LIKE previous elections, the recent off-cycle governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo states have opened up a fresh debate on the integrity of the country’s electoral process. The polls came at a time when issues arising from the conduct of the 2023 general election were yet to leave the front burner of national discourse. Regardless of the trajectories of similar elections held in the recent past, the assumption in many quarters was that polls would provide a veritable opportunity for the various authorities to unambiguously demonstrate the useful lessons imbibed from the general election and create a forward leap, especially given the level of preparation by the various authorities with significant roles and functions to perform during the polls. There was a supplementary budget for the purpose of the elections, and there was massive deployment of security. Apart from distributing no fewer than 200 vehicles to the state commands, the police top hierarchy mobilised a huge number of personnel, just as the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) also mobilised massive numbers of personnel and logistics for the polls. However, the elections were marred by irregularities.
There were widespread cases of voter intimidation, killings, ballot box snatching and massive vote buying. Suspected vote buyers, including a local government chairman in Kogi, were arrested. There were reported incidents of abduction and holding of election officials hostage in some communities, including Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. One George Sibo was killed at a collation centre in Twon Brass, also in the state. There were reported cases of circumvention of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines by some unscrupulous INEC officials, while pre-filled result sheets were found in some local councils in Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi and Okene Local Government Areas, all in Kogi State. Huge stashes of cash were recovered by anti-graft agencies from suspected vote buyers in separate sting operations. Following the polls, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, ordered electoral offence desk officers under the supervision of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) to commence immediate investigations into the electoral infractions witnessed at the polls.
If reports from many accredited observers for the elections are to be believed, there is nothing to suggest that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and politicians, the core participants in the rituals of elections, are really interested in helping to realise the goal of elections as a credible platform for people to choose those to be vested with the responsibility of administering the country. Many of the observers came out, yet again, with reports of shortcomings in the organisation of the elections in spite of the clear provisions of the Electoral Act.
The whole essence of elections in a democracy is to offer a platform for credible choice-making for citizens. Voters determine those who will be in government. When the processes of elections are habitually, and perhaps deliberately, distorted by those saddled with the responsibility of organising them and those participating in them, they become a travesty. They become an instrument of oppression of the people through bad and unaccountable governance. Nigerians and those who have put on themselves the responsibility of governance must ask themselves whether there is any sense in continuing to commit huge resources to the rituals of elections that lack credibility and do not reflect what the people really want. The dream of fair and credible elections is becoming a mirage in the country, and that is really and truly regrettable and disappointing.
Most of the challenges are avoidable. They include a reign of impunity, indiscipline, disregard for due process and diligence in the conduct of party primaries; loss of confidence in the internal conflict resolution mechanisms of the political parties, and the ignoble perception of election as war by the major players who have turned themselves into lords of the manor. These pitfalls stigmatise elections in the country. Of course, undue influence in the political process creates crises of unimaginable proportions. The crass ignorance of vast sections of the voting population also contributes to the negativism observed during elections. The agencies of government, civil society organisations and the political parties, as well as the iNEC that ought to be at the vanguard of aggressive public enlightenment and education on the rights of the citizens habitually shirk this responsibility. Thus, the seething anger arising from questionable primaries by parties is allowed to snowball into debilitating crises at the elections proper. All these issues are aggravated by the distrust of stakeholders at different layers of the society in INEC, which has admittedly not inspired public confidence.
We recall that virtually all the shenanigans that characterised the November 11 polls equally marred the conduct of the previous off-cycle governorship polls in Ekiti, Ondo, Anambra, Edo and Osun states. Governorship polls are expected in Ondo and Edo states next year. But given the experience of the November 11 polls, there is no indication that there will be a paradigm shift. The failure by the authorities to bring electoral offenders to book after the past elections has emboldened the perpetrators and their sponsors to perpetually hold the country’s electoral process hostage. This will continue to cast a slur on the integrity of its elections. The obvious lack of sincerity of purpose evident in the actions and inactions of those saddled with the conduct of elections, providing security, logistics and others at elections will continue to haunt the country. The slide must be halted.
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