The National Conscience Platform (NCP) has warned that Nigeria is sliding dangerously toward democratic collapse, citing a sharp decline in voter participation over the past decade.
According to official figures from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) referenced by the group, voter turnout dropped from 54 per cent in 2011 to 35 per cent in 2019, before plunging further to about 27 per cent in the 2023 general elections—the lowest level recorded since Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999.
In a joint statement signed by Comrade Babatunde Agunbiade and Barrister Wale Ogunade, Interim Coordinators of the platform, the NCP described the trend as a national crisis that extends beyond voter apathy.
“Democracy is not only threatened by coups; it is dismantled when citizens lose faith that their votes matter,” the statement said.
The organisation expressed concern that despite the worsening public confidence, Nigeria continues to run one of the most expensive electoral systems in Africa. Election budgets, it noted, have risen consistently, with billions of naira spent on voter registration, logistics, technology, and security—yet electoral credibility continues to decline.
“This raises unavoidable public-interest questions: What exactly is Nigeria spending on elections, and why are outcomes worsening?” the NCP asked.
The group identified the delay in amending Nigeria’s electoral laws by the National Assembly as a central driver of the crisis. According to the statement, the continued stalling of reforms preserves a defective system that entrenches incumbency advantage, weakens opposition parties, shrinks political space, and accelerates the erosion of multiparty democracy.
The NCP recalled that Nigeria already has a reform blueprint in the 2008 Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee report, which recommended greater independence for the electoral body, stricter campaign finance regulation, internal party democracy, and insulation of elections from executive interference.
“Sixteen years later, most of these recommendations remain unimplemented,” the organisation said.
Citing Afrobarometer surveys, the NCP noted that fewer than one-third of Nigerians believe elections reflect the will of the people, warning that when citizens lose trust in the ballot, political legitimacy erodes and governance risks becoming coercive rather than consensual.
The group also raised alarm over what it described as increasing administrative and regulatory pressures shrinking political competition, warning of a drift toward de facto one-party dominance, a scenario it said is incompatible with Nigeria’s Constitution and democratic history.
In response, the NCP announced plans to submit Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to INEC and other relevant institutions, seeking detailed electoral expenditure breakdowns, procurement records for election logistics and technology, data on party funding oversight, and legislative records explaining delays in electoral law amendments.
“These records are public documents. Nigerians have a right to know how democracy is funded—and why it is failing,” the statement said.
Describing electoral reform as a national accountability and security imperative, the NCP called on investigative journalists, civil society groups, labour unions, youth organisations, professional bodies, and faith leaders to treat the moment as a critical turning point.
“Electoral reform delayed is democracy denied. Silence now is complicity. Countries that suppress political competition do not achieve stability—they manufacture unrest,” the organisation warned.
