Citizens worried over Nigeria’s electoral system capture by politicians

…Say, democracy in peril

Many Nigerian citizens have expressed worries over the seeming capture of the nation’s electoral system by the political class and their cronies. They have also said that the country was in serious danger if the conduct of recent elections was anything to go by.

They described flawed polls seen in recent off-cycle governorship elections as threat to democracy in Nigeria and a sign that the country still has a long way to go in ensuring credible, free and fair polls.

For them, the flawed elections have robbed the country of purposeful leadership over the years and undermined development in the country, setting it back among its peers.

Despite the enthusiasm of Nigerians to take part in the electoral process, just like the 2023 general election, their hopes have been consistently dashed by fraudulent off-cycle polls the outcome of which appears to be predetermined.

In the last one year, the country has conducted off-cycle gubernatorial elections in Imo, Bayelsa, Kogi, Edo and the latest in Ondo State on November 16. Except for Bayelsa State which was won by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the other four states were won by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, the conduct of these elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been heavily criticised, not just by the opposition, but also major stakeholders and observer groups in the country.

Although winners have emerged in these states, a common feature of these elections was voter suppression, occasioned by the desperation of political actors to win at all cost.

Reports of electoral violations were common with incidents of violence, ballot-snatching, abduction of election officials, and vote-buying characterising the elections.

Even many voters prefer to stay away for either fear of violence or because they felt their votes would not count. In these states, almost everything went wrong despite the massive deployment of security forces on election day.

“Some of us thought we have seen it all in the 2023 general election, but recent off-cycle gubernatorial polls have not been different, the audacity to manipulate people’s will appears to be even more bold.

“It is a dangerous signal for democracy here, but the signs have been there for long only. It shows our electoral process needs total overhauling and I don’t see this government ready for that,” Lukman Olabode, a development expert said.

In the Edo gubernatorial election for example, election results for each local government were announced at the INEC headquarters in the state, instead of the collation centres despite protestations by voters and candidates, which was a violation of the commission’s guideline.

The hijack of the ballot boxes away from the collation centres gave election officials an opportunity to allegedly tamper with results in favour of their preferred candidate.

Civil society organisations (CSOs), which monitored the election, faulted the outcome, declaring that the results from several polling units were altered at collation centres.

“These inconsistencies with Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate that the Edo election results were altered at the level of collation. The disparities between the official results released by INEC and Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate manipulation of results during the collation process.

“Yiaga Africa condemns the actions of some biased INEC officials, who altered figures during collation, including the actions of some security officials, who interfered with the collation process,” part of Yiaga Africa’s report about the election stated.