From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The off-cycle governorship elections in Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa states may have been concluded but it has left more questions than answers among Nigerians.
Against all odds and notwithstanding the trepidations in many quarters, the exercise has expectedly produced winners that have already been presented with the certificates of returns. Losers have predictably been left to nurse the painful injuries of defeat.
However, as some gladiators continued to bask in cloud nine with others agonising in disappointment, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) apparently seemed to be the biggest casualty.
For many, it was another failed attempt by the electoral umpire to redeem its fast fading image. The commission for obvious reasons
has been on the receiving end for both wrong and right reasons from the winners and losers alike ever since the off-cycle poll was concluded.
For many critical observers, the attacks hauled at the electoral umpire were understandably deserved. Opinions were sharply divided on whether there was any marginal improvement in the performances of the commission during the election from the general election earlier this year.
And while many thought that the commission has failed to leverage the opportunity the poll provided to improve on what many observers described as an unimpressive outing during the conduct of general election, others believe that the commission has performed creditably well.
Curiously, many pundits are of the opinion that having failed another integrity test with the off-cycle election, INEC seems to have sunk deeper into the confidence rating of many Nigerians.
Those in such school of thought may be right in their convictions because never in the history of conducting elections in recent times have things degenerated to such level as witnessed in the three states.
It is, perhaps also debatable if conduct of election has been this bad since the incumbent electoral umpire boss, Mahmood Yakubu, took over the mantle of leadership at the commission.
The actions and inactions of the stakeholders during the recent poll confirmed that politicians have not only learnt how to outsmart the commission but also to circumvent the technologies it deployed to improve the credibility of the electoral process.
To say the least, according to political watchers, under the watch of the current chairman, the electoral system seems to be gradually sliding into the dark era witnessed in the previous republics.
In the perception of a political actor who spoke to Daily Sun in confidence for fear of victimisation: “if its sensitive materials, especially answer sheets, could be boldly handed over to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as was the case in Ogori Magongo and Okehi Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Kogi State, pre-filled and boldly taken to the wards, the commission has truly sunk deeper in integrity test.
“If the commission could uphold the results of elections that reportedly did not go through the various integrity stages of verification and authentication by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and announce the fraudulently obtained results, the commission is actually facing fresh trust burden.
“If the allegations, as re-echoed and escalated by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Kogi election, Dino Melaye, that a commission’s ad-hoc staff was caught in custody of N1 million cash on election day, the commission’s rectitude has come to more questions.
“For the fact that the commission promised Nigerians so much about using its Result Viewing (IReV) portal to change the game and ended up reducing the technological innovation to an inconsequential level of just a tissue paper not good enough to even authenticate the polling units results, the commission really has a long way to reclaim its lost glory.
“If the commission could uphold the election results in many places in Imo including the areas its staff confirmed to the media that certain political actors, in collaboration with the state-armed political thugs, forcefully took the answer sheets from them, it certainly lacked integrity.”
The outcome of the off-cycle election was adjudged so bad by many that aggrieved persons have raised endless concerns over the alleged ungodly collaborations between the commission and the winners to even tamper with the backend results uploaded into the IReV portal.
Election observers and the losers helplessly complained about infractions in several areas where BVAS were bypassed, where ballot boxes were snatched, vandalised and or stuffed with thumb-printed votes, in addition to the perpetration of other malfeasance, yet the commission in its wisdom upheld the election fraudulently produced from such areas in the three states.
The manner the off-cycle governorship elections were conducted looked like the outcomes were predetermined by the power that be and handed down the throat of the commission to sign, seal, and deliver in favour of the anointed political party candidates.
Again, by extension, the number of ongoing post-election litigations across the country could also bear eloquent testimony and attestation that INEC has failed to meet the expected standard to impress Nigerians.
According to several pundits, the implication is that the commission’s weak regulation may have weaponised desperate Nigerian politicians to exploit its weakness to wield the big stick and apply sanctions, especially to its staff with questionable character, as a corrective measure.
Regrettably, desperate political actors, emboldened by the weak regulation, have obviously hijacked the electoral system and denied the electorate the legitimate franchise to be the ultimate decider of the final outcome of the elections.
