From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi; Tony John, Port Harcourt; Paul Osuyi, Asaba; Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri and Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies have received a mixture of applause and condemnations from some Nigerians for their performance during the just concluded off season elections in the three states of Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa.
Saturday Sun spoke with some Nigerians who expressed discordant tunes over the conduct of the electoral officers and security operatives.
Ballot snatching, complicity of security personnel etc surfaced again – Austin Iwar, retired AIG
From what I saw on television and read in the papers, INEC is a work in progress. The typical complaints of ballot snatching, vote buying, intimidation of voters, complicity of security personnel, fake police officers, voter apathy etc surfaced again. Election is not just an event but a process of testing strategies, educating voters and officials that will take a long time to deal with.
On the whole, the level of violence anticipated did not happen, which is good. But it may be because of high deployment of security personnel to the states.
INEC has improved – Jerry Tyoakula, civil servant
The elections in the three states by my assessment were free and fair by all standards. The success of the various candidates and their neck to neck close chasers which cut across the big and small parties is a clear manifestation that the electoral umpire has so much improved the system devoid of lapses which hitherto gave room for rigging.
The security agencies also deserve a pat on the back for their role in curbing electoral crimes in the elections. In Imo State, for instance, there were reported cases of the ruling APC agents being arrested where attempts were made to mar the elections, showing the unbiased approach adopted to ensure that the electorate exercised their franchise devoid of harassment or intimidation from any quarters.
Elections not free and fair – Joseph Kwaghdega, media consultant
From what I witnessed, even though they were able to mobilise enough security, election was still not free and fair. There were a lot of cancellations; that means that it was marred by violence and I blame security in that regard because people were attacked here and there. It is not just enough for the security men to be on ground, they need to be seen doing their job. Again, despite the huge sums of money invested in INEC, they were not able to conduct a free, fair and credible election. When you see other aspirants expressing dissatisfaction, complaining of irregularities, it means the election was not fair. The judiciary should also watch it because the man in Kogi State said even though he knows the election was not free and fair, he will not go to court because he no longer has trust in what the judiciary is capable of doing. That kind of statement means that one day people will decide to take the law into their hands and that will lead to anarchy. The federal government should work the talk and ensure that our electoral processes give the common man confidence to go out and vote, knowing that his vote will account.
People’s interest in democracy is waning by the day – Godfrey Ubaka, journalist
It is disturbing that 24 years on, Nigeria’s democracy has not taken root. What do I mean? We are almost legitimising impunity and criminality. How would you react to a situation whereby INEC officials in a particular state were seen with pre-filled result sheets hours before the elections began? As we speak, those who were arrested for electoral offences in the February/March 2023 elections have not been tried up till now. When there is no deterrence for wrong doing, there is the tendency for people to live in impunity. We still witnessed ballot snatching. Of course there was preponderance of voter apathy, less than a quarter of those who collected their PVCs came out to vote. This shows that people are not convinced that their votes will translate into the result that would come out.
We had expected that by now, our experience in democracy should be deepening, rather people’s interest in democracy is waning by the day. The interest is not growing because it does appear that Nigeria’s democracy is working only for a few. That was not the idea of the founding fathers of democracy; it is expected that it should work for at least the majority. Some of the elections were predictable not because the governors were performing but because they were connected to the strong men. And that brings me to the issue of strong men instead of strong institutions. Nations have developed because they have strong institutions and not because they developed strong men. And so we have not moved any further from where we started in 1999, and it is so unfortunate.
INEC, security agencies did questionable job – Emma Okoro, journalist
For me, I think we still have a long way to go. Looking at Imo, for instance, with 27 LGs, APC won in all, it’s unimaginable. It was like a rehearsed election; they only waited to declare the result on election day. From my perspective, that result might have been doctored because even President Bola Tinubu did not win the 36 states of the federation, he lost his own state. So how come Uzodinma got 27 out of 27? The job INEC did in Imo is questionable. In Kogi, it is the same thing; just that Dino Melaye suffered more because he came third, SDP came second. For that it is fair enough compared to what happened in Imo. For Bayelsa, we are still monitoring the situation.
