Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has lamented the declining voter turnout in Nigerian elections, attributing the trend to citizens’ loss of interest caused by insincerity on the part of the government and the electoral body .
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’ on Thursday, the cleric expressed concern that only a small fraction of registered voters now determine who emerges as political leaders in the country .
“This deterioration has been going on. If you take the indices of the numbers of Nigerians that come out to vote, you will discover that they are very few,” Onaiyekan stated .
He recalled that only 23 per cent of registered voters participated in the last general election, meaning that “whoever emerged as the winner had been elected by a very small minority of Nigerians” .
The Cardinal pointed to the recently concluded FCT Area Council elections, which witnessed abysmal turnout across polling units in the nation’s capital, as further evidence of growing voter apathy .
Onaiyekan attributed the situation to widespread disillusionment with the electoral process, citing reports of voting irregularities and instances where citizens were unable to cast their ballots despite obtaining their Permanent Voter Cards .
“Those in power need to make sure the election becomes acceptable and popular with the people,” he urged, recalling how many young people made “pilgrimages to INEC offices for many days” to collect their PVCs, only to face obstacles during voting .
The cleric also questioned whether lawmakers truly represent the people, noting that the priorities set and decisions taken by the National Assembly do not reflect citizens’ interests .
“If we do not want democracy, we should say it. We should be sincere about elections in Nigeria,” Onaiyekan declared, calling for transparency and sincerity in the conduct of elections to restore public trust .
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria had earlier raised similar concerns, warning that declining participation—from over 60 per cent in 2003 to just 23 per cent in 2023—poses a great danger to Nigeria’s democracy .
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