Nigerians flock to hometowns to vote
Comrade Monday Elimigbe is Chairman of Commercial Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria, a body whose members are at the moment making brisk business in transporting Nigerians to the length and breadth of the country as the day of the General Elections finally arrives. All over, the sight of droves of travelers reminds Elimigbe of festive […]
Comrade Monday Elimigbe is Chairman of Commercial Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria, a body whose members are at the moment making brisk business in transporting Nigerians to the length and breadth of the country as the day of the General Elections finally arrives. All over, the sight of droves of travelers reminds Elimigbe of festive seasons when Nigerians troop back home to their states of origin and villages. This time though the rush of travelers is occasioned by a national call to duty to participate in the elections which is starting today with elections into the federal legislative houses. Elimigbe reads this as both a good and a bad sign.
“The movement of people is because the election looks promising and at the same time raises concern about the violence that might ensue,” says Elimigbe. “So those that registered in their states are moving out to vote in such places. Others travel because they feel they are safer in their home communities in the event of violence breaking out.”
The movement of travelers is also a pointer to the strong attachment Nigerians have for their home communities more than their adopted communities, places where they reside for most of the year.
Anochie peter, a public servant who lives in Abuja was set to travel to his village in Onitsha, Anambra State. He says he decided to travel to influence change in his place because that is the only way he would have the guts and the moral right to challenge whoever is representing him in Abuja or at the state level.
“As an Igbo man I believe that home is home and that is the only place where one can be bold to exercise his/her civil right comfortably as a stakeholder and also hold the representatives accountable,” he says.
Others have to travel because they registered to vote in places outside their place of residence. Idowu Adelawo, an indigene of Lagos State says he is travelling to Lagos because he registered in Lagos, thus he has to go there and vote. He says however that his family resides in Lagos so he feels that is where he has more stakes in the political process. “Whatever policy is taken in Lagos would definitely affect my family so I need to make a decisive decision with my vote because it is the only weapon I have to tell the political class that I can also make things happen.’’
This mindset and similar others from interviews conducted by Weekly Trust cast a big question mark on the often touted national integration among Nigerians. While the response to come out and vote is unprecedented, what has cast a pall on this success is the belief my most Nigerians that they could not influence the political process in places where they reside for most part of the year because they are not indigenes, preferring to go back to communities they visit only mostly during festivities to cast their votes because they feel that is where home is.
Blessing Bassy, an indigene of Akwa-Ibom who has been living in Dutse, Jigawa State for the past three years, feels strongly about this. Even though like many others spoken to for this story she cites safety issues. “After all I am not an indigene of the state. It is better for me to go back home than to stay in Dutse during election. I will only return to Jigawa after election.”
In sympathy to Blessing, states across the country had experienced political and sectarian crisis in the recent past where there were deaths and properties were burnt. Jigawa State, a current PDP stronghold, is one of the states where the political contest has been hot with an ascendant opposition making a determined effort to unseat the ruling party. In the process, the rhetoric and comments from politicians from both sides of the divide have served to drive fear into the hearts of some electorates. It is this fear that has motivated Patience Peter, who says she has not registered at all to vote to pack her things and prepare to travel to her home state, Cross River. “Going by the crisis going on within the political class, one must be concerned about the conduct of the forthcoming elections,” she says.
But there are people who maintain a deep conviction in the idea of Nigeria and believe they could influence the political process wherever they find themselves without necessarily taking flight. Mr. Alex in Jigawa is one such person. He asks: “Why will I leave? Nigeria is my fatherland; therefore, wherever I find myself I will consider the place my home.”
He adds: “I have a feeling that nothing is going to happen during the conduct of the election because God has taken over everything and therefore I will not go anywhere in fear of violence.”
Even though Marcy Levi who is from Enugu State says she will not travel anywhere, she says she will remain indoors during election. “I obtained my voters’ card but I will not go to the polling units during election because I am afraid of being killed,” she says.
