By Prisca Sam-Duru

Traditional and Social media have been  awash with documentary videos on the February 25th general election in Nigeria. The election so far has birthed an incredible number of youtubers and tiktokers who are having a field day with video clips from the historic election.

 In every circumstance, especially when the chips are down, Nigerians are known to display high level of resilience. In some cases, they make fun out of a bizarre incidence as can be seen in some of the viral videos. There are also trending videos showing some of the anomalies that smeared the conduct of the elections; massive thanks to smart phones and social media. 

In one of the polling units in Edo State, a man is seen being beaten black and blue my angry voters. His sin? He was there to buy votes. The youths proved to him that they were resolute to take back their country. And this time, they were poised to do so without being bought. So, from the voters, the man collected what we call ‘wotowoto’ in Nigerian parlance.

There’s this funny video where an agent came on election day to buy votes. He met with some voters. Before he could finish explaining his mission, the voters rushed him, tore his bag, collected the money and ran away. 

Absolutely inspiring is this video showing hundreds of voters in a polling unit in Nnewi, Anambra state, on queue under the rain. Rather than be discouraged by the downpour, they sang, danced and clapped their hands while waiting to cast their votes. This level of determination to do what is right for a better country has never been seen in the history of elections in Nigeria. The people defied the rain and turned it into showers of blessing. 

At a polling unit dominated by students which was said to be in Ibadan, students were captured in the video having fun. It was already dark and voting was over, yet the crowd waited for the polling officers to count the votes. They clapped and cheered presidential candidates that scored less votes. And when it got to their preferred candidate who swept the poll, they chanted ‘no structure’ as counting continued.

Very inspiring is the video of a young man bringing his personal generator to his polling unit. The polling officials had told them that they couldn’t upload results because the BVAS’s battery was flat. Clearly saying that look, we don’t want any cock and bull story, the man rushed to his house and came back with his generator. Again, that speaks eloquently of how determined young Nigerians are to see a prosperous nation. 

Though the event that portrayed her as one of the heroes of the 2023 election was a violent one, its equally a proof of how resilient Nigerians are. This is about the video of the woman who was stabbed in the eye during an attack by hoodlums. Hers is quite a moving video. After she was stabbed, she came back to her polling unit with blood-soaked t-shirt and, fresh blood trickling down from her bandaged eye, to cast her vote. The tears she shed while performing her fundamental right will never be forgotten.

Truly, a lot happened during the election on Saturday. Voters really proved they were not smiling. A video shows a unit in Ikwere local government area, Rivers State, where voters more or less held electoral officers, ‘hostage’. The voting and counting exercise were done and results written on the result sheets. The next thing was for the results to be transmitted electronically with the BVAS to INEC server there and then but the Polling officer, PO, told them that there was no network on the BVAS.

The young female PO visibly afraid, explained how she had tried in vain to reach the SPO. The people encamped at the unit determined to keep vigil if need be, until their results were transmitted electronically.  

One of the worst videos trending on social media is the one made from a collation centre in Apapa Lagos. It was said to be shot around 5.55am of 26th February. An INEC officer is seen in the video, allegedly manipulating results. He was accused by agents present, of using a correction pen to erase the original results. Party agents discovered that the results he was entering were different from what came in from polling units. One of the agents, a woman was so bold to caution him; demanding that the BVAS be used to transmit the results. He looks so dumb in that video. The agents kept complaining, hoping that the security personnel present would intervene; they didn’t. 

At Abakpa, Enugu, a female youth corps member was videoed, stealing a presidential candidate’s votes and transferring same to another candidate. It’s so funny how dumb these electoral offenders appear once caught. Like a thief caught in the act, you could hardly hear her as she spoke but then, she accepted her wrong and apologised. Also, a woman identified as a professor in one of the universities in the south east, was caught with voting sheets already thumb printed for a particular candidate. She is a sorry sight as voters who caught her questioned her.

Its unbelievable that a woman who has gotten to that height of education would be part of election rigging. Reasons for last ASUU strike that lasted for eight months didn’t teach her any lesson.

One of the irregularities recorded from the election is also seen in a video where disenfranchised Nigerians are protesting. A lady who first spoke was practically crying on national TV while lamenting the poor state of the nation.

Her pain as she spoke, was that for the first time, the youths decided to come out and vote but were disenfranchised. Some others who spoke, insisted they were not going home until they’d voted because of the future of their children.

Most of the videos are quite inspiring but they, at the same time, portray the exercise as one not worth celebrating.  

With all the mess and violence recorded, its more disappointing that we are yet to see people arrested for engaging in thuggery, snatching of ballot boxes,  and under-aged voting. 

The video where thugs invaded a polling unit in Lagos and, in the process, molested a Nollywood actress is a testimony.

She kept screaming and calling on security personnel to control the situation. The hoodlums ended up destroying election materials and disrupting the exercise.