A lot has been said and written on the off-season Edo gubernatorial election slated for tomorrow, Saturday, September 19, 2020.
Apprehension is high and various stakeholder-institutions, as well as individuals have continued to express concern over the possibility of a violence-free exercise.
In the estimation of many Nigerians, the country has not really had elections, in the true sense of the word, in the past few years. Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) labours so much to deliver credible election, the outcomes have continued to fall short of expectation.
The apprehension stemmed from past experiences, where despite ample time for preparation and assurances by the Commission to deliver, results were not salutary enough.
In the last few years, the decision of who governs or leads the people has moved from voters to judges, which has made nonsense of Nigeria’s democracy. Increasingly, it appears that the result of an election in the country is not based on the ballot but on some other extraneous factors.
With a lot of interest being shown in the forth-coming election in Edo State, pundits say INEC has a serious burden to prove its independence this time around.
Moreover, with much talk about an allegation that a “federal might” would determine the outcome, the police must ensure that people’s votes are protected this time around. The security apparatchiks must ensure that Edo is not turned into a war zone on Saturday.
Worried by the intensity of verbal missiles being fired by politicians, their parties and supporters, Oba Ewuare ll, the highly respected Benin monarch, had recently convened a meeting of political actors, urging them to prevail on their foot soldiers and supporters to stop heating up the polity.
“Please let the shooting stop. There is a way you can communicate through your foot soldiers and they will listen to you,” the monarch said.
He also reminded them that the election was not a do-or-die affair.
At an expanded stakeholders’ meeting in Benin City last Monday, the main agenda of which was to stress the need for peaceful conduct of the poll and delivery of believable and credible result, Mahmood Yakubu, chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), warned that electoral violators would face the consequences of their actions, if caught during the election.
Mahmood listed infractions that could attract severe punishment, to include vote-buying, ballot box snatching and stuffing, multiple voting, hijacking and diversion of election materials.
“Edo people must be allowed to freely vote for their preferred candidate without inducement or harassment. We have been assured by the security agencies that thugs and their sponsors will not have the freedom to move around freely to disrupt the election or collation of results,” he said.
At the meeting also was Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of Police, who read the riot act for prospective trouble makers.
Adamu said that about 31,000 police personnel have been deployed to Edo for the protection of personnel and assets of INEC, the electorate and residents of the state before, during and after the elections.
He added that election security threats assessment have been undertaken and all the flashpoints and actors engaged in, or planning to threaten the electoral process have been identified and plans have been perfected to deal with the situation.
“This massive deployment is not only to deter misguided political actors that might be bent on threatening the elections through acts of thuggery or other conducts that violate the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“But to also serve as a strong warning that the government is determined to bring such characters to justice should they advance their ignoble, undemocratic and unpatriotic intents,” he added.
The other day, Abdulsalam Abubakar, a former head of state, was in Benin City to canvass for peaceful election. The National Peace Committee (NPC), which he presides over, got the parties and their candidates to sign a peace pact.
Addressing contestants, Abubakar had urged all stakeholders to commit to the spirit of the accord.
Last Monday, September 14, 2020, the US Department of State, in a statement signed by Morgan Ortagus, Department spokesperson, titled, ‘Imposing Visa Restrictions on Nigerians Responsible for Undermining the Democratic Process,’ promised to come hard on perpetrators of electoral malfeasance.
“As the Edo and Ondo State off-cycle elections near, we urge all stakeholders, including the Independent National Electoral Commission, the political parties, and the security services, to uphold the tenets of democracy and facilitate genuinely free and fair elections, conducted in an appropriately transparent and non-violent manner,” the US Government said.
According to the statement, the government said it would consider consequences – including visa restrictions – for individuals responsible for undermining the Nigerian democratic process or for organising election-related violence.
“In July 2019, we announced the imposition of visa restrictions on Nigerians who undermined the February and March 2019 elections. Today, the Secretary of State is imposing additional visa restrictions on individuals for their actions surrounding the November 2019 Kogi and Bayelsa State elections and in the run up to the September and October 2020 Edo and Ondo State elections. These individuals have so far operated with impunity at the expense of the Nigerian people and have undermined democratic principles,” the release further said.
But as reassuring as the tough talks, observers would recall that such warnings in the past neither deterred election riggers and trouble makers, nor were those caught in that web made a public show to act as deterrent. Voters who suffered one form of loss or the other due to the violent activities of thugs were abandoned to suffer in silence as the perpetrators were not even arrested let alone dragged to court.
INEC and the police have always held crucial meetings with stakeholders ahead of elections; in fact, political parties and their candidates have always been made to sign some undertaking, pledging to be of good behaviour, but the more these things happen, the more violence is dispensed, and election results declared by the Commission have become the more highly controversial.
Despite series of stakeholder meetings held in Osun, Kogi and some other places ahead of elections, they appeared not to have produced the expected outcome.
Ahead of the general election in February and March 2020, there were lots of promises and assurances by the INEC and security agents in relation to peaceful polls, yet, various election monitoring groups pooh-poohed the entire exercise.
For instance, Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, was quoted as saying that “Instead of guaranteeing citizens’ basic right to vote freely, Nigerian government and electoral officials actively colluded in the fraud and violence that marred the presidential polls in some areas. In other areas, officials closed their eyes to human rights abuses committed by supporters of the ruling party and others.”
While many Nigerians have commended the US Government for the fresh possible visa restrictions against would-be-perpetrators of electoral fraud, many others also believe that US should go beyond mere barking and do the real biting.
They pointed to the threat of visa restrictions issued ahead of the 2019 general election and the one issued before the Kogi and Bayelsa elections, and they wondered how many people were so sanctioned despite the inglorious activities of a number of politicians in those elections.
Although a few names have been mentioned as those affected in that visa restriction, the consensus opinion is that many more people should be on that list.
Now, ahead of the Edo election, INEC and the Police have assured Nigerians that they are fully prepared in terms of logistics and security arrangement, it is important that these critical institutions walk the talk by really living up to the expectation.
“If you look at what is already playing out in Edo and Ondo states, the elections in the two states will be fierce. In Edo particularly, with what we have seen, it is going to be a battle ground. Some aggrieved politicians would want to show their power and flex their muscles.
INEC must be transparent and seen to be so. It must display that independent character. For me, I have since lost confidence in the INEC; I am expecting them to prove me wrong,” Tom Onos, a Lagos-based political analyst, said.
Today, the confidence level of many Nigerians in INEC appears to be waning. The talk in town at the moment is that the Edo election may not be free and fair. The mistrust appears so high that many have given up already.
The Commission and the Police must not allow a few bad men in their midst to buccaneer the great efforts being made to prove the world wrong in Edo, tomorrow.
