ANALYSIS: Analysing the contributions of celebrities towards voters turn out

Oluwapelumi King
The 2023 elections can be said to have been one of the most anticipated elections in recent times. Even now, the effects of the elections are still being felt as several members, supporters and sympathisers of the parties who were adjudged to have lost by INEC are still very confident of a court victory. The atmosphere makes one feel like the elections never took place at all. People particularly the youths are still very much interested in the political affairs of this country. This set of people also encompasses some celebrities who pitch their tent with various candidates. This article will focus on how they contributed to electoral education and whether these contributions affected voters’ turnout.
It is no secret that a lot of celebrities were personally involved in this election; From Psquare-Peter and Paul Okoye, Folarin Falana aka Falz, Nasboi, Toyin Abraham, Funke Akindele who contested herself, Mr Macaroni etc. Pre-elections, there were numerous campaigns from them for voters to be more interested in registering for elections as this is one of the chances they had in kicking the current ruling party out and making things better for themselves and family. The slogan “Get your PVCS” was a very popular slogan pre-elections. There was even a carnival (which many big celebrities were billed to attend) spearheaded by Rinu Oduala, Mr Macaroni, and Falz to mention a few where the tickets were an individual’s PVC; that is all a person had to do to gain entrance into the program was just to show his/her PVC. This was done to drive up the registrations for the PVC.
The move worked as during the period, there was an influx of crowd at INEC offices waiting to register or complete their PVC registration. The independent electoral commission also announced that there was now a high increase in voter registration than in previous years leading to elections. A Punch article based on a credible INEC report before the general elections stated that the number of registered voters had risen from 84 million voters to 96.2 million voters with over 71 per cent of the newly registered voters being youths. In this case, did the celebrity contribution to the electoral help in the increase of voter registration particularly in the increase of youth registration, yes.
However, the topic in question is not about whether it helped increase voters’ registration but in the voters’ turnout. Did it help in voter turnout? Did it have any effect?
According to an article on dataphyte.com, out of the 93.47 voters who registered to vote, only 24.9 million voters turned up to vote. The article stated that this was the lowest return since Nigeria returned to democracy as there was only a 26.72 per cent turnout. Adebayo Olorunsho Francis in his news article on Punch however stated the percentage to be 27%. He however still maintained that this was one of the lowest turnouts since 1999. An article on Vanguard however still described it as one of the keenest despite it being one of the lowest turnouts since 1999.
With the available data and statistics, it can then be safe to say that the influence of celebrities’ contributions to electoral education did not extend to voters’ turnout. It merely stopped at voters’ registration and permanent voter card collection. This not only shows that the decision to vote still lies mostly in the hands of the individual voters. However, more can still be done as regards voters’ education by the government, non-governmental organizations and even by celebrities themselves.