2023: Voter apathy looms in North, CNG warns

The Coalition for Northern Groups (CNG) has warned that unless urgent measures are taken, there is a likelihood of voter apathy in the northern part of the country in the 2023 general elections.

Addressing journalists in Kano on Monday, the spokesman for the coalition, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said its observations indicated that there is lower participation in the ongoing update of voter registration in the North compared to other parts of the country.

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This, the coalition said is not unconnected to the huge disappointment of northerners in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The coalition also said the outcome of party primaries, especially in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had further pushed a huge percentage of northerners to a position of caring little about who emerged winner in the 2023 election with the “monetisation” of the process.

The coalition, however, charged northerners not to be discouraged by the turn of events but to massively register for their “Permanent Voter Cards as the only sure way of ensuring leadership that will address our limitations.”

It also “Remind the northern voter to be vigilante with the direction of his voting by refusing to be pinned to political party specifics and go for candidates with pronounced credibility, competence, capacity and with the antecedent of expressly identifying with their problems around security, the economy and education.”

The coalition also demanded a “Thorough investigation into whether election funding in recent primary elections by parties followed the prescribed protocols as indicated in the Electoral Act” and also demanded, “an enquiry into the extent to which adherence or otherwise to the electoral guidelines contributed to the monetization of the electoral contests in the various parties and its implication for future electoral integrity.”