By Hanifat Ismail and Fatimah Seriki
On February 25, 2023, Nigerians came out en-mase to elect their preferred presidential candidate that will pilot the affairs of the country for the next four years
After which the governorship and State Houses of Assembly election followed on 18, March 2023
According to the report by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC said the 2023 Election has the highest number of voter registrants (93.4M) however the election recorded the lowest turnout in the history of Nigeria.
The result of the election produced a candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu the president-elect with 8,794,726 votes.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP came second with 6,984,520 votes, while the Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third with 6,101,533.
The 2023 poll witnessed less violence compared to the previous elections in Nigeria, however, States like Lagos recorded violence and intimidation during the poll where voters were been coerced and prevented from voting for their preferred candidate.
The introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS in the conduct of the 2023 election was seen as a welcome development, however, there were several cases of malfunctioning which posed a little bit threat.
Voter turnout in Benue, Kano, Kebbi, Kwara, and Nasarawa states was average.
In Kwara State, the election was free and fair as there were no reports of violence of any such or intimidation. Although the turnout was not so encouraging the conduct went peacefully
Lagos which is Nigeria’s most populous state with the highest number of eligible voters also recorded low turnout with high levels of intimidation, violence, and voter suppression.
Conclusively, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC secured the highest number of votes than his rivals with a wide margin
The 2023 Kwara State gubernatorial election which took place on 18 March 2023, was a shining example of the revitalized Nigerian democratic process.
The use of modern technology, particularly the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) and the Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV), helps reduce the cases of manual manipulation of figures and forestall election rigging as well as improve public confidence in the electoral outcome.
Voting started earlier as INEC ad-hoc staff arrived promptly and was set for the business of the day. The State’s resilient youth and citizens, also came out in the early hours of the day to exercise their franchise.
Different Security personnel were as well on the ground at the various polling units to ensure serenity
BVAS was used to identify and accredit voters’ fingerprints and facial recognition before voting
Although there was a low turnout compared to the previous elections, and some wards experienced glitches, like PU 002 Alanamu ward, Ilorin West LG, where voting was put on hold for a few minutes because Electorates complained that the BVAS brought by INEC doesn’haveva e a sim card, which was addressed immediately, the State election ended earlier as expected and was free, fair and credible.
After the elections, results were announced at polling units, after which they were collated and announced at wards. From the ward collation centers, the results were further collated for each of the local governments across the State.
However, the INEC Returning officer for the polls in the state and Vice-Chancellor, of the University of Markurdi, Benue State, Professor Isaac Itodo, announced the final results on Sunday 19 March, at the INEC office in Ilorin, the State capital.
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the poll to serve a second term of another four years in office.
The governor, who won in all the 16 local government areas of the state in the election polled 273,424 votes against Abdullahi Yaman of PDP who scored 155,490 votes.
