The controversy that has trailed the conduct of the gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States penultimate Saturday, brings to the fore the urgent need to overhaul Nigeria’s electoral system.
The ugly trend, if not urgently checked, portend serious danger for democracy in the country.
Reports from major local and international observers who monitored the elections were in tandem that the exercise in the two states was a complete sham. The level of violence mainly by the supporters of Nigeria’s two leading political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) was an at alarming proportion similar to what was witnessed in the 2019 general election.
YIAGA Africa and the Situation Room had alleged that the election was marred by vote-buying, ballot box-snatching, intimidation of voters, vote-buying and specifically called for outright cancellation of the governorship and senatorial elections in Kogi State.
The widespread ballot snatching and large scale violence witnessed in these elections, perhaps point to the fact that there is a fundamental problem with the nation’s electoral system and re-echoes the increasing agitation for the adoption of electronic mode of voting and transmission of results.
Political leaders and pundits are of the view that the signing of the 2019 Electoral Act by President Muhammadu Buhari, has become important ahead of the 2023 general election and perhaps a first step towards bringing sanity to the nation’s electoral process.
There is also the increasing debate over whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is truly independent and carrying out its task without partiality and interference.It is also being canvassed that the appointment of the head of the commission should not be a privilege of a single individual or the executive arm of government.
“We must come up with new standards for constituting our election management body in a way that people will have confidence. I believe in some quarters what they do is that a body of people constitute the Election Management Body. It is not in the hands of one person.
“When you leave such responsibility in the hands of a politician, no matter how good the person is, there will be the tendency for people to suspect that the right thing is not done. When people don’t have confidence in the system, whatever they do, it is difficult for the people to accept.
“The continental body, African Union, should come up with a minimum standard across Africa for constituting Electoral Management Body,” Goodluck Jonathan, a former Nigeria’s president said.
Jonathan’s fears may have been justified going by the manner the commission conducted the 2019 and the Kogi and Bayelsa polls.
Just before the 2019 polls, stakeholders had raised the concern about the composition of INEC personnel and its ability to remain impartial.
The South and Middle Belt had questioned the appointment of certain individuals and head of strategy departments in the commission.
Till today, several of these individuals still hold offices in INEC, further denting the credibility of the commission and its ability to conduct acceptable elections.
Also, stakeholders are of the view that the violence and other sharp practices noticed in recent elections have only been exacerbated because of impunity in the system and the inability of relevant security agencies and INEC to punish electoral offenders in the country.
There is the urgent need for the National Assembly to pass the Electoral Offences Commission/Tribunal bill into law.The Bills would enable a mechanism for the prosecution and conviction of electoral offenders and enhance the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process.
After the 2019 general election, INEC had said that it lacked the capacity to solely punish electoral offenders, while supporting the establishment of Electoral Offences Commission to punish offenders.
“It is time to take decisive action to break the cycle of impunity through the promulgation of an Electoral Offences Commission/Tribunal to handle matters relating to electoral offences.
“The commission has made it clear that it lacks the capacity and wherewithal to continue the prosecution of electoral offenders.
“And it is for this reason that the commission supports and will continue to support the creation of an Electoral Offences Commission/Tribunal to process, arrest, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders,’’ Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of INEC had said during a review of the 2019 general election.
Similarly, National chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) said the lack of punitive laws and the inability of INEC and security agencies to punish electoral offenders had play a key-role in the increasing violence and ballot-box snatching noticed in recent elections in the country.
“The way forward is for Buhari to sign the electoral Act into law which would give way to electronic transmission of result. It would eliminate tampering of result. Also Election Offences Tribunal bill be pass into law by the National Assembly,” SanniYabagi said.
Yabagi also advocated for the scrapping of off-season election, saying that it was a part of the problem.
“The off-season election should be scrapped, we need to amend the constitution for that; let the governors take the remaining period when they win at the Tribunal or Court rather than bothering the voters again and giving way for all this crisis,” he added.
However, some political leaders believe that the solution to the electoral crisis in Nigeria was not only introduction of electronic voting, but a holistic change of the 1999 Constitution.
“Personally, I think we are just deceiving ourselves. I have said it several times that we are not serious about conducting elections in this country; the Bayelsa and Kogi were not an election?”Ayo Adebanjo, elder statesman and leader of pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, said.
“We have to change the present constitution and remove INEC from the control of the executive,” he said.
Speaking in similar vein, Balarabe Musa, Second Republic governor of Kaduna State, said the country must take punitive measures to check the increasing trend of electoral violence to save the nation’s democracy.
“We have to punish anybody who is seen to be instigating violence and stop them from contesting elections. It is because we are tolerating them that is why all these are happening. If we are serious about free and fair election in Nigeria, this ugly trend must be checked.Look at what happened in Kogi and Bayelsa; it is shame on this country,” Musa said.
Former president Jonathan, during the Bayelsa election, expressed disappointment at the handling of the voting process.
He said: “We must conduct ourselves if we want to bring real people to rule us, either as president or governors.
“I have led election monitoring teams to other African countries, we used to go 30 minutes before the time and in our reports, we indicated the exact time the votes started.
“So, for election to start after that time, it is an indictment to the electoral body that manages election. There is no reason why election should not start by 8:00 a.m.”
“I am really disappointed with what I observed today, compared to other African countries where I had monitored elections,” he said.
In its reaction, the PDP through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan has said that the conduct and outcome of the governorship elections in Bayelsa has destroyed the hope Nigerians had in democratic practice.
Olgbondiyan in a statement said: “Citizens agonised as APC-controlled security forces aided armed hoodlums to invade polling centres, shoot and kill innocent citizens, cart away ballot boxes, stuffed them with already thumb-printed ballot papers in favour of APC, after which results are allocated to the APC and handed over to a compromised INEC to announce against the will of the people.
“It is distressing that under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration, votes no longer count; power and governance no longer derive from the people but from violence, manipulations and the barrel of the gun. Nigerians now ask: are we still in a democracy?” he questioned.
Iniobong Iwok
