It is a sunny afternoon in Lagos, Nigeria, with no power supply in days as usual. 32-year-old Tobi is sitting outside his father’s two-bedroom apartment in Gowon Estate, in the heart of Alimosho local government area of Lagos. He knows he is not sure where his afternoon meal would come from, but he does not know that he is about to sell his vote in the upcoming elections for little less than $30.
Alimosho is a local government area in Lagos state divided into six sub-divisions: Agbado/Oke-Odo LCDA, Ayobo/Ipaja LCDA, Alimosho LG, Egbe/Idimu LCDA, Ikotun/Igando LCDA, Mosan Okunola LCDA and Egbeda/Akowonjo. To many, it is a regular local government area with a mixed population of all ethnic groups, but what is hidden in plain sight is the power this area wields during general or state elections in Nigeria.
The area is one of the strongholds of electoral malpractice in Lagos, and plans for vote-buying kick off a year before elections commence. Recruited community political party leaders are given large sums of money to buy the votes of community members. This system has worked for many years, making Alimosho the infamous election powerhouse, giving large votes to a particular political party each election season.
But this year, things seem a little uncertain. Another political candidate has stolen the hearts of many young people, forcing millions of previously unregistered voters to get their PVCs, ready to grab the opportunity for a supposed better future for Nigeria. It is not business as usual this time around, the stakes are higher. You either vote for the candidate you have been paid to vote for or pay the ultimate price.
Electoral Statistics In Alimosho Local Government
In terms of numbers, Alimosho can be considered an electoral powerhouse in Lagos state, ahead of local government areas like Oshodi and Mushin; home to radical party members and contracted electoral thugs.
Alimosho’s impact in elections first became evident in the 2003 gubernatorial elections with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, contesting under the banner of Alliance for Democracy (AD) and late Engr Funsho Williams of the PDP as the major players.
Tinubu was leading with 801,311 votes to 671,745 votes for Williams, but Tinubu’s 129,566 votes marginal lead could easily have been levelled out with the estimated 200,000 votes being expected from Alimosho LGA. Electoral officers arrived and announced Tinubu polled 110,302 votes in Alimosho, the highest the state had ever recorded.
In 2007, Action Congress’ candidate, Mr Babatunde Fashola got 207,112 votes from Alimosho LGA (25% of the total votes of 828,400) to go on to win the elections against the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate, Musiliu Obanikoro who got a total of 86,096 votes in Alimosho and 389,088 overall.
In 2011, Alimosho pulled a total of 156,384 votes from Fashola, the deciding vote to win him his second term in office.
In 2015, AC, now renamed All Progressive Congress (APC), won the elections with a total of 811,994 of which Alimosho contributed 90,558 votes.
In 2019, again APC’s candidate won a total of 78,379 votes from Alimosho, landing him victory with a combined vote of 739,445.
In the 2019 general elections, Alimosho also contributed the largest votes in the state, with 65,206 votes, ultimately giving President Buhari 132,810 votes from Lagos state alone.
It is worth noting that while there have been under-reported cases of violence in Alimosho, it has consistently churned out the highest votes from any pooling unit in Lagos. How has this LGA managed this fit with minimal bloodshed?
The system is simple, these political parties have learnt to use the multiethnic composition of the LGA as an advantage. At political meetings, one can find an Igbo man as the leader or an Edo man. The system of sharing political leadership privileges with other ethnic groups allows for integration and a feeling of belonging.
Another tactic is a very popular one; preying on the economic situation of community members. According to recent data, Alimosho has an estimated population of over 11,456,783, largely consisting of petty traders, civil servants and an alarming number of unemployed people.
Tobi is one of them. Just like many youths in Gowon Estate, Tobi has written and failed the Nigerian Defense Academy exams a couple of times, maybe due to his own making or his little knowledge of the “right people”. Anyway, he is at home like the others, waiting for what the day would bring.
A party leader approaches him and tells him how much money he can make by just mobilizing other youths to vote for his preferred candidate. ” He said he would pay me 3,000 naira and pay the other boys I bring 1,000 naira with bags of rice. I know it is not the right thing to do, but social media is different from real life. There is hunger in real life”, he told a Twentyten reporter over a phone conversation.
Tobi agreed to the arrangement but plans to vote for his preferred candidate, come election day. Till the threats began. Tobi says he has been warned several times to keep to his end of the bargain or there would be serious consequences.
It is now 85 days left till the next elections and Tobi and other youths like him in Alimosho are not sure what awaits them… or else by some chance, their story is heard.