INVESTIGATION: Beyond the facade of Nigeria’s ‘peaceful’ Presidential Elections

Before Nigeria’s presidential elections last year, legislator Alhassan Doguwa told raucous supporters what would happen to those who did not vote for his dominant All Progressives Congress party.

“To God who made me, on election day, you must vote for APC or we will deal with you,” he warned to cheers captured on video. “I’m saying it again: On Election Day, you either vote for APC or we deal with you.”

Police in northern Nigeria said soon after that his threats were not idle — he was charged with election-related murders of several people. The deaths were far from alone among the hundreds of violent incidents across the country in the weeks leading up to the election.

While the Nigerian government’s Independent National Electoral Commission claimed voting was not marred by intimidation, a 10-month-long Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism examination with 20 journalists found widespread incidents of brutality around the country.

Government documents, international observers and dozens of interviews conducted by CCIJ throughout the country reveal a pattern of violence that crippled voter turnout and raises troubling concerns about future elections.

Upwards of more than 100 people reportedly died in election-related violence, according to reports by independent observers. Yet the government’s election commission discounted these deaths and numerous injuries.

In its report released in February 2024, a year after balloting, the elections commission stated, “These elections were notable for their peaceful and orderly conduct, marked by the absence of significant instances of violence.”

It praised security workers, political party officials, election observers and the media for ensuring the safety of voters.

CCIJ reviewed thousands of internal polling site-by-polling site government filings and found more than 2,000 polling stations across the country that reported their ballots could not be added to official tallies because of irregularities. The leading reason, affecting about half the polling stations: violence.

The result is that more than 1.1 million registered voters’ ballots could not be counted in the election, according to government records.

“Violence is a lingering feature of elections in Nigeria,” reported Chatham House the year before the presidential elections.

The London-based NGO outlined how Nigeria’s democracy since 1960 has been “severely weakened” by civil war and years of military rule. Since the end of British colonial rule in 1960, Nigerians have spent about half that time under military rule.

Voting has declined in recent elections, with observers pointing to fewer civil liberties, distrust of corrupt political leaders and weak democratic institutions.

Nigerian presidential election voter turnout rates since 1978
In 2023, Nigeria recorded a voter turnout of just under 27%, the lowest level since democracy was restored in 1999 and the sixth lowest in presidential elections worldwide since 1945.

The most recent presidential election — the seventh since the last period of military rule ended in 1999 — included irregularities where numerous voting sites did not report results because of violence, lack of proper balloting equipment and other reasons.

That included polling stations in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, near the country’s border with Niger, where the legislator Alhassan Doguwa made his fiery speech in the Hausa language to supporters.

Doguwa was the APC’s majority leader in the country’s House of Representatives, a high-ranking position, and a member of the same party as Bola Tinubu, who won the presidential election in February 2023 for his first term.

Following the election, Doguwa was arrested by police in connection with murders in the town of Tudun Wada. He denied wrongdoing, countering that he was only strongly encouraging voters to support his party, and said the charges were politically motivated.

The Kano state government later dropped charges against him and he then sued the state government and police for bias and wrongfully accusing him of murder and won the equivalent of a little more than $15,000 in U.S. dollars.

Some international observers have estimated that more than 100 people were murdered in connection with the election. The Nigeria Election Violence Tracker maintained by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Armed Conflict Location and Event Data counted 109 election-related deaths in early 2023. The Incident Centre for Election Atrocities put the number higher, at 137.

CCIJ found at least 29 were arrested in connection with election-related violence in Kano alone, and hundreds others for election-related offenses.

The official polling station reports examined by CCIJ offer a starker picture of the effects of violence than what government officials announced during the elections.

CCIJ analyzed statements state-by-state made by election officials, combing through recordings of election results announcements at the National Collation Centre, Abuja posted to YouTube by Channels Television, which livestreamed the events. CCIJ found officials said publicly that votes were not counted for at least 1,500 polling sites throughout Nigeria. But the government’s own documents show more than 2,000 were not counted because of irregularities and violence.

While officials announcing results mentioned violence and overvoting as reasons for why ballots were not counted, they did not provide figures. But the government documents showed violence was the single leading reason.

Both the public statements and the documents said more than 1.1 million registered voters were potentially affected because votes at their polling sites were not counted.

CCIJ repeatedly sought interviews with INEC about violence and irregularities. Before publication of this story, the agency refuted in its response letter that the election was marred by difficulties.

“The Commission will continue to improve its processes and procedures after every election,” INEC wrote to CCIJ. It did not respond to additional questions.

In its lengthy report, INEC wrote that “in most cases” it addressed challenges involving the late arrival of election materials at some polling sites, inadequate security personnel, violence and intimidation.

The agency, in its report, called the election “is perhaps the best planned and most innovative election in Nigeria.”

“The election witnessed the highest number of eligible voters and voting locations across the country with the participation of over one million election duty officials and deployment of enormous logistic requirements including over 100,000 vehicles and about 4,000 boats protected by gunboats,” according to the agency.

Along with murders, there were countless incidents of intimidation and irregularities that prevented people from casting ballots.

 

On Election Day in 2023, in the district of Chiranchi, about 70 miles south of Tudun Wada, where the Kano governor alleged Daguwa was linked with the murder 15 people, 30-year-old Muhammad Ibrahim was in a line at his polling station, excited to vote for the first time.

The morning’s peace was shattered.

A wounded man ran through the crowd, pursued by a violent group armed with sticks and knives.

Ibrahim recalled a bystander asked if he intended to cast his vote for the APC.

Ibrahim said the man told him, “They’re targeting those who want to vote for the NNPP,” the New Nigeria People’s Party, which was among the leading opposition parties.

Ibrahim was among those who ran, fearful for their safety.

CCIJ could not verify claims that the APC was connected with the menacing group that chased away voters. Police declined to comment on incidents of violence in the state of Kano.

Meanwhile in Gwale, Kano, about six miles east of where the 15 people were allegedly murdered in Tudun Wada, journalist Ashiru Umar recounted witnessing threats to voters.

“They were intimidating all voters that were not supporting APC,” according to Umar.

He said he was attacked and beaten by thugs for conducting interviews for election stories and sustained injuries that required more than a month of medical treatment.

“We managed to leave the area,” he said. “All this happened while the security agents were watching.”

Election officials also faced violence.

Aisha Abubakar, who served as the independent election commission’s presiding officer in Kano, said thugs attacked her workers before voting began, resulting in severe injuries to two colleagues.

“There was a miscommunication regarding where we would set up election materials,” she said. “We were trying to give clarification, then suddenly, political thugs said we were trying to manipulate the process, and they started beating my polling unit officers.”

In the electoral commission’s filings reviewed by CCIJ, at least 16 polling stations in Kano reported violence and did not count ballots for several thousand voters. In many other instances, poll workers did not give reasons for why no ballots were counted at their locations.

And Kano was far from alone from reports of intimidation.