Comrade Mike Igini is the Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner ( REC). In this interview with AUGUSTINE AVWODE in Calabar the state capital, he reflects on the Anambra State governorship election and its lessons.
The preponderance of opinion is that the INEC bungled the Anambra State governorship election. How do you react to this?
Elections are very sensitive issues and there are multiple interests. First, the isolated polling units in the Ndemili North LGA that brought about this challenge was acknowledged and the staff, whose action brought what the chairman had described as ‘’sabotage’, is under interogation for further action. We should isolate this LGA from the other 20 LGAs, where the exercise went very well, baring little delays in commencement. But, more seriously, given what we have achieved previously, we should endeavour to distinguish between election irregularities, such as delays in commencement, from election malpractices, and electoral fraud. The delays were due to failure of the recruited NYSC corpers to turn up on the election day in the Anambra election. There were also reported instances of protest by some security personnel on election day, who insisted that they would not escort materials, if not paid. such actions that were adverse to early commencement are understandably, attributed to the INEC who are the election managers, unfortunately.
The actions and inactions, particularly negative ones, of stakeholders outside our control in some or many instances, should be separated from the malpractices in which election managers or other key stakeholders fall short of professional expectations, and this must also be separated from outright fraud, in which criminal and deliberate breaches of election laws and standards occurred. I must inform that in every election, the Commission strives to surpass previous benchmarks since 2011 and subsequent elections in Edo and Ondo. It has made strenuous efforts through innovations to prevent and minimize irregularities, malpractices and to possibly eliminate fraud.
Did the INEC prepare well for the poll?
I know that, in this election, for the very first time in our electoral history, the commission introduced the process of customising result sheets, that is, Form EC8A, from polling unit to polling units, so that you cannot use a result sheet from one polling unit in any other place, just at it has been using customised ballot papers which also makes it difficult to take the ballot papers meant for one area to another. Also in the Anambra election, for the first time, registered voters could confirm their registration status through GSM phone text messaging by texting Anambra State and a code including the last four digits of your voter registration number to a particular number. Additionally, logistics arrangements were made to improve early commencement, following the effective use of the created super-RACs at Registration Areas/Ward levels, which involved the conveyance of materials from proximal registration area centers to polling units to avoid conveyance issue on election day. But like the literary giant said, just as the hunter has learnt to shoot without missing, you still will find some electoral birds who learn to fly without perching, so we have to keep improving.
Despite these attempts, where obvious failings have occurred, the commission will make efforts to sanction malpractices and prevent them, but where there is electoral fraud, it must be punished by the law. This is why the present INEC leadership is on record to be the first commission leadership in Nigerian history to secure the conviction of election offenders. But we can only do this better, if we institute a specialized Election Offences Commission to deal with this matter as the legal resources of INEC are limited.
When are we going to achieve the goal of quality elections?
That is a challenge for all of us. It is a multi-stakeholders responsibility that involves you and l and all stakeholders, if we are committed. The quality of election is an issue that has occupied much practical and theoretical studies, if you search the internet for the term “ election integrity” you will find a plethora of literature on Election Integrity, specifically concerning Africa, you will find literature from authoritative sources like Bratton as well as Lindberg; all elaborate on the fact that improving the quality of elections is an evolving matter that improves from lessons learned from previous failings and successes, but one thing that we cannot run away from is the fact that the most important indicator for assessing the quality of elections is the qualitative response of voters.
Hence, the central question is; do the voters in most cases accept that the outcome of the election reflects their votes? We must t review other parameters both qualitative and quantitative for judging the standards of election. The parameters for doing so are fairly well known and all such parameters often go towards accessing three broad issues, namely; was there fair participation? Was there fair competition and is the outcome legitimate? So, we must then ask, that regarding the Anambra election, was there fair participation, was there fair competition, and is the outcome legitimate.
From the reports of the two directors I nominated to participate in the election, based on requests from the National Headquarters, who managed two LGAs, as well as the reports of 348 academic dons from the University of Calabar that collated the results brought to them from the polling units, the main issue of concern was with the participation of voters in some areas, in one LGA out of 21, there were really limited or no significant adverse reports in 20 LGAs where the 23 candidates freely participated and competed. In the latter connection, the commission took the lawful steps of putting in abeyance election in the affected areas in that LGA, to be concluded at a date to be appointed and final return made in respect of the election to make it conclusive.
All the Local Government Collation Officers were from UNICAL, Cross River State. Do you have any input in their being posted to Anambra State?
