Nigeria held a highly consequential election this past weekend. The largest democracy and most populous nation in Africa is choosing the new president and the results of the vote will resonate throughout the continent and the world. WSHU’s Ebong Udoma is in Nigeria in Abuja covering the elections and spoke with Morning Edition Host Tom Kuser about the results of the highly consequential presidential elections in Nigeria.
TK: So the election was on Saturday, the results are still coming in I understand. According to earlier reports, more than 93 million people registered to vote, the largest ever in Nigeria. What do we know about turnout? Is that going to be equally historic?
EU: We don't know because the results are just coming in now. However, from the results that have come in, like, for instance, Osun state, they had 900,000 registered voters, but only about 300,000 actually voted. So that's about a third. We were expecting a much higher turnout. But normally, you know, in Nigerian elections, if you get 10 to 15%, turning out, that's a lot. So the fact that we do have up to 30% showing up, in Osun state, that's the high mark in that state. But we are expecting a higher turnout in the larger urban centers. Places like Abuja and Lagos, we feel will have a much higher turnout because there's a more educated electorate.
TK: The current president, Muhammadu Buhari, did not run in this election. Why is that?
EU: He’s term-limited. He’s served two consecutive terms. He's almost 80 years old. So he feels it's time to move on. And he can't wait to get out. But he promised the country that he would deliver a credible election and we're hoping it will be.
TK: How do the people of Nigeria feel about him his terms and his party?
EU: That's one of the reasons why there's so much interest in this particular election. Because the country is in very difficult economic situation right now. The economy has been shrinking. The population is exploding. The jobless rate is at an all-time high. Then there are hardly any services that are working. There are so many problems that the population has faced between the insurgency, banditry, and trains derailing. People are looking for a change.
TK: What do we know about the four main candidates who are running to replace Buhari? Is this a close election? Are they all in the running would you say?
EU: I would say some wide-open election. Normally you have a situation where the party in power has an advantage. However, the party in power, the economy has gone so badly for them, that it now has opened the way for others to get in. But generally, we've had two major parties, the PDP which ran the country for 16 years, and then the APC which is in power now, and has been in power for eight years. Now we have two other parties that are in contention for the presidency for the very first time. It's no longer a two-party race. We have the NPP, which is really based in the northern part of the country. The presidential candidate is from Kano. He’s won not just the presidential election in his home state. But he's also won the National Assembly seats, the three Senate seats, and the House seats. So he's totally swept his home state.
And then we have Peter Obi, who has galvanized the energy of the young people in Nigeria. Peter Obi is the Labor Party candidate. He used to belong to one of the major parties, the PDP, but he decided that he didn't want to run in the PDP primary because he felt that it was corrupt and it was all about buying votes. And he wasn't interested in doing that. And that endeared him to the young people when he switched to the Labour Party, which doesn't hold any office in Nigeria right now. So basically, the Labour Party is made viable because of Peter Obi.
TK: And I understand Obi has indeed won in Lagos.
EU: Yes. And that is the home state of the ruling party, APC candidate Bola Tinubu, and he beat him in his home state. We don't know if this will actually translate to Obi winning, but for the young people, they are feeling elated by the fact that they were able to defeat the incumbent party candidate in his home state.
TK: And when we talk about the youth voter, young people voting, what age are we talking under? 40? Under 35?
EU: Yes, under 40, under 30. You know, Nigeria has, I believe about 14 million new voters on the rolls from four years ago. That's a huge increase. In fact, that is partly responsible for us having up to 90 million voters on the roll, that's the highest it's ever been.
TK: Is that the result of young people registering to vote?
EU: That’s the result of young people getting involved. And it's not an easy process to register and vote in Nigeria. It's a very cumbersome process, and most young people have just not bothered with it. However, in this election cycle, there seems to be renewed energy in the young in trying to get more of them involved in the voting process.
TK: So it sounds like the youth vote could indeed sway this election are determined who's the winner?
EU: Yes, I'm looking out for that. Because we have 14 million new voters. I would like to see how many actually showed up and voted and how that is affecting the outcome of the election.
TK: Officials from the different parties have called out irregularities in the voting, including some delayed voting that didn't occur till Sunday. What are their concerns?
EU: In Abuja, the capital, there were polling stations that opened at seven o'clock in the morning. And there were no officials there until two three o'clock in the afternoon. And there were other places that didn’t finish voting until 4 am, the next morning. A lot of these places, they had no electricity. So they didn't even have lights while they were counting the votes. And then INEC, which is the electoral authority, had promised that as soon as the votes were counted at each polling unit they'd be uploaded to the server and will be available to the public. That never happened. It didn't happen until almost 48 hours after the voting, leaving room for a lot of speculation about whether or not the process was on the up and up.
TK: Could concerns about the process cause a delay in the ultimate decision or process of picking the new president? Could that be delayed?
EU: Yes, and I suspect in fact, I believe that it probably will end up in the courts. The parties are very upset. And they feel that there's rigging going on, no matter what the determination of the INEC, which is the electoral umpire, I believe it will be challenged to the courts.
TK: What about violence? There were some concerns that widespread violence could occur during the campaign during the election itself. But that doesn't seem to have been the case so far, right?
EU: No, it wasn't widespread, but there was violence, especially in Lagos. And it goes to show that it was very hotly contested.
TK: What are the major issues the new president will face once the vote tally is completed?
EU: The major problem is insecurity. The economy. A lot of money has been borrowed from China, which has to be repaid, and from other international lenders. The oil production, there's no accountability for it. There's a lot of work for whoever takes over to turn the economy around and to make the country more secure.
