THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has, for the umpteenth time, postponed some rerun elections and declared others inconclusive. This has raised fears that the electoral agency may have reversed the recent gains in the country’s electoral process. Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu, the secretary of INEC who announced the postponement in Abuja last week, said that the Rivers State rerun elections earlier scheduled to hold last Saturday, July 30, would be rescheduled.
Many of the rerun elections conducted in some states, including the ones for the federal legislative constituencies in Kogi and Imo States on July 23, had less than satisfactory outcomes. While the Kogi East Senatorial rerun election was successfully concluded with Air Vice-Marshal Ibrahim Alfa (retd) of the PDP emerging victorious, three Imo State Assembly rerun elections as well as that of Okigwe senatorial zone were won by the APC. The result of the senatorial rerun was, however, announced after a supplementary poll, six days after the rerun.
This is the second time re-run elections are being postponed in Rivers State, since the general elections of 2015. Apart from leaving the state with inadequate representation in the state and federal legislatures, it has increased the air of uncertainty and heightened tension in the state. This is not good enough for our democracy and general security.
Though INEC cited renewed violence, as witnessed in the burning of the INEC office in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of the state, penultimate week, and the unfavorable security reports about threats of more violence, as reasons for the postponement, it must be emphasised that the agency seems to be abdicating its primary responsibility of conducting elections to give the citizens proportionate representation in our democracy.
In the Rivers case, it would appear that INEC allowed itself to be stampeded into fixing the July 30 rerun date, even before the full result of its own Assessment Panel was known. This has greatly eroded the confidence of many stakeholders in the electoral agency. The main rivals in the Rivers elections – the APC and PDP – have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs, especially as no new date has been announced for the rerun polls.
The March 19 inconclusive and cancelled elections in the state were attended by unprecedented killings, kidnappings, arson and other wanton violence. INEC must be careful in its dealings, particularly in Rivers, to avoid unwittingly rewarding violence and malfeasance. Or, what message would INEC be sending to those who do not want the elections to hold for fear that they might lose it, and those who feel that the postponement is a ploy to deprive them of victory?
The stakes in the Rivers elections are high and the two leading parties appear desperate for victory. That is why we welcome the recent parley between INEC, the Police, the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and the two party leaders who are the main combatants in the polls – Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi and Rivers Governor, Nyesome Wike.
It is necessary to douse the tension that has built up and let the political actors understand that elections are a means to an end, which is the right to represent the people. It should not be a “do-or-die affair”, and in the long run, no one’s interest is served by the present imbroglio in the state.
The electoral agency, working with the security agencies, should work towards the provision of a conducive atmosphere to bring about a successful completion of the numerous pending rerun and inconclusive elections in the country.
The apparent lack of decisiveness since Professor Mahmood Yakubu assumed office as INEC chairman in 2015 is raising many questions. There have been too many lapses and reversals in the operations of INEC lately and this is not good for the health of our democracy. We counsel Yakubu to clean up his act and correct all the mistakes in the other elections coming up later this year.
Politicians too, as major stakeholders in the electoral process, must resist the temptation to profit from brigandage, violence and the resort to self help at every opportunity as it endangers democracy and societal well-being. These will not help our democracy in the long run.