“You can make Nigeria great again by voting wisely”

[Title taken from the what’sapp message in image 1]

Over the past months, the women of FOMWAN Oyo State have been preparing for the elections, increasing awareness among members to register and then collect their PVC (Permanent Voters Card).

“It is our civil responsability, whether you like it or not” reminded the Oyo Chapter’s naiba (second to the amirah) a few weeks ago.

The election committee officers of Oyo State Chapter have been participating for several months in workshops and meetings held by international NGOs such as TOSATAN “peaceful conduct on Election Day & the role of Women in Election”, or other local and international agencies such as the Oyo Peace Commettee and its two day workshop “Youths, Women, and Persons with Disabilities on peace building ahead of 2023 general Election”.

January 11th, FOMWAN National obtained approval as an accredited election observer throughout the country (see INEC publication below number 53). Since then, members are invited to register as election observers for their pooling units through a google form shared on WhatsApp groups.

In Oyo State, executive committee members remind others at all meetings that a minimum of two members per local government are required as observers. All excos are expected to register as observers. On Sunday 5 February, during the General Meeting, the election committee members involved the women in an observation and reporting exercise.

When I asked a member what the role of the observers was, she replied: “The task is to report on the events happening wards during the PVC collection and at the pooling units. We make sure there is no pressuring and intimidation of the people, no bribes paid to officers or vote buying.”

Furthermore, the members are extremely active on the organisation’s WhatsApp group where they post and repost practical information related to the elections, awareness-raising messages (image 1 & 2), or standpoints from local and national Muslim groups such as the MSSN The Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (image 3) and The Muslim Umah of South-West Nigeria (image 4).

The latter is interesting as it raises the question of the intersection of regionalism, ethnicity and religion in Nigeria’s general elections. Indeed, with less than a month to go, separatists rhetorics have become increasingly audible. If such discourses preceded the election period, they have been exacerbated by a simplistic ethnic, religious and regionalist analysis of the three main candidates: Atiku, a Muslim for the north, Obi, a Christian Igbo for the south-east and Tinubu, a Muslim Yoruba for the south-west. While the first two reject the ethno-religious-regional game, the latter seems to rely on it to secure the votes of the south-west.

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