Obviously, going by the submission of respondents, security concerns not voters apathy will dampen the enthusiasm of some voters to go out and perform their civic duties. How much this will affect the overall turnout for the exercise is something that the outcome of the voting exercise today will reveal. The Police meanwhile have deployed thousands of personnel to ensure the peaceful conduct of the polls today. Not only the police, other paramilitary forces like the Nigerian Customs and the National Security and Civil Defence Corps have also deployed their personnel to help ensure that the polls are conducted peacefully.
What’s sure is tougher utterances than these will become widespread as parties begin to record upsets. Will this lead to renewed skirmishes in the streets among supporters of political parties or their sponsored thugs? This is something the electorate will be watching out for, something which will be critical in determining the perception Nigerians will have about the peaceful conduct of the major and more challenging presidential and gubernatorial elections. This much is the view of some people who spoke to Weekly Trust.
John Omale, a lawyer based in Abuja who returned back to his home state Kogi says he has to return home so he could participate in the process of enlightening the voters in his village. He says: “I decided to come home in order to be different from those who are apathetic about the elections. It is true that the Nigerian people have lost confidence in the electoral system, but I feel we should not be totally pessimistic. We need to give those in charge of our electoral system the benefit of doubt. I am now at home to elect those I am convinced will be committed to bringing about the much desired development of my society. My coming home is also aimed at convincing a lot of people, especially those in the villages, to vote for the right candidates for various elective positions. Some of the electorates in the rural areas are not enlightened politically, and they need people like me to enlighten them this time. The only way we can achieve the positive changes we desire is to get the right people elected.”
It is a similar desire to enlighten those close to him that has motivated Aminu Dogo an indigene of Kano to embark on a journey to his local community To vote. Dogo’s desire is to ensure members of his immediate family, his wives and children, and members of his extended family vote correctly on the day of the polls so their votes will not be nullified. Like Omale Dogo says he took this responsibility because he feels he has to participate actively in making sure the process works.
But there is something else precipitating the election migrations. This is the solidarity between members of a state or community who travel back home to help their people vote out politicians considered to be undesirable. Dogo says he and many others from his community in Kano were encouraged by the community leaders to ensure they cast their votes at home so as to help bring better people to run their affairs. “Our opinion leaders encouraged us to return and vote at home so as to be a part of the process of change in our communities, because that is our real base. Our families are there, our siblings are there. Our children go to school there; our families attend hospitals there and so many other social amenities that we use. I am just alone in Abuja, if I vote in Abuja; it would probably make a difference in my life alone. What about my whole family? I have a bigger stake in Kano,’’ he says.
Emeka Ejiofor, from Imo State, also says it is his desire to help the people of his community back home to elect the leaders they want that propelled him to travel from his base in Abuja. Ejiofor regrets that in the last election where he stayed behind in Abuja and voted, the election in his ward was rigged. “If such happens again,” he says, “I can confidently protest because I actually voted there unlike in the past exercise where I voted in Abuja.”
Isah Bala Abdulkareem who is travelling home, too, to cast his vote says he wouldn’t have bothered to make the trip to vote if those politicians he left behind to take care of the affairs of his parents where they are back home are doing a good job of it. “If those at home have a better life,” he says, “then that means lesser troubles for me. Since the guys at the helm of affairs are not really giving their best we have to go back home and change things through our votes.”
In a further reiteration of voters belief that their home states hold greater stakes for them than their adopted states Gimba Mohammed Abdullahi says, “Come to think of it, why should I stay back while other Kaduna indigenes are coming back home to make their constituencies better and meaningful to the people?”
Some of the highly instructive messages which the squabbling political class vying to win the mandate of the Nigerian people in today’s election should bear in mind from the action of the travelling voters is they have been utter failures in making the idea of Nigeria as an entity a home in the minds and hearts of the electorates who don’t consider their places of residence as home. The travelling voters are also saying they do not feel safe with other Nigerians.
Ironically, two of the most powerful men in Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo have also taken a cue from the traveling voters and left Abuja yesterday to their hometowns to cast their votes because they registered there too. Will the April elections deepen and strengthen the idea of Nigeria as a home to all irrespective of where you come from or will it further deepen the ethnic and regional divide currently prevalent in the nation? Only time will tell.