It was the commission’s decision. Our remit was essentially to train and shortlist those who could perform the assignment and, of course, these university dons have done this previously in our elections here in calabar and even, in the same Anambra State last year when a court ordered for a senatorial election that l supervised in that state. From Monday to Thursday, I personally participated in the training process and they all travelled on Friday to Awka. Please note that a collation officer only receives, results from polling units which he certifies having been satisfied that they comply with expected standards. I was also supposed to be in one of the local governments but was indisposed due to a slight ailment.
Would you say they were given adequate training for the job they went to do?
Indeed, they were well trained. In fact, there has been a lot of commendation from high ranking members of the commission and even candidates that contested the election for their diligence and competence. As I indicated, I personally partook in their training, moreover many of them have participated in several elections before in the same capacity in Cross River and Anambra State.
The voters register has come to be the major headache in achieving credible elections in the country.
How can we get a good voter’s register?
Around the world and in countries where identity cards with high fidelity are managed by central systems, a national identity card is often sufficient proof because it carries many other demographic indicators and transactional histories of interface between the individual and the state, such as your age and a history of your address or addresses, tax, mortgage and utility registrations, hence it is difficult to assume such identity overnight. Hence, we hope that the new Identity framework of permanent voters card will reduce the current anxieties, by helping to strengthen the fidelity of the voters register which is a statutory requirement for good elections.
But for now, despite the challenges that you have alluded to, the biometric registration of voters conducted by the INEC has reduced the scale of the problems and our data remain the most comprehensive biometric data base across the 774 LGAs where Nigerians are domiciled. However, the Commission acknowledges and observe the issues raised for improvement because a voter’s register is the foundation of free, fair and credible elections. Additionally, if you peruse the extant Electoral Act, especially Sections 10 (3-6) and Section 11 (2), the fidelity of the voters register is reliant on the electorate and the public when they raise proper and timely objections in the register.
Analysts have already written off the commission, saying that it cannot conduct a credible election in 2015…
Electoral job is fast becoming that of a football coach that previous victories do not really matter except a win in the current match. But should that really be so? We should recall where we are coming from given years of rogue elections before the current efforts of building a new electoral order for a sustainable democracy.
You see, every election has its successes and pitfalls, and unfortunately, in our political ambiance, it is rare to find people wholly accepting election outcome without some complaints. I support genuine protest and, if necessary, litigation of unfair processes for correction in future elections, because that is the only way the system can improve when its reliability is brought under scrutiny. Again, this is not merely a local problem and that is why Prof. Elkit, a renowned authority on election integrity stated that “election integrity is conceived as a state of affairs in which a specific democratic election is “perfect, at least with nothing whatsoever to complain about” and that such a state is aspirational, based on current realities. Thus, Shein and other authorities on the same issue, maintained that the actions of election managers should be to eliminate fraud and minimize to the barest possible minimum, professional failings and logistical challenges where they emerge.
This does not however, excuse irregularities that were avoidable and outright cases of fraud. The complaints of stakeholders may or may not be legitimate, but we must all accept that, despite the problems, we have covered some level of electoral mileage, having regard to 2003 and 2007 elections. We must convince the political elite, that it is in their best interest to institute more reforms, because, when you ask them to do so, many often feel they can benefit from the weaknesses and hence, they pay lip service to requests for reforms, but they often end up as victims. So, to ensure a level playing field they should all empower the voters more by improving the legislative framework so as to deepen democracy.
Which aspect of the Electoral Act should be reviewed and why?
The INEC as a commission has made several presentations to the National Assembly on weaknesses in the legislative framework, the isue of the breach of the Electoral Act bothering on fair access to media by all political parties and candidates. Also, the commission has called for the reinstatement of Section 87(9) that was removed from the Electoral Act and the urgent need to delete the proviso to Section 31 of the extant Electoral Act, which suggests that; whether parties conducted primaries or not in accordance with the law, whatever list of candidates presented by political parties INEC cannot reject for ‘’any reason whatsoever.’’
I am even surprised that these political parties have not presented Chinese and people from Malaysia as candidates since they have been given the fiat to present candidates whatsoever way the deem fit for elections, since INEC has been stripped of administrative power of control to the extent that even when INEC is invited to ‘’observe primary exercise it cannot even say anything if an individual who did not participate in the primary election is presented to it as candidate for election.This provision is an attack on the internal democracy of parties, it whittles if not completely disempowers party members and empowers the leaders and ultimately weakens the control of the quality of candidates presented for elections. And the legal and orderly nomination of candidates for election is the most important functional service that parties provide for society after the articulation of developmental policy. As we speak now pre-election issues from the 2011 primary elections are still in our courts on-going in 2013, many of which might not be decided till 2014, the eve of another general elections.What is wrong with us really? Is our problem that of the lbo saying that “the problem of the smelly he-goat is in the he-goat that the heaviest rainfall cannot wash away”?
