During the 2023 Presidential campaigns, one of the embarrassing and horrifying statements attributed to the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Tinubu was an emphatic call to his supporters that “political power is not served a la carte. At all cost, fight for it, grab it, snatch it, and run with it”. The Nation, a newspaper owned by Tinubu, had ten years earlier, exactly in its October 6, 2013 edition, described the comment by Tinubu as his “regular refrain” and approach to political contest. Looking back now, some say, with some measure of justification, such a resort to “do-or-die”, inflammatory statement, has unfortunately become today’s political reality in Nigeria, especially among the political elite. It will appear that such over the top comment by President Tinubu has also become a reference playbook from which political yobs or thugs borrow their violence-driven behaviour that has undermined our electoral process.
We all saw all of these anti-democratic tendencies play out in the November 11 off-season governorship polls in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states. What does this mean for our democracy? Why is It that what works in other democracies fail in Nigeria? Politicians in cahoots with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have destroyed whatever confidence and trust( if any) left in the electoral umpire. Except for the winners in the Nov 11 polls, INEC demonstrated resounding failure and transparent dishonesty in terms of credibility. There’s always core points necessary for good governance. A transparent electoral process is one of them. Sadly, that has not happened under the watch of the present leadership of INEC.
Clearly, the electoral umpire is not growing in integrity, especially under the leadership of Prof Mahmood Yakubu. This man(Yakubu) has failed to win the hearts and minds of Nigerians except those he is doing their bidding. Yakubu has betrayed Nigeria’s democracy. This man has crossed the line, and INEC needs total cleansing. It should be dissolved before the next general elections. The abysmal failure of institution and the unconscionable behaviour of our politicians is one of the reasons why hope is fast fading in Nigeria’s democracy. Look around, a sense of hopelessness pervades the air following the outcomes of the off-cycle elections.
It is not just about the winners and losers. It’s all about the underwhelming performance of INEC. There is no doubt that INEC bungled the opportunity provided for it by time and providence to make amends. The sham elections it conducted on Feb 25 and March 18 , were red flags of this latest descent of our electoral process. Undoubtedly, our elections have gotten much worse than expected. The outcome of the off-cycle elections was like a return to Golgotha, somewhat reminiscent of the infamous “Operation Wetie” that made the old Western Region to be nicknamed the “Wild, wild West”, that eventually led to the 1966 Coup D’etat. Same happened with the 1983 General Elections.
Deconstructing the off-season governorship polls, this much is pretty clear now. To borrow the official slogan of the influential American newspaper, The Washington Post, ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ when institutions of government entrusted with making sure that things are done credibly and transparently, refuse to show the light. That is why INEC seems to have become undertakers of our democracy. Today, Nigerian courts are no longer seen as courts of justice, but courts of favour to the highest bidders. Last week, an APC member from Plateau state in the House of Representatives, boasted that the Supreme Court Justices are working for the party. Is anybody listening?
Analyzing recent court judgements in favour of APC, the lawmaker may not be far from the truth. But democracy is the loser if there’s an iota of truth in that unguarded comment. Democracy does not work, and will not work if those saddled with transparency of the process and uphold justice are accused of being complicit with political actors. If truth be told, what happened in many parts of the states where the off-cycle Governorship Polls held has cast a huge blanket of suspicion on the integrity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). To whom much is given, shouldn’t much be expected?
