Trouble Looms in Anambra Election As Many Residents Are Reportedly Planning Not To Vote

Trouble Looms in Anambra Election As Many Residents Are Reportedly Planning Not To Vote

  • Many people in Anambra will likely not come out to vote as INEC is set to conduct another gubernatorial election there
  • This is based on a research carried out by an geopolitical intelligence firm who sampled the opinion of some people in the state
  • According to the report, 68 percent of the respondents said they were unlikely to vote in the upcoming election

The November 6 Anambra governorship election will likely see a low turnout of voters according to SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical research firm.

The firm arrived at this conclusion after it carried out a survey among 663 respondents from the three senatorial districts in the state, The Cable reports.

Voter apathy likely in Anambra election
Many Anambra residents are reportedly planning not to vote. Photo: Kayode Ogunade
Source: Facebook

The survey set out to check if residents will vote or not, and why.

According to the report, 68 percent of the respondents said they were unlikely to vote in the upcoming election.

Read also

Why INEC must extend deadlines for party primaries, IPAC highlights reasons

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app

Of this figure, 54 percent said they would not vote because of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) while 26 percent said they would not vote because they had lost faith in the electoral process.

The report read:

“Our qualitative interviews showed that IPOB has become a byword for disorderliness, crises and aggression. Indeed, our researchers were consistently warned about conducting the survey because in the words of an older respondent in Onitsha in Anambra North, ‘if IPOB gets you, you are in trouble."

SBM Intelligence said the election will be a test run for the 2023 general election, and that it will usher in a new low of voter apathy in subsequent governorship elections nationwide.

It added:

“Voter apathy in Anambra is a subset of the larger picture in the region as well as the country. Generally, although voter turnout has been on the decline over the last three national elections, falling from 53.68% in 2011 to 43.65% in 2015 and 34.75% in 2019, it is still important for INEC to plan for the possibility of high voter turnout, but not for Anambra,” it said.

Read also

Another APC presidential aspirant withdraws from race, gives reason

“As always in Anambra, voter apathy looks set to be a major challenge in the election12. INEC’s chairman said that out of the 5,720 polling units in the state, 86, or 1.5 percent, have no voters. For that reason, the commission will not be deploying personnel and materials to these polling units. Furthermore, 894 units, representing 15.6 percent of the polling units in the state have between 1 and 49 voters. The election will be held in these polling units.

APC chieftain urges Anambra people to reward Buhari's good deeds by voting for Andu Uba

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that a chieftain of the APC in Anambra state, Sam Nwosu, called on the people of the state to show their love to President Muhammadu Buhari at the forthcoming governorship election by ensuring the party wins.

It was reported that Nwosu said President Buhari's led administration has done well for the Anambra people and the southeast region as a whole and deserves to be rewarded.

Read also

Breaking: 2023 elections timetable to be altered? INEC gets tough call

He added that in terms of infrastructural development, the present administration has ensured that all regions benefit from projects.

Anambra Election: What I’ll do in my first six months in office as governor, Andy Uba makes new revelation

Meanwhile, the senator had listed out what he would do in the first six months in office if elected as governor.

The APC's for the governorship election in Anambra had said that he would conduct local government election within the first six months of his first tenure as governor.

He noted the local government was the pillar of rural development, stating that the Obiano administration had deprived people of the state of the grassroots governance that they deserve.

Source: Legit.ng

Online view pixel