- Stakeholders have to play by the rules for credible elections
Nigerians in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states would go to the polls tomorrow to elect their governor, other things being equal. This is about the first time that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be conducting three off-cycle governorship elections simultaneously across different geo-political zones.
Governorship elections are supposed to be conducted not earlier than 150 days or later than 30 days before the expiration of respective term of office, going by Section 178(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). Two of the incumbent governors – Douye Diri of Bayelsa and Hope Uzodimma of Imo State – are seeking reelection while Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is to hand over to a successor, after completing the two possible tenures of four years each, as enshrined in the constitution. The elections would hold in 10,510 polling units spread across 649 electoral wards in 56 local governments.
About 5.1million permanent voters cards (PVCs) had been collected in the three states out of 5.4million voters registered, with over 239,746 PVCs uncollected. According to the electoral commission, out of 1,056,862 registered voters in Bayelsa State, 1,017,613 collected their PVCs, leaving 39,249 cards uncollected; in Imo, there are 2,419,922 registered voters out of which 2,318,919 collected their PVCs, with 101,003 uncollected; and in Kogi, there are 1,932,654 voters on roll out of which 1,833,160 collected their PVCs, leaving 99,494 PVCs uncollected.
Coming barely eight months after the general election, these off-cycle elections are crucial. Crucial because the general elections were not without their own peculiar challenges, with the presidential election outcome ratified by the Supreme Court only on October 26, eight months after the elections were conducted. Tomorrow’s elections are most crucial because of the political volatility of the states, with Kogi being the hottest, followed by Imo, and lastly, Bayelsa.
Against this background, it is an understatement to say that these off-cycle elections are a litmus test for INEC. The commission said it has delivered all non-sensitive election materials to the states and had trained various categories of ad-hoc staff that would participate in the exercise. The commission added that its facilities were all set for the polls.
But, no matter the assurance from the commission, many Nigerians remain worried about the state of violence in the country, especially in the three states. We are equally worried.
Without doubt, there are security concerns in virtually all parts of Nigeria, but we are worried more about the states where the off-cycle elections are holding tomorrow.
Imo State has recorded several cases of political violence in recent times. Indeed, it got to a head only last month when Labour Party’s (LP) governorship candidate in the state, Senator Athan Achonu, addressed a press conference where he accused the state government of being responsible for the killing of some politicians in the state. He implored President Bola Tinubu to wade into the matter. The state government, on the other hand, dismissed the allegation of state-sponsored violence and said that it was Achonu who had a case to answer for the violence.
The situation is hardly different in Bayelsa where politically related violence seems to be the lowest among the three states, with each party passing the buck.
But we are particularly worried about Kogi where violence seemed to have assumed a frightening proportion. The state has experienced repeated challenges in its off-cycle polls, including violence, and the use of political thugs to unleash mayhem. During the latest political campaign, violence had been recorded most in the eastern part of the state. Places like Dekina Local Government Area, Ejule, Kotonkarfe; Igalamela/Odolu Local Government Area, Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency, and Yagba East are regarded as flashpoints of political violence that should be carefully watched during the polls. There are other areas that have been identified as den of cultists, who later metamorphose into political thugs. Indeed, the interference of thugs in places like Anyigba and Dekina during the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections led to the threat of cancellation of the polls in those places by INEC.
The question now is: what actually went wrong, because Kogi used to be a safe haven in terms of security, even during the present governor’s tenure? This is a poser that no one can satisfactorily answer. Yet, it has to be answered so that the challenge could be well situated and frontally tackled. While the state government and the police persistently lay the blame of the political violence at the door of the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate, Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, the SDP has in turn accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the state government of being behind the violence. This is troubling in a state that the present government once ran armed robbers out of town and maintained security and peaceful coexistence.
But the state police command has always accused Ajaka of undermining security efforts with his failure to honour invitations and refusal to inform security agencies of his activities.
Elections should be about serving the people. If this is true, then, it should not be a do-or-die affair. Without doubt, there would always be controversy concerning the performance of incumbents at any level. No matter the efforts of the incumbent, the party waiting to take over will always find something to criticise in its programmes and policies or projects in order to prove that it can do better. So, while some analysts have said that the incumbent Kogi State Governor Bello has achieved a lot in education, infrastructure, health and particularly security, those intending to succeed him see things differently.
This is normal. That is why political candidates sell their programmes to the electorate whose final decision would now depend on their perception of the party and candidates.
This should be true of all elections; not just the one coming up in Kogi State tomorrow.
INEC has said it is prepared to conduct the polls. The security agencies too say they are ready. As a matter of fact, the police have deployed about 90,000 officers and men, as well as 220 new patrol vehicles for the elections; it would seem they are actually ready for the polls even though we feel sad that this huge number of security personnel is required to conduct off-cycle elections in only three states of the federation. Elections are normal routine in several other countries.
However, much as we appreciate the deployment of the men and vehicles and other equipment they may require, we must hasten to add that free and fair elections would not be guaranteed by the number of personnel and/or equipment but by the security officers playing according to the rules. We therefore urge the security personnel to be fair in their treatment of all the stakeholders, irrespective of party affiliation.
Again, while we acknowledge that INEC’s warning not to count votes in polling units where violence is recorded in the election was in good faith; we must point out the possibility of the loser at the polling unit masterminding the violence just to discredit the victory of the winner. So, we would urge a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the violence before INEC takes decisive action against the perpetrators.
We wish the best candidates victory in the three states.
