• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

When courts count ballots

elections

By law, disputed elections are meant to be decided by the courts and in the case of governorship elections, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter. But in a democracy where at least a quarter of the governorship elections including the presidential elections were ultimately decided by the Supreme Court signals that our democracy is in danger and this Electoral Commission is derelict in its duties.

To be clear, we commend the political actors for their willingness to allow the courts decide outcomes of disputed elections rather than recourse to self-help, but the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) deserves the severest kind of reprimand for conducting some of Nigeria’s worst elections since 2007.

Since return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria’s elections have always been dodgy characterized by bare-faced rigging, buying of votes and intimidation of opponents. Party politics have also followed the same trajectory and even some opponents have died in strange circumstances before or shortly after winning tickets to run for office on the platform of one of the major political parties.

However, elections conducted by Maurice Iwu in 2007 will continue to live in infamy as the worst elections conducted during the fourth republic. But give Mahmood Yakubu time, at the rate he is going, he may just acquire the singular honour of conducting the worst elections in Nigeria. Sadly, presidents who make appointment of INEC chair, have allowed parochial interests cloud their judgement and appoint persons clearly unfit for office. The concept of honour is alien in our clime, otherwise Yakubu would have long resigned with an apology for the charade he pretends is an election.

Since the 2019 elections, 736 elections petitions have been filed at the Appeal Court. This more than the 611 petitions filed in 2015 and lower than the 1,290 petitions filed in 2007. This data shows that Yakubu has conducted the second worst elections since 1999 and has destroyed what little progress made by his predecessor since 2011. This speaks to the incompetence of the electoral umpire even as it highlights desperation of politicians.

However, politicians do not get into office in Nigeria for the good of the greater majority despite their pretentions to integrity. For many it is an opportunity to loot the public till, pander to special interests and push regional, ethnic and religious agenda. Our amoral politicians, left to their own devices cannot be trusted with peaceful elections, an electoral umpire worth its salt will device creative solutions around daunting obstacles.

Mahmood Yakubu’s INEC failed at this. Despite collecting the biggest funds for any general elections in the country, voting materials arrived in many polling booths so late, elections had to be moved to the next day. Shoddy arrangements were made for adhoc staff with some sleeping in ramshackle houses and on the streets.

To complicate matters, Yakubu’s INEC inflicted on Nigerians nightmarish pain by postponing the elections. Already elections are trying times for Nigerians. On the eve of a general election, Nigerians stock up on food and fuel as their movements are restricted. The government shuts land borders, seaports and airports and patrol roads with soldiers.

People are compelled to shut their businesses adding to economic ruin. The postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 16, 2019 cost the economy over $1.16 billion, using a back of the envelope estimate that divides Nigeria’s $427 billion gross domestic product in 2018 by 365 days in a year and calculating for one wasted day.

Yet this costly, shambolic and failed elections has seen the Supreme Court decide governorship votes in 10 out of the 29 state elections since February 2019. The Justices also called the presidential elections. The Supreme Court nullified or upheld elections in governorship elections in Imo, Sokoto, Oyo, Osun, Bayelsa, Kano, Zamfara, Plateau, Bauchi and Adamawa states

It begs the question, why did Nigeria burn N242 billion on elections that still require Justices of the Supreme Court to finally decide the outcomes? And why did Nigeria go through a harrowing experience to vote in elections that no longer matter?

We call on the INEC to begin rethinking the conduct of elections in Nigeria. It must leave the stone-age and join the rest of the world in employing technology to make elections more transparent and less chaotic. We call on the government to amend the electoral act and make it in tune with current realities. Clogging the courts with election petitions slows the business of the judiciary and denies justice to those who have to wait until the Supreme Courts decide election petitions.