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Today is the D-Day for Nigeria’s all-important Presidential and National Assembly elections. Eighteen political parties are on the ballot. Some of the candidates of these parties criss-crossed the entire country, seeking votes from the electorate. But, only one of them will emerge the winner.
Hence, political parties must realise that this is not “a do-or-die affair.” Since the campaign period is over, no party should send its supporters or members to canvass for votes at the polling centres. It is pertinent to remind them that Sections 122 to 129 under Part VII of the Electoral Act deal with electoral offences. Canvassing for votes at the polling centres is against Section 126 of the Electoral Act 2022. Punishment for this offence is a fine of N100, 000 or six months imprisonment.
Closely related to this is vote buying. In the previous elections, this had posed serious problems. In this critical time, voters may be tempted to collect money and vote against their conscience. It is partly to prevent this that the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instituted the Naira redesign policy. Though the cash squeeze has added to the suffering of Nigerians, we believe the pain is temporary and will soon be over. Voters must go to the polls and vote for candidates who have the capacity and competence to lead Nigeria at this critical period.
Besides, there should be no room for thuggery or violence during the exercise. This could scare voters away from exercising their franchise. Those who intend to engage in such acts should bear in mind the consequences. Sections 125 and 128 of the Electoral Act, in particular, prescribe the punishment for electoral violence offences. This election should not be like the previous ones where thugs snatched ballot boxes in some places and even killed innocent people in the process. This will not be tolerated.
This is why adequate security must be provided. President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly implored voters to go and cast their votes for the candidates of their choice without any fear of molestation. Last week, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, said over 400,000 security men would be deployed for the election. The Police authorities said they had also trained their officials and some other stakeholders on curbing electoral violence and election security management.
The Minister of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi (retd), assured Nigerians recently that the Federal Government planned to secure every nook and cranny of the country and prevent hoodlums from disrupting the election. We wish to hold the security authorities to their words and hope that it will not be business as usual for hoodlums. All they need to do is to deploy more armed security operatives at identified flashpoints of violence. In this case, South-East zone, especially Imo State, and some South-West states, especially Lagos, should be closely watched and adequate security deployed. Neutrality should be their watchword as all identified thugs and other criminals caught precipitating violence to derail the election must be arrested.
On its part, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should not disappoint Nigerians with shoddy arrangements. Electoral materials must be at the voting centres as early as possible. Accreditation must start early enough so that the process will not suffer any encumbrance. As the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) recently advised, INEC, security agencies and other stakeholders should not let the people down.
The NGE also called on INEC “to make good its promise of early deployment of electoral materials to polling units on election days and ensure its personnel, in their conduct, do not deviate from provisions of the Electoral Act and other laws guiding the elections.” Local and international observers as well as CSOs and other stakeholders should also help to monitor the election.
We believe that rigging will be drastically reduced in this election. The game changer happens to be the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). With BVAS, only those accredited to vote will do so. We are not unmindful of the fact that politicians will try to circumvent the credibility of the process by devising other means to change the choice of the people. For instance, vote buyers often ask voters to snap the ballot papers after voting to indicate who they voted for. This is to justify the money they collected to cast their votes. Electoral officers must be alert and must not allow anybody to snap pictures inside the polling booth. Voting is secret and must remain so.
Of course, electoral officers cannot do this effectively if they are compromised. They must also resist the temptation to be induced to go against the rules of election.
More vigilance is required even after voting is concluded. Previous experiences have shown that the worst rigging takes place at the collation of results. This time, electronic transmission of results will minimise that possibility. Voters must guard their votes jealously and ensure that the result is not changed. Let the elections be free, fair and credible.
