INEC’s integrity rating further drops on back of Edo election

… Nigerians call for urgent reform of electoral body

For many Nigerians, the manner the September 21 governorship election in Edo State was conducted has further lowered the rating of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). They have also called for the urgent holistic reform of the electoral body if the country was serious about having free, fair and credible polls.

Many allege that the electoral umpire has shown itself to be neither credible nor independent in the manner the Edo governorship election was handled.

Observers say the condemnation which trailed the conduct of the Edo poll across has further soiled the integrity of the commission ahead of the Ondo State November governorship election.

After months of intense politicking in Edo State, the INEC had declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the keenly elected governorship election in the South-South state.

Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who got 247,274 votes and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), who came a distant third in the race with 22,763 votes.

“That Okpebholo Monday of APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” INEC’s Returning Officer for the poll, Faruk Kuta, had said at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital.

However, the election ended in controversial circumstances as the PDP candidate rejected the results of the poll outright, declaring that he won the election and that the results were manipulated to favour the APC candidate.

Since the gubernatorial election in Edo State INEC has been on the lips of many people. Some observer groups have accused the umpire of doing the bidding of some politicians. This they say was obvious, particularly during the collation process.

Read also: Edo poll: INEC complicit in results manipulation – Asue Ighodalo

Some of the opposition parties that lost are blaming their misfortune on INEC; they are even accusing the Commission of compromise.

“The election was a charade; if we are not ready to conduct an election in Nigeria, we should forget it and let some people do the selection. Many people could not even come out due to militarisation of everywhere.

“It was clear that INEC was under the control of some people who were just there to do their bidding. It is sad to see, our electoral body has been hijacked and the people’s votes don’t count,” Osagie Osunwa, an observer, said.

Many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) which monitored the Edo State governorship election, declared that the results from several polling units were altered at collation centres.

The civil society coalition, the Situation Room, said the conduct of the election lacked credibility.

Similarly, Yiaga Africa, which said it deployed the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology for the Edo election, involving 300 stationary and 25 roving observers, covering a representative sample of polling units (PUs) across all 18 local government areas of the state, faulted the conduct of the poll and the declared results as lacking integrity.

The election group said the disruption voting and election materials seen in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor and Oredo LGAs, including intimidation of INEC officials, and party agents and the collation of results contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, severely undermined the credibility of the election results.

The APC has dismissed claims of regularities in the election, saying its candidate won fair, square, and purely on the support of the people.

But the PDP’s candidate, Ighodalo, said the election could be remembered as the worst election in Nigeria’s history due to numerous alleged irregularities. He detailed several instances of electoral infractions across multiple polling units, questioning the credibility of the results.

“What we’re asking from INEC is to follow their rules, REC has no business to announce results or move collation to INEC headquarters,” Ighodalo had said.

For many Nigerians, the conduct of the Edo election was a reminder of the 2023 general election, where the hope of the people that results would be transmitted electronically from the polling units by INEC in line with the promises of the commission, was dashed.

There is general frustration with the constant failure of INEC to meet expectations of the people despite huge budgetary allocation. Observers say it is sad that INEC hasn’t “repented from its evil ways.”

Campaign for reform of INEC has intensified in recent times. Some stakeholders however, say that part of the problem is that those who are caught to have committed electoral fraud are not punished.

“I think INEC is ready to conduct elections, corruption has gotten everywhere; it has eaten very deeply into INEC and we must constantly check those who make decisions.

“When some people are ready to do the good work, you would surely find some bad eggs. INEC must develop a way it can check the bad eggs in its fold.

“There must be a mechanism to check their field offers and commissioners,” Ladipo Johnson, lawyer and publicity secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), said.

Read also: PDP governors mount pressure on INEC to announce result, suspect foul play

Call for holistic reforms in INEC

Many experts and observers have proffered solutions on how to ensure future elections are credible and the votes of Nigerians count.

Although some stakeholders have called for the unbundling of INEC into three or two agencies to carry out different roles of election, other experts have also called for a constitutional amendment making it mandatory for electronic voting and electronic transmission, and a law barring the President from appointing INEC chairman, others suggested readopting the Option A4 system to avert the manipulative tendencies of INEC officials.

Femi Aborisade, human rights activist, on his part suggested that future elections may be protected against manipulation by electoral officials only if those suspected to have manipulated the results are made to suffer the consequences for their action.

“It is impunity that is responsible for electoral officials manipulating results. The critical challenge is whether the system will permit the culprits to be brought to justice,” he said.

Kunle Okunade, political scientist said the Commission needed to be rejigged and the process of selecting its national commissioners and other management team across board needed to be changed.

“It is obvious INEC cannot function to expectations the way it is constituted, because of interest; you saw what happened in Edo; Nyesom Wike’s cousin was the head of INEC there and he wanted to satisfy his cousin. There is a need for total overhaul of INEC and we have said that before. The President should not appoint INEC chairman and commissioners, because they would tend to do his bidding,” he said.

Amaebi Clarkson, a legal practitioner and former spokesperson of the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), said that asking the losers of the Edo election to go to court in the face of such brazen manipulation of election results speaks volumes.

He said the country may need to return to option A4 system to check electoral fraud.

“It is frustrating that despite the huge resources allocated to INEC and the reforms on paper, it cannot conduct an acceptable election. We may need to look inward and readopt Option A4 system if it can give us any reprieve,” Clarkson said.