There is power in numbers. Democracy is touted as the government of the people, but it is basically a government of the majority. Major General Muhammadu Buhari was elected by just 15 million people in 2019. The population of Nigeria is estimated in the excess of 200 million. It could be said that Buhari was elected by the registered majority. This is not true. INEC has over 84 million registered voters meaning that Buhari was elected by one-sixth of the registered voters.
Now, how do you redefine democracy?
This might be a subject for another day; this is a subject of intense analysis, nay, philosophy. But today is about what is on paper and there is power in numbers. In this regard, the South East is poorly represented. Let’s start from the broadest margins.
There are 84,004,084 registered voters correct as of June 2021.
North – 44,813,463
South – 39,190,621
(Argument for the South: There are more southerners living in the north than the other way round; and Middle Belt States such as Plateau, Kogi, and Benue are ideologically connected to the South).
Of the south’s registered voters, here is the breakdown.
South West – 16,292,212
South-South – 12,841,279
South East – 10,057,130
(Argument for the South East lower figure against the South West is that if you remove the over 6 million voters from Lagos, South East and South West have similar figures. Southeasterners have a huge presence in Lagos and elsewhere in the West.
(Argument for South East lower figure against the South-South is that there are strong Igbo numbers in Rivers and Delta States – the two states with the biggest numbers in South-South).
Breakdown of registered voters in the South East from the lowest to the highest
Ebonyi State
No surprise here, Ebonyi State has the lowest population in the Southeast. With just 13 local government areas, they equally have the lowest claim to urbanity in the geopolitical region. But the state stands tall among other batch 6 states (we divided the states into batches of 1 to 6 based on their registered populations).
Ebonyi has more registered voters than Ekiti (909K), Bayelsa (923K), Yobe (1.3M), and even the Federal Capital Territory (1.3M).
Total registered voters in Ebonyi State: 1,459,933
Abia State
Abia State comes second in ascending order. This is not surprising as, by estimate and the last official census of 2006, Abia State is fourth in the Southeast. However, Abia State is just over ten thousand voters less than Enugu despite having nearly 400 thousand fewer people.
We are all official today and would try not to question any governmental figures which means we are going to give Abia State kodus for their turnouts to get registered.
It doesn’t end in the turnout to be registered. In the 2019 general elections, Abia State had nearly 100 thousand lower voters than Enugu. In fact, Ebonyi turned out more voters than Abia State. If we ever make a post about voter apathy in the Southeast, Abia State would be top
Total registered voters in Abia State: 1,932,892
Enugu State
Enugu State is nearly a one-city state depending on whether you consider Nsukka a city or a town. Enugu City itself is not a densely populated city, nowhere near Onitsha, Aba, and Awka. Enugu is an example of how a state’s rural areas can be the key to their higher population.
With just under two million registered voters, Enugu falls beyond expectations. The fact that Enugu plays host to a couple of higher institutions might be a lazy reviewer’s answer. It is deeper than this.
Comparing Southeast Governors’ Wives’ Initiatives
Enugu is arguably the biggest turnout state on election day by percentage. The Southeast is home to electoral apathy in Nigeria; Enugu State does okay by the region’s standard.
Enugu is a state to look out for in future exercises.
Total registered voters in Enugu State: 1,944,016
Imo State
Imo State is one state that you feel was ill-counted in the 2006 census. They didn’t help themselves in the registration of voters, posting just more than two million voters. How can you explain the fact that land of Sam Mbakwe is not in the first dozen of states by voters registration.
According to the last census, Imo State came 14th; by the number they have in the register, they proved the census count-masters right. While we still continue to refuse to dispute official numbers, so many people stayed at home during voter registration exercises.
We blame GOTV for this. We are lazy like that.
Total registered voters in Imo State: 2,272,293
Anambra State
South East commercial boiling point is the only top ten state in registered voters in Nigeria. But there are no kudos for them. Anambra is not in the three million registered voters club which is a failure. Delta State with 2.8 million registered voters, Rivers with 3.2 million, and Oyo State with 2.9 million are a group Anambra State should look at.
At less than 2.5 million registered voters, Anambra has failed the peer competition test.
Anambra State has shown many times that whoever decided they should have only 21 local government areas made a terrible mistake bordering the injustice. INEC voters registration is an opportunity to double down on this, they didn’t.
Total number of registered Imo State: 2,447,996.
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