“In an open electoral contest, publicity materials, such as posters, outdoor bill boards and large format banners, announce the candidates, and to a large extents, their parties. They therefore, play a huge role in the eventual outcome of such election”. This is how Dr. Akin Adetunji a Lagos-based voluntary campaigner surmised the effectiveness of publicity materials in a general election.

But most unfortunately, many of the eighteen parties registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) do not see it this way. With less than seventy-five days to the commencement of the next general elections, slated for February 2023, only a few of the parties can be noticed by means of outdoor publicity materials in Lagos State.
Dr. Adetunji continued: “A party or candidate who cannot erect outdoor bill boards, cannot mount large format banners, or even paste posters, may sound unpopular, and therefore tagged unserious by the electorate. It is by ways and means of these materials that people get familiarized with the parties and their candidates, and even for passers-by to feel their presence”
As the kick off date for the general elections slated for February 2023 draw nearer, the eighteen registered parties have intensified the battle for the over seven million votes in Lagos State. However, as at the time of filling this reports only two of the eighteen parties, only two, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have flagged off their campaigns in the State.
And more surprising is the presence of the parties by means of posters, large format banners and outdoor publicity materials. Throughout the length and breadth of the State, www.focusmagazineonline.com checks revealed that it is only the ruling party in the State, APC, that is visible. Two others, the PDP and LP are “timidly visible”, according to an administrative officer in the State Secretariat of the APC, in Ogba, Ikeja. Then we have a sprinkling of Action Alliance (AA), and few others.

In the State, Labour Party (LP) started vibrantly and brightly. It did a road show in three selected areas of the State in October. The man-march made a huge impact, but the party have since recoiled into its shell. There are few posters of its candidates, Mr. Peter Obi and Mr. Gbolahan Rhodes-Vivour around the State, but they a far, and few in-between. The lull in the activities of the party, a source at the State Secretariat in Oregun, Ikeja said “is due to the internal crises within the party. The gubernatorial tussle between El Salvador and Rhodes Vivour is yet to be settled, and so the many candidates for the parliamentary seats”.
While the BOOT Party (BP) said it would be reaching out to the public through its weekly press engagement. Mr. Wale Oluwo , a former Commissioner for Energy under the governorship administration of Mr. Akin Ambode, said the his party, would base its campaign on a weekly media event to proffer solutions to the challenges confronting Lagos State and Nigeria, particularly with regard to the 2023 elections. The media event is named: on BOOT Party Solutions Series. Mr. Oluwo has since Wednesday (30 November) inaugurated the media campaigns in Lagos. However, www.focusmagazineonline.com is yet to sight his poster or outdoor bill board anywhere in the State.
For a first time visitor, Lagos State may be considered huge. This is yes and at the same time no. The total land mass of the State is less than 4,000 square kilometre. Therefore, covering the State with outdoor publicity materials should not be an issue. The land mass is small, but the voting population is huge, very huge to be abandoned.
Although, the entire land area of Lagos may not pull much weight when compared with some others, particularly the adjourning neighbouring states of Ogun and Oyo, but the huge voting population, the human mass, certainly does. A State with a land mass of less than 4,000 square kilometres, but with an astounding population of over 20 million, should mean a lot to any political party desirous of making a good impact at the general elections, not only in the State, but in the federal elections. Lagos, as a State, is both the economic and political heart-beat of the country, Nigeria. It is a State where all tribes, perhaps, every family in the country, conglomerate, at least have a foothold.
The voting population of the State is robustly high and besides, the most vibrant, enlightened, educated and dynamic in the country.
Reviewing the voting details in June, 2022, Mr. Segun Agbaje, the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, puts the total number of registered voters in Lagos state before the commencement of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) at 6,570,291, saying “if we add the new registrants, we have about seven million registered voters.”
He said if the number of new registrants in the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) is added to the current number of registered voters in the state, this will amount to around seven million.
He continued: “In Lagos state, as of Monday (July 18), those who registered online are 640,560 but many of them have not completed registration. Those who have completed the registration exercise are 451,156,” he said.
While the State Residential Commissioner for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Olusegun Agbaje, says there are around seven million registered voters in Lagos. He however, insisted that “everybody cannot be captured but those who come to us will be registered.”
Nationally, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, gave the numbers of total registered voters across the country as 93.5m. “The 9,518,188 new voters have been added to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters. The preliminary register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272’’, he revealed.
Of this figure, analysis of the preliminary register by www.focusmagazineonline.com revealed that Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Katsina and Oyo states have the highest number of registered voters.