By and large, we still witness too much violence in our elections. We heard that people were killed, some were kidnapped, electoral officers were kidnapped, and party members were killed. This is not the kind of election we want in Nigeria. For me, Nigeria is not moving forward judging from 1999. INEC should not be blamed alone, the security agencies should share in the blame. This latest election held in just three states, we should have the manpower to check violence and insecurity. Another issue that came up especially in Bayelsa, was vote buying, according to the Labour Party candidate. He said he was surprised with the level of vote buying. Votes were sold for between N13, 000 and N40, 000. In short, it is frustrating. If you put everything together, you discover that we are still far from the tenets of democracy.
It’s INEC’s worst outing in so far in Imo – Dr C C Nwadigbo, rights activist
The INEC should be blamed for the controversies surrounding the November 11 governorship election, which is abysmal. The Imo REC did not disappoint her critics as the off cycle election turned out to be worst governorship election organised by INEC in the state as the election was characterised by bye-passing of BVAS in accreditation as seen in the governor’s home town, Omuma; over voting in favour of the ruling party in all the senatorial zones, using INEC officials to thumb print freely for APC in Orsu LGA among other places.
INEC, security agencies are disappointment – Athan Agbakwuru, businessman
I’m totally disappointed in INEC and the security agencies. INEC should be scrapped; they don’t conduct elections again but selection. See what happened in most polling units in Imo, INEC staff were willing tools for rigging.
The security agencies on their own part became state actors; they were aiding a particular party and its candidate to rig election. Even when thugs were attacking some polling units and their candidates, the security agencies could only look on as if nothing happened.
INEC was well prepared – Obinna Ebogidi, journalist
INEC prepared quite adequately for the off-cycle elections, especially in Bayelsa State, notwithstanding the few gaps. We noticed some improvements in logistics and the performance of BVAS and IReV. INEC was also swift in resolving critical incidents that arose on Election Day.
But one thing that was quite obvious is the need for electoral reforms to address the desperation of politicians. A lot of the shortcomings, including that of security, were prompted by the desperation and win-at-all-cost approach of politicians. The solution to these challenges is simple.
The elections were successful – Sunny Zorvah, right activist
First, I congratulate the people of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on the success of the off-circle elections in the three states. I see the elections as being successful because of the minimal level of violence, as reports do not indicate escalated violence as envisaged, following the tension preceding the elections. I also think that in subsequent elections in Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta and other riverine areas in the country, security agents deployed on Election Duty in those riverine communities should go through swimming tests and be provided with safety jackets for safe material and personnel movements during the period of elections. This will avert possible marine risks as experienced in this and previous elections in those riverine communities.
INEC, security agencies performed well – Alabo Nengi James, rights activist
INEC and the security agencies performed well in the last Bayelsa governorship election.
For the first time, INEC was intentional with its logistics deployment. Sensitive materials were moved a day before which allowed for early deployment to polling units on election day.
Also, its officials followed the rules and guidelines of conduct of election. I give kudos to INEC. On the part of security agencies, for the first time, there was no incident of police intimidation. The police adhered to the rules of engagement. Yes, there was heavy presence of police, military and other security agencies, this was necessary because of the inflammatory utterances of certain people during the electioneering. There was no major incident, aside for skirmishes which were handled promptly.
INEC was partial, but security agencies did well – Ineye Favour, trader
INEC was partial in its operations. It adhered to rules in some local government areas, while in others it did something outside the guidelines.
For instance it collated results of elections in Ekeremor, Sagbama and Kolokuma/Opokuma in the respective local government areas, while those of Brass, Ogbia, Nembe and Southern Ijaw were collated in Yenagoa. This is wrong and it allowed for suspicion of manipulation. The police on their part tried their best to curtail the security situation. Before the elections, the general talk was that Bayelsa will boil. But we thank God and the security agencies for the peace.
INEC, security agencies failed – Kevin Igirifa, student
INEC and the security agencies failed in their responsibilities. The polling units were like a bazaar as votes were being sold. The INEC officials and the security agencies were complacent to check this ugly trend because they have been compromised.
In some polling units, INEC officials bypassed the BVAS and recorded votes for candidates. While some of these votes were cancelled in some instances, in other areas, they were allowed. For me INEC and police were biased.