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By Daniel Kanu
The high level electoral offences witnessed in the 2023 general elections and other election years in the past appear to reflect the failure of government and its institutions to ensure free, fair and transparent polls, as well as bring offenders and their evil sponsors to justice.
Pockets of violence, threats, mayhem and deaths recorded at the last elections in the country, either during the presidential/national assembly or the governorship/state assembly polls showed clearly that impunity during elections in the country has continued unabated.
It has equally been commented at different political platforms that the reality about the Nigerian elections, unfortunately is that successive elections conducted in the country have produced questionable results due to compromised processes laced with impunity.
Malpractices comprises, but not limited to: the inclusion of fictitious names in the register of voters, illegal compilation of voters’ lists, underage voting, vote-buying and selling, illegal possession of ballot boxes, multiple voting, and ballot box snatching.
Indeed, the failure of law enforcement agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to bring purveyors of electoral malpractices and violence to justice has continued to generate discussions on how not to conduct election. It has also continued to stoke the fire of impunity.
The ensnarling up of elections and the bitterness that accompanies balloting has resulted in endless litigation that in most cases the courts, not the people, now choose those that govern, an aberration, serious deviation to democratic norm.
Indeed, elder statesman, Pa Ayo Adebanjo said that it was ridiculous that elections are now being determined through the courts rather than by the wish, the vote of the people.
According to Pa Adebanjo, “it is absurd, ludicrous that winners, from the party primaries to the open contests, these days are often determined by the courts, not the votes of the majority. It is a trend that must not be encouraged”
He argued that where leaders emerge through compromised elections, democracy becomes a charade that undermine rather than facilitate the people’s choice.
Elections in Nigeria are, indeed, habitually compromised and a harvest of irregularities at the polls. The danger is that it delegitimizes the electoral system and hinders participatory democracy from taking deeper root in the country.
The perpetrators sadly enough are politicians, as the hired thugs, assassins or corrupt officials and security personnel are not on the ballot; they are hirelings of despicable politicians.
Those who spoke to Sunday Sun were unanimous in their position that until electoral offenders, especially politicians and public officials, are severely punished under the law, impunity at the polls will continue to escalate.
It is interesting, according to Sunday Sun findings, that over the years, arrests and prosecution of electoral offenders have not been commensurate with the scale of the brigandage.
Comrade Joseph Evah, national coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, IMG, told Sunday Sun that he is ashamed of the attitude on the Nigerian politicians in their desperate bid to get power by all means, insisting that the present crop of politicians seem to be the worst compared to what we had in the early republic when statesmen like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, the then prime minister, Sir Ahmmadu Bello, Okotie Eboh, Chief Anthony Enahoro, among others.
Evah said that “Nigeria’s current crop of politicians is perhaps, the worst the country has ever paraded. Many of them are corrupt, desperate, and crooked, unprincipled, lacking vision, ideology, or conscience; they have driven the country to the cliff and still do not bother that Nigeria may go in flame.
“I can tell you that unchecked, they have developed a culture of impunity and taking it down the throat of Nigerians unperturbed”.
Political commentators are in agreement that regular elections are the ultimate expression of the people’s sovereign will and a defining characteristic of democracy.
Where the integrity of elections is tainted, degraded or dishonoured through the subversion of otherwise sacrosanct processes and procedures, the results and winners lack legitimacy.
For instance, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has disclosed at different fora that he was not sad that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the election, but that it was the process that brought him as the president-elect that he was questioning and challenging through litigation.
Political activist and Vice Presidential candidate, Young Peoples Party (YPP), Ummah Getso expressed dissatisfaction over lack of effective deterrence for election violators, saying that unless something severe is done to the perpetrators, they would continue to indulge in the wicked game without quitting.
She told Sunday Sun that “it has become the norm that during every election circle, Nigerians, domestic and international poll watchers take stock of the shambolic elections and nothing severe is done to offenders. The offenders see the evidence of the lack of effective deterrence and they are emboldened the more. There must be a wake-up call to prosecute those that frustrate electoral process from producing the majority will.”
Presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 election, Martin Onovo, an engineer, told Sunday Sun during a chart that “it is no longer contestable that the 2023 elections were notoriously fraught, marred by malpractices of different magnitude and violence.
“This is hardly surprising since the politicians perverting the electoral process since 1999 are never brought to justice. For them, it has become a way of life politically and we cannot continue this way. Electoral offenders must be prosecuted and punished according to the provisions of our Electoral Act and the constitution”.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, promised that his commission would set up a legal team to speedily deal with the electoral offenders of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls, and Nigerians are watching to see what will come out of the promise, urging him to accompany his words by taking decisive action, saying Nigerians want action not promises.
Also, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, was reported to have also correspondingly ordered his field commands to complete investigations and send the files to INEC.
Going by available records, the EFCC was said to have arrested 65 suspected electoral offenders nationwide at some point. In Sokoto, it intercepted 35 bales of fabrics allegedly belonging to a principal officer of the Sokoto State House of Assembly meant for voter inducement, and in Argungu Local Government Area, Kebbi State, it nabbed another suspect with a vehicle loaded with fabrics and other items earmarked for vote buying.
In Kaduna, a suspect involved in vote-buying was nabbed at School Road, Ungwan Rimi. One of them found with voter coupons was also taken into custody in the state while two individuals were apprehended for vote-buying. They were caught with N67,500, a list containing names of voters with their permanent voter card numbers, and bank account details.
Six men and two ladies were picked up in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with a list of names, telephone, and account numbers of voters. In Ogun State, anti-narcotic officers arrested four party agents with money and credit cards to be used to buy votes at Ibara, Abeokuta.
Even more deadly were the various cases of violence, intimidation, and voter suppression. Thugs torched the house of a former President-General of the Urhobo Progress Union, Joe Omene, in Mosogar, Ethiope-West LGA, Delta State.
On the eve of the presidential election, a member of the House of Representatives, Chinyere Igwe, was apprehended by the Rivers State Police Command with $498,100 and a list of the intended beneficiaries found on him. The EFCC arrested the Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council in Benue State, on Election Day with N100,000 in Daudu.
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, is said to be facing five counts of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide, and unlawful possession of firearms, mischief, and incitement of public disturbance. His case raises hope that finally, the law may nab VIPs.
Uncontestable media reports said between 15 and 20 people were violently killed during the state-level polls on March 18. Deaths were recorded in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ebonyi, Benue, Niger, and Osun. In Ibadan, Oyo State, three party supporters were reportedly killed by suspected thugs who invaded the party’s campaign office on the eve of the election.
More revealing reports also showed that in Lagos, armed All Progressives Congress thugs and field agents operated with impunity, disrupting voting, snatching, and destroying voting materials and attacking voters. Some traditional rulers, some caught on camera in the state, joined in intimidating voters with no sanction yet as provided by the Electoral Act.
The list is endless as a lot was not even captured, but those caught are yet to be prosecuted accordingly.
For Nigerians, all those arrested for breaching the electoral laws during the election and subsequent polls should be prosecuted without further delay.
