Lessons from inconclusive elections

THE essence of democracy is to give citizens equal access and a conducive atmosphere to elect their leaders regardless of who they choose to or what the candidates have to offer, anything less is a great threat to the existence of democracy. The current progressive decline of the quality of elections in Nigeria is worrisome and frightening because the issue is pushing the country’s democracy to its final grave.  The just concluded supplementary elections in Kano, Sokoto, Plateau, Benue, Bauchi have recorded the same thing that led to its cancellation in the March 9, 2019 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). No matter what the outcome of these elections, Nigerians may still lose confidence in the system.

Regardless of one’s political affiliation, there was high level of abuse of human rights in the recent gubernatorial elections in Nigeria.  The desperation exhibited by both the incumbent and the opposition to get the result in their favour by all means is taking us back to square one with desperate politicians deploying every trick in their hats to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the election with a view to swaying voters to their side. In fact, the electoral guideline did not matter at all, going by the level of intimidation of voters especially women, elections observers and journalists witnessed during the elections. The political actors from both sides had a field day destroying the sanctity of the democratic process.

More controversial was the Kano rerun election described by most election observers as nothing but a sham and a charade that turned the tenets of democracy on its head. Several observer groups report showed a lot of irregularities, harassment of voters, INEC officials and abuse of the exercise. All these power tussle and desperation was as a result of the political value of Kano state and the political calculation ahead of 2023 elections. However, these desperate political elites have little or no interest of the masses in their hearts.

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Many public affairs commentators are of the belief that Nigerians deserve elections at once. This will enable the country to cut down on election expenses, and above all discourage voter apathy. They opined that this is doable only if the relevant sections of the electoral law are amended by adopting simple majority system just like in the national assembly elections. Furthermore, INEC should be given the power to disqualify any candidate or political party that causes electoral violence from participating in such elections.

The factors that resulted in inconclusive election such as violence, over voting, underage voting, and cancellation have repeated themselves in the just concluded supplementary polls. Sadly, the factors became worse due to the desperation of politicians who turned elections into a do or die affair. The quest for power among Nigerian politicians is born out of the huge financial benefits attached to the offices. We need to make politics less attractive, if politicians see politics as a call to duty, many would drop their desperation to clinch power against all odds.

• Idris Mohammed, Abuja.