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By Chief Ibrahim Nasiru
A recent wave of commentary, exemplified by the article “When Democracy Loses Its Voters,” has painted a dire picture of Nigeria’s democratic health following the just-concluded FCT Area Council elections.
While the sub-20% turnout in many areas is indeed a call for reflection, but to label it a “damning verdict” on our democracy, is to ignore the nuanced progress made during this exercise.
Critics have been quick to highlight the 15% overall turnout as a sign of total citizen disillusionment.
However, a historical perspective reveals that this is actually an improvement over the 2022 Area Council elections turn-out, which saw only 9.4% participation.
Far from a “dying” system, we are seeing a steady, albeit slow, rebuilding of the voter base in the nation’s capital.
The focus on “empty chairs” at polling units overlooks the integrity of the chairs that were filled.
Significantly, INEC also reported that by Sunday, February 22, 93% of polling unit results were successfully uploaded to the IReV portal, a feat of transparency that was largely absent in previous cycles.
A democracy where 15% of votes are counted accurately is arguably healthier than one where 60% are “manufactured” through manual manipulation.
Some leaders have attributed the apathy to the newly-enacted Electoral Act 2026, calling it “anti-people”. This overlooks the primary reasons cited by residents on the ground, which includes inadequate voter education and the challenges of locating new polling units.
It is perhaps pertinent to note that voters did not stay away because of the law; they stayed away because they lacked the necessary information to navigate a changing system.
It is also interesting to note that voter apathy in local council polls is a global phenomenon, not a uniquely Nigerian crisis.
As noted by various analysts on FCT 2026 elections, the proximity of local government to the people should ideally drive turnout, but it often suffers when residents feel their local council has been hijacked by state or federal interests. The solution is not to proclaim or mourn the “death” of democracy, but to intensify grassroots mobilisation for 2027.
Democracy does not lose its voters overnight; it loses them when the narrative of “failure” becomes louder than the manifest evidences of “progress.”
The 2026 FCT polls were peaceful, technologically-superior, and marked an upward trend in voter turn-out. Instead of using these numbers to score political points, all stakeholders should focus on the 1.4 million residents who remained at home, and work to win back their confidence before the 2027 general elections.
