• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Eyes on INEC, security agencies as Nigerians go to the poll

INEC calls for stakeholders’ collaboration to institute transparency in election result management

The role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and that of the security agencies in the 2019 general election starting from tomorrow is very critical.

The success or otherwise of the exercise will, to a large extent, be determined by the actions or inactions of the two institutions.

If there is any fear that is being nursed by Nigerians about the elections, it has to do with what the INEC and the security agencies will do or not do in the course of the elections.

Many people have already expressed pessimism that the elections may appear transparent on the surface but the outcome may not reflect the wishes of voters. The singsong in the polity is that despite the assurances by the Commission that the elections would be free, fair and credible, there are still doubts.

Notable individuals and groups, within and outside the country, have tasked INEC on transparent elections. Recently, Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former head of state, who also is championing the peace pact among the presidential candidates, urged the Commission to be transparent.

Those who nurse doubts over the possibility of a transparent conduct and supervision by the Commission and the security agencies easily point to the off-season gubernatorial election in Osun State last September, which they alleged was neither transparent nor credible.

The claim by the INEC that the gubernatorial election was inconclusive, necessitating a run-off was at variance with the general belief and reports by those who monitored the voting. The popular belief was that the Osun election was won and lost on the first round of the exercise and did not need a run-off.

Although the veracity of the allegations is yet to be established, it is however, on this premise that those who may have doubted the impartiality of the electoral umpire based their suspicion.

Nigerians have urged the Commission’s officials to allow their consciences guide them in the conduct of the elections beginning tomorrow without pandering to any political party or politician.

Analysts have said that the 2019 general election may witness the employment of numerous “zeros” in a bid to run away with victory. According to them, the “power of zero” is a rigging method; a manipulation of total votes cast by simply adding a zero or a multiple of it, depending on the situation that arises, to knock off a powerful contender, who probably may be coasting home to victory.

It is also said that those who determine the ultimate winner are not the voters but those that count the votes. A former Chief of Staff to President Nixon (former president of America) said that what matters in America is not vote, but those who count it.

In the same view, Joseph Stalin, a former secretary-general of the Communist Party of Soviet Russia, was quoted as saying: “It isn’t the people who vote that count. It is the people that count the votes.”

Pundits have therefore, urged the INEC to resist the temptation of employing this strategy in favour of anybody.

Chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, has at various fora, reassured Nigerians of the determination of the institution to conduct credible elections.

Festus Okoye, national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education for the Commission, at a recent interactive session with journalists in Lagos, re-echoed the pledge, saying: “We are not pandering to anybody; we are doing our work to the best of our knowledge and in the interest of our people and our country, Nigeria. The only thing we are interested in doing is to conduct free, fair and transparent elections. We will insist that political parties that are registered in Nigeria obey the constitution and also the law. If you fall outside the radar, we will apply the law the way we understand it.”

Okoye promised that the Commission would do its work “the way we understand it.” Interestingly, he did not forget that after work is done, judgment would follow: from Nigerians and from history.

Continuing, Okoye said: “I want to assure you that the INEC is committed to this election. I also want to assure you that the members of the Commission have the courage and the presence of mind to do what is right.’’

He declared that INEC’s commitment “is to conduct an election that the Nigerian people will be proud of. I believe that with the support of the media, and with the support and collaboration of the security agencies and the Nigerian people, we can achieve this particular feat. The election is already here; the time for grammar is over. This is the time for action, and we are already doing that action.”

On the part of the security agents also, many Nigerians have expressed lack of confidence, saying that their body language does not hold any hope of impartiality.

Observers point to several cases of partiality exhibited by security agents in recent times, which they believe could be carried into the elections in favour of some candidates and parties against others. The fear of intimidation and compromise of the security agents was responsible for the hullabaloo that greeted the recent reposting of senior Police officers.

So, as Nigerians go to the polls tomorrow and on March 2nd, this point is clear: nothing else would matter more than a transparent exercise.