A breakdown indicates that Lagos has 7.57 per cent; Kano, 6.34 per cent; Kaduna, 4.65 per cent; Rivers, 3.77 per cent; Katsina, 3.76 per cent and Oyo 3.51 per cent. This mean that voters in the six states constitute 27.68m or 29.59 per cent of the entire registered voters.

According to the preliminary voters’ register, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Rivers states lead with 7,075,192; 5,927,565; 4,345,469 and 3,532,990, respectively.

They are followed by Katsina with 3,519,260 and Oyo, with 3,275,045.

Further analysis also revealed that the North-West geopolitical zone, which comprises the seven states of Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara and Jigawa, with a total of 22.27m voters, has the highest number of registered voters.

As of the 2019 elections, the North-West had 20.15m voters. However, the data from INEC revealed that the zone got additional 2.12m voters during the recently-concluded continuous voter registration.

The South-West, which earlier had 16.29m voters as of 2019, now has 17.93m voters, having added a total of 1.64m newly-registered voters.

Following in third place is the South-South zone comprising Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Cross-River, Bayelsa, Edo and Delta states.

The number of registered voters in the zone has risen from 12.8m to 14.4m.

The North-Central, which is made up of Nasarawa, Kogi, Benue, Niger Kwara, and Plateau now has a total of 13.8m voters while the North- East which consists of Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe added 1.07m new voters to reach 12.5m.

The South-East, which is the smallest geopolitical zone, and consists of five states — Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Anambra and Imo now has a total of 10.9m voters while the Federal Capital Territory increased from 1.3m to 1.5m registered voters.

Lagos maintained its position as the state with the highest number of registered voters, increasing its figure from 6.5m to 7.07m.

Kano State also added 469,818 new voters to increase its number to 5.9m voters.

Kaduna now has 4.3m voters while Rivers state overtook Katsina as the fourth largest state in terms of voters.

While Rivers now has 3.53m voters, Katsina has 3.51m.
With the above statistics, Lagos State votes should be of primary focus for any serious political party, taking part in the forthcoming general elections. In the past week, the Peoples Democratic party, (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), and BOOT Party (BP) have launched their campaigns towards the February 2023 general elections with much fanfare.
While the environments of the campaigns were well-decorated with posters and other publicity materials, round the State, the stories are drastically, different.
A trip around, covering the total stretch of Lagos State, from Badagry to Epe, Ikorodu to Lagos Island, Apapa to Ikeja could be achieved in a couple of days, unlike a windy State like the neighbouring Ogun, Oyo or Osun. The entire landscape of Lagos State is open and direct. www.focusmagazineonline.com moved round and found out that only one party can be said to be visible in the State, the APC.
The party, APC and its candidates, be it the governorship, the Senatorial, the Federal House of Representatives and State House of Assembly candidates, seem to be all over the place.
In the last presidential election, Mr Muhammadu Buhari of APC won the contest in the state with an overall vote of 580,825. Atiku Abubakar of PDP came second by polling 448,015.
In the election, total accredited voters for the state was 1,196,490 while the total valid votes stood at 1,089,567. A total 67,023 votes were rejected, while the total valid votes were 1,156,590.
The impacts of publicity materials, such as posters and outdoor bill boards cannot be over emphasized. Some analysts believed it is a sign of the presence of the parties in the State.
Some are of the view that it may affect the fortunes of the parties in an election. “It may affect the acceptability of a party and thereby enhances its fortune in an election”, says a Lawyer, Pastor Tayo Adesiyun. According to him, “posters or outdoor adverts are still important in our environment”.
He believed that through posters and outdoor bill boards, “voters will identify their candidates and familiarise with them. And that voters will know the candidates have not taken them for granted”.

www.focusmagazineonline.com (C2022)