Juliana Francis
PROMAD Foundation has decided to partner with ADVOKC to collect information from individuals that were unable to vote in the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections of Saturday, February 25th, 2023.
The Executive Director of PROMAD Foundation, Daisi Omokungbe, in a statement, said that the election showed the promise of what Nigerian democracy could become, citizen-driven, participatory, and energetic.
Omokungbe further stated: “This enthusiasm was dampened by widespread voter suppression, either deliberate or not, experienced across polling units in the country. Reports reveal several incidents of intimidation, logistical inefficiencies of INEC, and outright violence. We are personally aware of a polling unit with about 750 ready voters, of which only 72 had the chance to vote. The impact of this is dangerous. When citizens lose trust in the process, their motivation to participate as active citizens is eroded, which in turn weakens our democracy.”
Omokungbe explained that as organisations that had actively advocated for more young people to become more civically active and participate in the democratic process, Promad Foundation and Advokc Foundation had collaborated to launch an online database to gain a data-driven perspective on the depth of the impact of this suppression.
“We are deploying an online form using social and traditional media channels to actively gather the data of Nigerians who could not vote because of the inefficiencies of INEC logistics, breakouts of violence, the inability of BVAS to accredit them, or other realities that disenfranchised them. We therefore enjoin other Civil Society partners, development organisations, media organisations across the country and the general public to share this form with every individual that could not vote despite coming out to,” said Omokungbe.
Promad Foundation and Advokc Foundation both stressed that it was important to acknowledge and applaud the sacrifice of voters, “and even if they cannot be restituted. With their help, all of us can use the findings to work with INEC and other critical stakeholders to ensure that incidences like this become scarcer. The form will lapse from 28th of February till 10th of March.”