The political actors did things with impunity during the off-cycle election, convinced that the commission would, to a large extent, uphold, endorse, announce the result, and re-echo the popular mantra of let the aggrieved go to court to invalidate the exercise.
The far-reaching implication, according to observers and concerned persons, is that more and more Nigerians, in addition to the international communities, are gradually losing confidence in the country’s electoral system.
And as many asked, do you blame those in that category? When crime is not punished, it will beget more crimes. After BVAS was callously bypassed in many parts of the country during the general elections without consequences from the commission, the resultant effect is now the widespread over-voting, manipulation, and falsification of results in many places during the recent off-cycle governorship election.
For those still in doubt as to what has become of elections in Nigeria, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its governorship candidate in Kogi, Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, and other contestants had demanded an outright cancellation of the poll.
The anger of the party against the commission was palpable. “Kogi witnessed a daylight robbery that is supported by an institution of the State that should be neutral, impartial, and fair. INEC, once again, has dashed the hopes of Kogites by conducting an election filled with compromise.
“The election was won with glaring fraud supported by the umpire. The electoral law states clearly that in the case of over-voting; the commission is empowered to cancel results. In the five LGA of Kogi Central and some parts of the West, election results were prefilled and uploaded into the IReV portal with the knowledge and assistance of the INEC.
“The IReV portal is open for the world to see the contradicting results uploaded from the central. Again, even when BVAS failed to curtail over-voting, INEC legitimised electoral fraud by going ahead to declare a winner after confirming the reports of over-voting and incidents of its staff carrying prefilled results. The IReV portal is filled with result sheets with the number of votes outnumbering the numbers of accredited voters,” the party claimed.
They further alleged that: “Governor Yahaya Bello, the APC, and INEC united in an unholy matrimony aborted the fruit of democracy and imposed that of autocracy through rigging. The future of democracy in Nigeria is uncertain because INEC is colluding with election riggers to impose unpopular candidates on the masses that rejected them through the poll.”
PDP governorship candidate, Melaye, was even more disappointed with the commission. He declared that; “there was no election in Kogi Central, accreditation was done manually, BVAS was not used, and prepared result sheets were available before the election.
“INEC must cancel the election. We have evidence to back it up. INEC has manifested gross incompetence; it cannot be trusted, it is biased and compromised. In many areas where I won, my agents were told there were no available result sheets to enter the result and we have evidence to back up these claims.
“It is shameful that this is what our democracy has descended to. INEC has manifested ever than before, that it cannot be trusted; it is biased, it is compromised and it cannot be a neutral umpire,” he fumed.
It was the same singsong in Imo where the losers did not also spare the commission. Both Samuel Anyanwu (PDP) and Athan Achonu (LP) did not only reject the declaration of the incumbent Hope Uzodinma, as governor-elect but also charged the electoral umpire to either review the process or cancel the election outright.
“It was more like a military coup. The security agents have raped our democracy. I am not blaming INEC because a good number of its officials also fell victim to the situation. Results were written at a traditional ruler’s house in Orlu and several other places. There were several cases of ballot box snatching and gunshots in Orlu and Okigwe zones which disenfranchised so many voters yet, INEC hurriedly declared someone in an election grossly marred with irregularities.
This is unacceptable by Imo people.
“It’s a big shame that INEC which earlier promised to conduct a free, fair, and credible election compromised by declaring results in an election that recorded so much electoral fraud like snatching of ballot boxes, intimidation of voters by the security agents and rewriting of results to favour the APC candidate,” LP candidate lamented, challenging INEC chairman to; “rise to the occasion and save democracy from final collapse”.
In the perception of former chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Peter Ameh, those in charge of elections in Nigeria should have been charged with economic sabotage.
Speaking to Daily Sun, Ameh said: “INEC has now made our electoral system a strong man selection process where the majority of valid votes cast by the electorate are no longer needed to announce a winner. The electoral commission is now conniving with state governors to undermine the legitimacy of our electoral system.
“Elections are rigged fragrantly and openly against the well-established electoral framework. We are now in an era when the numbers of accredited voters do not approximate the number of votes cast, yet a winner will be announced.
