The postponement of the general elections generated arguments across the country. Now, presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on February 23. Governorship and House of Assembly polls will take place on March 9. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU highlights the mistakes the electoral agency must avoid during the exercise.
Will the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) get it right on Saturday? Its chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, has been bashed for heightening public expectation before suddenly postponing the anticipated presidential and National Assembly elections last weekend. Will the mistakes and operational challenges that warranted the postponement give way before March 23?
Transparent election is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders, including party leaders, flag bearers, electoral officers, security agencies and voters. But, INEC has a duty to organise the general elections without compromising ethics and sacrificing the rules of the game. To do the job, the agency was nit starved of funds. Unlike 2015, security chiefs did not cite any emergency challenge that could necessitate a shift. Many had travelled home for the exercise. Observers had started turning in pre-election reports. All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate President Muhammadu Buhari had gone to his native Daura and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenger, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to Adamawa State for the exercise. The nation was anxious.
Yakubu, the pilot of the electoral ship of state, said it was sailing to a safe harbour. Suddenly, the wind started blowing. Electoral pirates were also on the prowl. In Anambra, Enugu and Abia states, thugs invaded INEC offices, burning card readers. There were fears that the captain of the ship and the crew may not survive the turbulence. An over-confident chairman was unperturbed. But, six hours to the polls, reality dawned on him that INEC’s capability to conduct a hitch-free exercise had diminished. The country was enveloped in confusion and anxiety.
Explaining his predicament to a bewildered nation, Yakubu attributed the poor performance to logistic problems: 4,695 smart card readers burnt in one state, aircraft conveying sensitive materials could not land in Enugu, capital of Enugu State due to bad weather; fire outbreaks had burned materials in Anambra, Abia and Plateau states; vehicle loading materials from Taraba State had broken down, and result sheets meant for Edo were shopped to Rivers State. Put succinctly, INEC was overwhelmed by the constraints. Damage control became impossible.
Elections are critical to democratic growth and political stability. But, since pre-independence, polls have been a sort of nightmare. The hiccups have been attributed to technical and human errors.
Previous electoral battles were fought in an atmosphere of strife, rancour and bitterness. At almost 60, factors that shape electioneering in Nigeria include ethnicity and religion. During elections, there is always tension. Many politicians and other stakeholders often perceive election as war. In 1959, 1964, 1965, 1965, 1983, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, the electoral commissions have been under attack for alleged flawed polls. Protests have always trailed the periodic contests, with the struggle shifting from the ballot box to the court rooms. Almost three decades after independence, Nigeria has failed to build a sane electoral process.
Fears are rife that the postponement may dampen public morale, and this may lead to apathy on Saturday. Many have even expressed reservations about the prospect of an improvement within a week. Yakubu, who is on the weighing scale, has reiterated his commitment to a credible process. But, the gap between expectation and reality has ruptured public confidence. Although INEC had four years to prepare for the general elections, many past lapses were repeated.
The first litmus test was the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) distribution. According to some presidential candidates, the critical exercise was bungled. The scenario created a hollow in the INEC’ scorecard. Owing to the mobilisation and enlightenment campaigns by civil society groups and political parties, many people trooped out for the exercise across the federation. But, the voter cards have remained elusive for many eligible voters. But, it should also be noted that on many areas, people shunned the cards and INEC was making appeals to them for collection. An anxious nation however, heaved a sigh of relief when the INEC chairman said over 84 million PVCs had been distributed.
To observers, INEC has not learnt from its past mistakes. In 2011, the commission, led by Prof. Attahiru Jega, had thrown the country into chaos before the exercise was stopped abruptly. Midway into the poll, INEC was inundated with complaints across the six geo-political zones that the exercise had failed. At noon, voting had not started in many locations. Voters started protesting the shoddy arrangements in some states. The voter’s registers in some locations were fake. Many officials did not even report for electoral duty. Where electoral officers were available, they were afraid to kick off the accreditation because security agents were absent. The ill-trained ad hoc staff-the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members-were confused. Following the cancellation and postponement of the poll, the beleaguered nation was back to square one.
INEC had opportunities to correct some of these mistakes during the scattered governorship elections in Ondo, Anambra, Ekiti and Osun. Instructively, the “odd” elections were scattered, owing to the mistake of INEC under Prof. Maurice Iwu. The first challenge was the Anambra election, which was almost bungled in 2010. During the poll, the commission was under fire.