Nothing that INEC asked for that the federal government didn’t oblige it. A total of N18bn supplementary budget was approved for the conduct of the elections, including personnel cost. Before the off-cycle Governorship polls, the leadership of INEC, literally promised the ‘moon’, but in the end, it delivered ‘cheese’. Yet again, it was a failure of credibility test. It is not unkind to say that our electoral system has collapsed. The system has been ‘captured’ by politicians. INEC and its officials were alleged to have compromised themselves by serving the special interests of politicians. The system as it currently stands, has weaponised poverty in the country. This is evident in the level of vote buying, with security operatives looking the other way. What happened at many voting locations in the off-season polls speaks volumes of the lack of sincerity of the umpire and some of its personnel charged with overseeing the conduct of the elections. For instance, what happened in Kogi Central senatorial District, where result sheets(EC8A) were already filled allegedly in favour of a particular political party before voting began, was the most brazen electoral malpractice ever seen in decades. How did that happen without the knowledge or complicity of INEC? It raises a huge question mark about the efficiency of the IRev portal, prided to be the game changer for our elections. From what can be gleaned from the outcome of the elections, everything sacred has been desecrated by politicians in connivance with the electoral umpire.
I have had cause to say in this column months ago that Nigerians are not aberrational, defeatist, or lacking in any of the qualities of citizenship, patriotism or humanity on which they have prided themselves. In fact, the hope and aspirations of most Nigerians are modest. Our fears are rational. However, today, we have a nation whose citizens have become disillusioned and completely cynical about the performance of its political leaders and institutions such as INEC, EFCC and security agencies. In fact, the disillusionment and suspicion about the performance of our government and key institutions mentioned, are well-founded. Truth is, Nigerians no longer trust INEC anymore. The failure of Mahmood-led INEC has resulted in serious doubts about the essence of voting in elections.
The way forward is a new election management team that will replace the present INEC. Former military Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar, said that much last week. He lamented that vote-buying and violence during the recent as off-cycle Governorship polls was very disturbing. Perhaps more disturbing is that INEC has derailed from its main objectives as an unbiased umpire. Worse still, the present generation of our politicians has shown they are one step ahead of whatever technology innovation that INEC has put in place. It will be recalled that in the aftermath of the 2023 elections, the European Union Observer Mission(EU- EOM) in its report, said the elections did not ensure a “well-run, transparent and inclusive democratic process as promised by INEC”. INEC had assured after the EU Observers’ report that it would look into all the reports regarding the outcome of the general elections. It didn’t do anything to show it learned any lesson from the February and March polls. Rather, what we have seen is that INEC has bypassed its own rules and regulations.
The Appeal Court and the Supreme Court, have affirmed these flagrant violations by INEC. The Electoral Act 2022 only exists on paper. Therefore, what is urgently needed is a comprehensive, new system that must follow the recommendations of the Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms. Policy, legal and constitutional changes has become expedient.
One of such recommendations that must be implemented is that henceforth, the appointment of INEC Chairman should no longer be the duty of the President. But can Tinubu and the pliable National Assembly allow that to happen and save our democracy? Here’s the problem: Both the President and the NASS do not have the political will, foresight and commitment to do anything that will not serve their immediate and future interests. The recent appointment of obviously partisan Resident Electoral Commissioners(RECs) is an indication that, going forward, things will get worse rather than better.
One of the lessons from the off-cycle polls is this: Our democracy is in dire trouble. For the incumbents, wherever you control, try at all cost to dominate. Simply put, our elections no longer offer valid choices. Neither does it guarantee legitimacy anymore. Voting is now a mere ‘fulfillment of righteousness’ on election day. This is the new reality. The situation in the country today is grim and despairing, fueled by injustice. It has been accumulating for years. It’s just that it has reached a tipping point. It’s no longer news that confidence in our judiciary is at all-time low. As some people say, it’s no longer temple of justice but court of favour for the highest bidder. Many years ago, James Sundquist, an American author and resident scholar at Brookings Institution in his book titled: SETTING NATIONAL PRIORITIES’, wrote that if people are to take the trouble to vote, they must expect something from the leaders they choose. At a minimum, they want a programme that will address the central problems that concern them, not necessarily one with all the answers, but at least one with a philosophy and approach that give promise of succeeding. In Nigeria of today, the entire political process has become a sham. The citizens have lost confidence in the system and entire machinery of governance. And it doesn’t seem any glimmer of hope is in the horizon.