoing continuous voters registration (CVR) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across Nigeria has recorded increased number of total registered voters but the South East and South-South states appear not to be considering the imperative of high voters registration for the elections.

Political leaders in the two southern zones are yet to come in terms with the need to mobilize their people to participate in the going CVR. Thus, the North West and the South West are taking advantage of the CVR to throw more people in their climes into the electoral field.

The South East and South-South which have a pool of large population are lagging behind in the registration figures released by the INEC on the ongoing CVR.

INEC’s records indicate that 18,505,984 voters have been registered in the North West which comprises of Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto states.

The South West which include Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states has 14,626,800 registered voters.

The South East which comprises of Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia and Imo states recorded 8,293,093 registered voters, a marginal votes away from the registered voters in Lagos alone which recorded 6,048,156 registered voters. More so, the Sotuh East with five states even recorded higher voters than the South-South with six states.

The consequences are predictable. The lower figure of registered voters will weaken the bargaining powers of the South East and South-South in 2019. Secondly, on the event that a vice president is picked from either the South East or South-South, and another from the South West on different political party platforms, the combined votes of North West and South West easily sweeps away the combined team involving the South Est or South-South candidate.

Current political calculus shows clearly that the presidential candidate of the leading political parties will come from the North.

The factorial combinations in elections plans show that the South East and South-South are on their way out of the winning margin with the low figure of registered voters, making the temptation of rigging facile for the zones with high figures of registered voters.

The seeming electoral ‘threat’ poses new challenge for the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, and Seante minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio and other leaders from the Niger/Delta belt.

Meanwhile, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Solomon Soyebi, to have in a statement in Abuja disclosed that the continuous registration exercise is being suspended because of the alteration in the electoral law by the National Assembly.