Former president Goodluck Jonathan says the issue with voter turnout in Nigeria is that there are too many ghost voters on the electoral register.
Jonathan spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the YIAGA Africa reflection conference on democratic elections in West Africa.
The former president said West Africa has made significant strides in its democratic journey in the past few decades amid several challenges.
He said despite the introduction of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal during the 2023 general election in Nigeria, and the use of technology in Sierra Leone in 2023, there were logistical issues, technical glitches, and allegations of irregularities during the polls.
He said Ghana, however, conducted successful elections “despite the use of limited technology”.
“The electoral commission of Ghana and security authorities played a crucial role in ensuring the elections are free and fair, demonstrating that Ghana’s democratic processes have continued to be resilient even with limited technology,” he said.
Jonathan said for elections in Nigeria to be free and fair, the heads of electoral commissions must be credible.
“If we don’t have this kind of people, then we are in trouble. If you are accepting to be chairman of INEC or to be a commissioner in INEC, then you should be ready that if I’m pressurised to do what is wrong, I will take care of the democratic people,” he said.
The former president also said he believes that “we have too many ghost voters”.
“So whenever the situation is strong, when both parties are strong, and you cannot manipulate the system, then only the real human beings will get the vote. And the real human beings will be left at 50 percent,” he added.
