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By Beifoh Osewele
Former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke, has declared Nigeria’s electoral system a “monumental failure,” accusing those responsible for conducting elections of lacking the sincerity to deploy technology that would make manipulation difficult and votes verifiable.
Duke, who contested the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said Nigeria already possessed access to technology capable of allowing citizens to cast, verify and track their votes, but continued reliance on a largely manual process had deepened public distrust and voter apathy.
“INEC has failed. It is a monumental failure. There’s no gainsaying about it,” Duke said in an interview.
He argued that millions of Nigerians had become reluctant to participate in elections because they no longer believed declared results reflected the will of voters.
“The results you get from the polls often don’t reflect the views of the people. So there’s disenchantment with the system, both by the contestants and the public. Most people don’t vote because they believe their votes don’t count.”
Duke questioned why Nigeria could successfully deploy technology for complex financial transactions but could not build an electoral system in which every vote could be independently verified.
“The technology that is available can ensure that each vote is not only counted but verified.
“Technology exists. People are going to space and all that; we’re still doing this manual thing that can be manipulated. There’s no excuse for it. The sincerity of purpose is not there.”
Drawing a comparison with electronic banking, he said: “We send money around to our villages, to our relatives in villages, and they get the money. But when it comes to voting, it is not safe anymore. What are we talking about?”
The former governor also returned to INEC’s last-minute postponement of the 2019 general election, describing the decision, announced only hours before voting was due to begin, as an insult to Nigerians and a huge financial burden on political parties.
He recalled writing then INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, after the postponement, particularly because the commission had repeatedly assured Nigerians that it was ready for the poll.
“I had to write to Professor Yakubu, the immediate past chairman, when, four hours to voting, the elections were postponed. Prior to that, he had said he was ready for the elections, that the papers, the materials, everything was in the state capitals.
“How do you explain postponing an election four hours to voting?”
Duke said the consequences went far beyond inconvenience, arguing that political parties had already mobilised hundreds of thousands of agents and committed huge resources before the postponement.
“There are over 180,000 polling units across the country. You’re going to probably have two polling agents per booth. So, you’re talking about more than 300,000 people involved.
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“You’re not going to give each one of them less than N10,000. So you’re postponing four hours to it. Only the party in power has the muscle to raise that sort of money for a rerun.”
He, however, said such controversial postponements were not peculiar to the All Progressives Congress (APC) era, recalling that an election was also shifted under a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration.
“The PDP did it, but theirs was better, I think it was a week to the elections that they postponed it.
“It was for the same flimsy excuse of harmattan. Harmattan occurs every year at the same time. Bad roads have been with us.”
Duke said explanations offered for such disruptions were difficult to reconcile with prior assurances that sensitive materials had already reached state capitals.
“So it is so nonsensical. In fact, it’s insulting to the integrity of Nigerians to make that sort of statement.”
According to him, the cumulative effect is an electoral system that gives incumbents enormous advantage, discourages participation and undermines Nigeria’s claim to democratic government.
“We don’t have a system of government that ensures that your vote counts. So we don’t have a democracy. We are pretending democracy,” he said.
Turning to the 2027 presidential contest, Duke warned opposition politicians that defeating an incumbent would be difficult if they went into the election divided by individual presidential ambitions.
“Do you think you can defeat the incumbent, with all its power and its known application of power, while being divided?” he asked.
He urged opposition leaders to subordinate personal ambition to a collective effort and rally behind whoever offered the strongest prospect of providing effective leadership.
“We all can’t be president. I have dreams of what it would be like for me to be president, but only one person is going to get there.
“So I’m better off being part of a team than not being there at all. I’m tired of griping from outside. I don’t want to be the spectator in the stands watching the field. I want to be on the field and say: let’s play together.”
Duke described the 2027 election as a defining moment for the country, warning that Nigeria could not afford another four years on its present course.
“There’s a future if we want it, and there’s business as usual if we also want it.
“It’s in our hands. We can determine if we want to go forward or remain as we are. If we remain as we are, we’re not going forward; we’re regressing.”