However, in 2016, INEC conducted a successful election in Ondo. Also, in Ekiti, there was no cause for alarm. Although the Osun poll was in conclusive, the supplementary poll that followed completed the process.
INEC under Yakubu has recorded significant improvements. Innovations have been introduced to ensure the sanctity of the ballot box. The commission has also asserted its independence by shunning partiality, unlike when it was an extension of the government in the days of Obasanjo. So far, Yakubu is still perceived as a man of honour and integrity.
A postponed election, according to analysts, is better than the risk of an inconclusive election. To conduct credible and transparent polls on Saturday, INEC must be weary of its past mistakes and avoid the pitfalls. This is necessary to avoid a fresh crisis of integrity. Indeed, prevention is better than cure.
INEC must restore public confidence. On Saturday, there should not be lapses. Result sheets must be available. The commission will fail the test of credibility, if its officials report late for the assignment at polling units. Not only should the officials report promptly, they should also show up with the required polling materials. Voters will be disillusioned, if they get to the units and there is no electoral officer on ground to attend to them.
The most critical material is the voter register. If the names of many voters are omitted from the register, there will be tension on poll day. The implication is that many may be disenfranchised. The early display of the voter register was helpful. Through the verification, complaints by candidates, parties and voters were tackled and errors corrected by the commission before the poll.
Also, the accreditation hurdle is a recurring decimal. Voters usually raise objections to the late accreditation and voting. Accreditation problem is proportional to the demographic distribution of voters. In densely populated polling units, the exercise may not be completed before 2 pm as stipulated by the law. If the electoral officers report late at their duty posts, the challenge may be compounded.
The late arrival of polling officers and electoral materials is worrisome. In 2011, many voters returned home without casting their ballot because their names were not found in the voter register. INEC tried to tackle this problem in 2015.
Unscrupulous electoral officers may also give INEC a bad name. In Anambra, Jega was enraged by the unruly behaviour of some polling officers. He had no alternative than to hand them over to the police for interrogation. Also, after the 2015 polls, Yakubu surrendered erring officials for prosecution. Some of them were convicted.
There is the need for the electoral body to study and understand the geography of the electoral constituencies. In Taraba, there are voting areas that cannot be reached on time because of the topology. Transportation is challenging. The coastal communities of Ilaje in Ondo State, Ojo and Eti-Osa in Lagos, and Niger Delta creeks require specific preparations. Helicopters and speed boats may be needed to convey polling officers and materials to designated units. In Edo State, a drunkard was once hired as a boat driver and there was a fatal accident.
Since elections will hold in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, and Persons With Disabilities will participate, the special nature of election in these areas should be considered. If elections will hold in flashpoints like the Northeast where the Boko Haram insurgents are on rampage, there will be need for special security arrangement
Elections have become a burden in Nigeria, owing to the combative nature of gladiators who see elections as do-or-die contests. Thuggery and violence are on the increase. How to police the votes is very important. Sometimes, elections are discredited, although the fault cannot be attributed to INEC. The activities of desperate politicians and the misuse of the police may make the contest a sort of war. Already, the atmosphere was tensed. Jega had a policing strategy. The INEC boss said that security agents must be in their uniform to avoid the use of thugs who pose as policemen in mufti to intimidate opponents. This policy was sustained in 2015. The method will be good for the rescheduled polls.
The greatest challenge is the prevention of rigging by INEC during elections. Thugs and cultists, who are armed with sophisticated weapons beyond the reach of the police, may unleash terror to create panic, molest and scare away voters. They may want to invade polling booths and snatch ballot boxes. Enough policemen should be deployed by the new Inspector-General of Police Adamu Mohammad.
INEC and security agents should not only be on guard, but on the red alert to avoid the floodgate of litigations that trailed the past electoral foul play.
INEC must guard against the penchant for doctoring election results by politicians, unpatriotic security agents and electoral officials. A credible election is a panacea for violence. In earlier dispensations, rigging provoked popular revolt.
Poitical parties may want to take INEC up on its directive that there should be no furher campaign for presidential election between now and Thursday.
Yakubu has assured Nigerians that all will be well during the rescheduled exercise. He has apologised to the country. He maintained that “the essence of the slight postponement was to enable all the states to have full complement of all the required logistics and back up.”
Will INEC live up to expectation on Saturday?