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The INEC Returning Officer for the senatorial district, Prof. Ademola Oremosu, announced on Sunday, December 6th at the Somolu collation centre that the APC candidate has been declared the winner of bye-election. The margin of victory was so wide that supporters of the APC candidate began to jeer at the PDP that they could not even convert the after-effect of the #EndSARS movement into political gains at the polls. And this brings up a new dimension in considering how imperfectly political activism may sit with grassroots politics. While there has been evidence of how activism-linked campaigns such as #OccupyNaija and the #BringBackOurGirls benefited the outcome of the 2015 elections, the methods adopted by political parties to capitalise might have made all the difference. A spokesman in the presidency, Garba Shehu said in a statement on Sunday:
“We do not take this confidence of the people for granted and we will not fail them.”‘ -Garba ShehuThe presidential spokesman meant that in spite of the worsening economy compounded by the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, many Nigerians still appreciated the efforts of the administration in making life better for all citizens, and thus voted for the APC. But the confidence with which the APC has presented itself after the positive results of the bye-election only cast the party in good light as if it has been doing everything right with national, regional and local administration. It would seem that that was how popular they are among the grassroots population. Meanwhile, the figures of the voter turnout present a different reality.
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The presiding INEC official had announced that out of the total registered voters of 1,261,673 in the district, the total accredited voters was 104, 894, the total vote cast was 104, 405, the total valid votes was 102, 336, while the rejected votes were 2,069. Twelve candidates of various political parties contested in the election, including the PDP, but the APC won in all the five local government areas in Lagos East senatorial district. In a senatorial district with over 1 million voters, just about 100,000 voters coming out to vote does not reflect the will of the people at any scale. Voter turnout was at a record low of 10%. In essence, the gloating which the supporters of the APC candidate had engaged in and the pass mark which Shehu is giving the APC for their performance is egregious at best. The facts and figures on the ground do not match the exact scenario which the APC is trying to present to the people. In fact, it is easier to now dismiss the majority of the votes cast for the winning candidate as being induced by cash gifts and stomach infrastructure. It is also easy now to suggest that for Lagos elections to always have come out positively for the APC, a number of electoral malpractices could have been going on behind the scenes to ensure that an APC candidate always wins the election. In the light of these indications, it has been established that the momentum of the #EndSARS protests has not yet been applied to electoral gains for the opposition party. In the same vein, for the PDP not to have been able to utilise the weight of the #EndSARS movement in their oppositional politics, it may be equally difficult for any youth-oriented party to make headway come 2023. Featured Image Source: This Day Live
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