“In a normal sense, those in charge of elections in Nigeria should have been charged for economic sabotage. If not, how could we have invested over N35 billion to procure and establish standard and secure electoral system in the country that is driven by electronic collation and accreditation and yet we are still experiencing such magnitude of fraud and irregularities of the highest level.
“INEC has failed to carry out its mandate to organise, undertake and conduct credible, transparent, and fair elections in Nigeria and this is leading to the loss of interest by many Nigerian citizens in our democratic system. I recommend that the election management body be unbundled as recommended by Justice Uwaise Election reform panel.”
A chieftain of APC, Osita Okechukwu, shared almost similar views with Ameh on what he tagged off-cycle election imbroglio during a chat with Daily Sun. “As a foundation member of the APC, one could have been jubilant that my great party won two out of the three states. However, as a democrat one is not happy with the off-cycle-election imbroglio.
“I am worried that some elements in INEC seem bent on extinguishing the gains we earned from the Electoral Act 2022. Otherwise, is it palatable that officials of an umpire like INEC were fingered in multi-verse malfeasance during the elections?
“I am one of those who classified BVAS, an uncommon digital technology we invested billions to procure; as Vote-Rigging-Vaccine (VRV). The same VRV which has transformed Kenya’s electoral process as a beacon in Africa had lost its accreditation and IReV benchmarks in Nigeria, regrettably and allegedly, courtesy of INEC.
“Secondly and paradoxically, all the three incumbent governors won, and the innocent voters lost; to the extent that there are still cacophonies of voices contesting and challenging the validity and integrity of INEC’s electoral process.
“Consequently, INEC needs to wake up and dust off the trust deficit albatross before it drowns our democracy. This, to me, is bad news, in as much as those who defend INEC may rationalise that the not-too-transparent primary elections affected APC in Kogi and Bayelsa states, PDP, and LP in Imo State.
“Therefore, our political parties need to uphold the fine tenets of liberal democracy and avoid the imbroglio; for one is at a loss why APC jettisoned internal democracy in Kogi and Bayelsa and PDP and LP in Imo. These abysmal breaches of internal democracy led to unimaginable rancour and made it impossible for David Lyon and Muri Ajaka to fly the APC flag in Bayelsa and Kogi, Emeka Ihedioha and Ogunewe to fly PDP and LP flags in Imo respectively,” Okechukwu argued.
On whether he will give INEC a pass mark despite the infractions, APC Deputy National Organising Secretary, Chidi Nze Duru, said: “INEC will continue to improve. But it has a big task to reclaim the confidence of the wider public in a sense that the wider public would again come to accept the outcome of processes of elections conducted by INEC.”
However, regardless of the divide you pitch your tent, what was incontrovertible, in fairness to the commission, was that there was a slight improvement in the areas of logistics, early deployment, and the arrival of materials among insignificant others.
To prove doubters wrong, opposition parties in Kogi, under the aegis of United Progressive Political Parties while expressing satisfaction, said: “We use this medium to congratulate INEC to have painstakingly followed the processes of conducting the freest, credible, and transparent, election since 1999. This election is substantially in compliance with the electoral laws, and the electoral umpires have followed the electoral guidelines as amended.
“This election is unequivocally devoid of any iota of sentiments, agenda setting, or ethnicity. INEC announced the result after due diligent collation from all LGAs and we make bold to say that this election is free, fair, and credible and therefore acceptable to us”, the group added.
Expectedly, the beneficiary of the election, the APC, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, after the election, noted: “We commend INEC and security agencies for professionally discharging their constitutional duties during the elections in both Imo and Kogi states. We salute the electorate for their invaluable and massive support of our great party.”
The commission in a feeble defence to the allegations that it was tampering with accredited figures of voters to tally with the election results uploaded on the IReV portal dismissed the claims.
The commission, in a statement signed by Mohammed Kudu Haruna, National Commissioner and member, Information and Voter Education Committee, described the reports as unfounded, stressing: “For the avoidance of doubt, the most accurate and up-to-date Voters’ Accreditation Data is available in the BVAS, which is used for the authentication and accreditation of registered voters at various polling units on election day. It automatically retains the accreditation data of all voters.
“The accreditation data cannot be changed on the BVAS after the close of the poll. The public should disregard the misleading report and misinformation.”