How politicians, other stakeholders can reduce INEC burden —Oyekanmi

WHAT are some of the major challenges that confront INEC during elections?

I must say that we have a lot of things to thank God for because this country is very large. We have issues of logistics; we have issues of security; we have issues about timely delivery of materials to the polling unit level. If we can have more cooperation, for instance, with the transport owners, that would be good. This is because what we discovered, for instance, in Bayelsa State was that when you signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them and then they don’t turn up on the day of the election or they come late and then you have to make alternative arrangement. So, that is one challenge.

On the issue of security, we saw in Kogi and Bayelsa where some thugs invaded polling units. That is another challenge for us because we were there to conduct elections, we didn’t expect that people will interfere with our processes. I think if all stakeholders play their roles, to a very large extent, we will conduct election, make a conclusion of the election, make a return and announce the result.

While making some remarks, you said politicians were part of the problems the commission. How do they constitute a major challenge facing the INEC?

You know that the INEC doesn’t want to join issues with politicians but our own appeal to them is that they should play by the rules. Unfortunately, some of them don’t play by the rules and this affects the way we operate. That is a minus for the process. You know that if they undertake to comply substantially with the rules and regulations, then we won’t have issues.

But you have been having stakeholders’ meetings with them before every election and you did prior to last exercise….

That’s the truth, we had a stakeholders’ meeting with them and they assured us that they would comply with the rules but sometimes, we get to the field and they do something different. So, we will continue to appeal to their conscience to do the right thing.

Don’t you think that their refusal to do the right thing casts slur on the electoral process in the country?

Well, we have to make a distinction that not all political actors are bad; not all of them disobey the rules. But for the few that disobey the rules, we will continue to appeal to them to change their ways because it is bad for the system. And it is part of why we do have a low voter turnout because when people go out to vote and experience what happened in Kogi State, they would never go out again. It gives a bad impression that about how elections are conducted in Nigeria. So, that’s why the politicians need to change.

Instead of the INEC complaining about politicians and political violence, is there nothing the commission can do in punishing the offenders?

That is why now we are asking that the National Assembly establish the Election Malpractices Commission Tribunal that can try electoral offenders. The bill has reached an advanced stage now and I am sure within a short time, the National Assembly will come up with it. I think it’s Senator Abba Kyari and some other senators are the ones leading the effort that would take care of all those that engage in the offence. You know it should not just be, for instance, only about the small boys you see snatching ballot papers, but also the ones that send them. The law should be able to also bring them to book. This is because the argument has always been that people have not been punished over time, that’s why they have the audacity to go back. But, if you have the tribunal in place that tries offenders and they are apprehended, prosecuted and punished, I think that would stop the menace.

While we await the passage of the bill that deals with political violence, will you suggest that these thugs, who are known to our security men, should be moved off the streets whenever elections approach so that they will not interfere with the exercise?

No, the police know what to do; the police are to maintain law and order when they are deployed. So, if you step out of line, they arrest you. They know exactly what to do. What do the thugs do? They go to polling units, shoot guns, bring out cutlasses and snatch ballot papers. That’s not a good thing to do; such conducts are against the law.

But the police appear to be helpless arresting the situation?

The police are doing the arrest, but probably they are not doing enough in terms of manpower.

Do you see a connivance between the police and political thugs engaging in such act?

I don’t ever imagine that the security agents can connive to disrupt our elections, I don’t think so. Let’s give it to them. Look, we conducted about 195 different types of elections; we run end of tenure elections between 2015 and 2019 and in each election, we involved the police and other security agencies. Without them, we can’t do these elections. It’s just that out of 195 elections, maybe you have five or six being disrupted, so we should not use such yardstick to judge the overall good behaviour of the police. Therefore, there is a tendency to generalise when things happen in isolation but it does not remove the fact that the police have done a lot to help the electoral process. But where they fail, we should criticise them and not condemn them, so that they can improve, and that’s what I would say.