The usual calls for electoral reforms since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in the last 20 years have reverberated more than ever after the conduct of the November 16 governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States as well as the Kogi West Senatorial re-run and Brass 1 State Constituency supplementary polls.
This is just as barrage of criticisms continue to trail the Bayelsa and Kogi elections in which everyone expected the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to utilise the experience gathered and the suggestions by various local and international observers on the February/March general election to conduct better polls, at least in two states.
However, like the general election, there were serious logistic problems such as late arrival of election materials and personnel, widespread violence in both states leading to killings and maiming of voters and political actors, like the cousin to one of the contestants, Dino Melaye and a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) women leader in Kogi, Salome Abuh.
Electoral frauds such as vote buying, ballot stuffing, ballot box snatching, discrepancies in results entries, over voting, alleged intentional cancellation of votes resulted in the declaration of the Kogi West re-run election inconclusive.
Almost more than any election in Nigeria, the Bayelsa/Kogi elections received a lot of bashing from critical stakeholders who expressed disappointment in the electoral body, security agencies, state actors and even the electorate.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan was one the early stakeholders to express disappointment with the process after he arrived his polling unit as early as 8:00am (voting time) and found no official, security agent or even party agent on ground. He had to go back and returned later to vote at about 11:00 am
While many local and international observers may be still compiling their reports, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in its report criticised the conduct of elections in Kogi and Bayelsa and warned against the consequences of allowing such to persist in the nation’s electoral system as it was an assault on the 20-year-old democratic order in the country.
Idayat Hassan, CDD Director at the presentation of the report in Abuja condemned the violence and disruptions that characterised the polls which made many voters to be disenfranchised as a result of threats to their life.
She said at the CDD Election Analysis Centre (EAC) in Kogi and Bayelsa from where they received field data and updates on the conduct of the polls, the sheer magnitude of the violent assault on the sanctity of the ballot was shocking beyond description and the outcome of a process that was so criminally subverted should not be allowed to stand.
According to report, the elections claimed the lives of not less than 10 citizens whom she noted “died as a result of various shooting incidents and attacks across the state (s).”
“In clear terms, these incidents combined to damage the credibility of the polls. The incidents ranged from hijack of electoral materials by thugs, kidnap of INEC ad-hoc staff, vote-buying, attacks on observers, intimidation of voters and under-aged voting.
“Other reported incidents, which call to question the credibility of these polls, include widespread stuffing of ballot boxes, ballot snatching and multiple voting.
“Vote trading which was also widespread across the state constituted 28.38 percent of total reported malfeasance while under-aged/multiple voting constituted 5.41 percent of total incidents reported.
“The intensity of the observed incidents was high in LGAs like Lokoja, Kabba-Bunu, Ijumu, Okene, Ajaokuta; Dekina and Olamaboro.
“In terms of senatorial districts, Kogi West topped the chart of incidents with 55 percent. Kogi East and Kogi Central accounted for 27.0 percent and 18 percent of the total reported incidents, respectively.
“This suggests that the incidents particularly, violence, was widespread but more pronounced in certain locations particularly areas with high number of registered voters,” the report read.
Similarly, the National Assembly, particularly the Minority and PDP Caucuses in the House of Representatives have not only criticised the elections but called for its outright cancellation due to prevalence of violence, malpractices and irregularities that characterised the poll.
The Minority caucus in the House of Representatives for instance, rejected the outcomes of the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States, describing it as a ‘broad day light robbery’.
The Minority caucus led by the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) lamented that the exercise was marred by violence and intimidation against their candidates and supporters
The caucus said it supported the decision of the party’s National leadership to contest the results at the tribunal and strongly condemned the violence that trailed the polls, especially the alleged burning alive of the PDP women leader in Kogi State.
He said: “We are here to register that we are displeased. We are totally against what happened in the Saturday election. Take for instance, if you look at the videos that have gone viral, if PDP Women leader in Kogi State is burnt alive, and Senator Dino Melaye in his unit, his nephew was killed, in Bayelsa, the same thing, ballot box snatching and all what not; so, we came here to register that we are not in support of the outcome of the election”.
These condemnations have also come with calls for electoral reforms, especially the review of the electoral act, reintroduction of the electoral act amendment bill passed by the 8th National Assembly but declined assent to by President Muhammadu Buhari, hence the bill makes provision for electronic voting, among other improvements in the electoral process.
Kingsley Chinda, PDP Caucus Leader in the House of Representatives, while reacting on the outcome of the Bayelsa and Kogi elections urged the President to forward an executive bill to the National Assembly, on electoral reforms, which must include the compulsory use of card readers in all polling units as a way of addressing electoral offence.
Meanwhile, bill to amend the Electoral Act 2010 which has among others mandated INEC to adopt electronic voting method for future polls and operate an electronic database into which all results in an election should be transmitted has resurfaced in the Senate.
According to the proposed amendment, the data of accredited voters must be transmitted to the central data base upon the conclusion of the accreditation of voters which would be done through the use of the card reader.
“At the end of accreditation of voters, the presiding officer shall transmit the voter accreditation data by secure mobile electronic communication to the central database of the commission kept at the national headquarters of the commission.
“Any presiding officer who contravenes this provision shall be liable, on conviction, to a minimum of imprisonment of at least five years without an option of fine”, it read in parts.
Sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege and Abubakar Kyari (APC, Borno State) the bill seeks amendment of section 65 of the Electoral Act 2010 by introducing a “National Electronic Register of Election Results.”
It states: “The commission shall compile, maintain and update on a continuous basis, a register of election results to be known as the National Electronic Register of Election Results which shall be a database of election results from each polling unit, including collated results of each election conducted by the commission.”
The Bill also seeks amendment of section 52 (2) of the 2010 Electoral Act and introduced a new provision, stating that “the commission may adopt electronic voting or any other method of voting in any election it conducts as it may deem fit”.
James Kwen, Abuja
