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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
For the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), civil society organizations and the majority of Nigerians, are all in sync over threats to next year’s polls.
The commission may have succeeded in implementing eight out of the 14 guidelines contained in its timetable and schedule of activities for the crucial polls but there is no doubt that certain teething hurdles still pose challenges to the elections.
It was not surprising that the INEC boss was unambiguous in his admittance, previously and even most recently, to the international community and the Nigerian electorate, of the existence of such threats.
Recently while speaking at an event in the USA, Yakubu had specifically listed insecurity, thuggery and social media fake news as the major threats confronting next year’s general elections, and even singled out South East and North West as the hotbed of insecurity.
Enumerating what he considered as his major anxieties ahead of the poll, Yakubu said; “are there concerns about the 2023 general election? I will be the last to say there are no concerns. The first concern is the perennial issue of insecurity in different parts of the country, compounded by the traditional issues of thuggery during elections organized by some of the political actors.
“I say it is a perennial issue because at the end of the day, it is nothing new. However, the dimension of insecurity is a concern in the sense that in the past, it was localized or confined to a particular part of the country, the Northeast. But now it is more widespread, and we are keeping our eyes, particularly on the North West and the South Eastern parts of the country,” he noted.
Other major threats, according to Yakubu, are social media spooning fake news. He said: “the social media has been a force for good. The commission does not support censorship.
“Social media plays a very important role in voter education and deepening democracy but it also has the potential of skewing the narrative with the wrong information that impugn on the integrity of officials or seek to delegitimize the commission and the process before, during or after the elections. Publication of fake election results is a potential trigger for violence,” he lamented.
Yakubu, while explaining the veracity of the threat said: “Elections are conducted by human beings. We worry about the security of our officials, voters and the materials to be deployed. Without them, we cannot conduct elections.”
Expounding the threats facing next year’s poll, a director of the commission also listed non-compliance with statutory timeliness, vote buying, ignorance of the electoral process, the outrageous cost of political parties’ expression of interest and nomination forms and more disturbingly hate speech.
“The challenges of election management/credible elections are wrong perception of political office, violence, votes buying, non-compliance with statutory timeliness, ignorance of the electoral process, the outrageous cost of political parties’ expression of interest and nomination forms and hate speech.”
Specifically lamenting the spate of violence, the commission’s director, noted; “the culture of thuggery, physical battles between supporters of political parties and candidates, killings, do-or-die attitude by political party’s candidates and their supporters affect the credibility of elections.”
She also decried the role of money, emphasising that: “money politics is fast shrinking the political space, becoming a key variable in determining who participates in electoral politics and how.
“The nomination fees paid by aspirants seeking elective positions have become so high that only the rich and/or those sponsored by the rich can afford. More curiously is the challenge of vote buying, which has become a serious monster threatening the 2023 poll and other national elections.
“There is also dearth of political ideology because a large number of people go into politics for the wrong reasons. Political office is perceived as a means of creating affluence instead of an avenue and opportunity to serve. The rising spate of hate speech is a major cause for concern. Politicians and party leaders make unguarded utterances capable of overheating the party and igniting violence. Issue-based campaigns should be encouraged,” the commission lamented.
Yakubu added: “On the challenge of ignorance of electoral process, political parties and other stakeholders have not carried out enough voter education at their members, supporters and prospective voters especially on the use of technology in the electoral process.
“Without sensitisation and adequate political mobilisation, the electorate may have wrong perception of the process, difficulty in making informed choices as well as lack the strategic and tactical wherewithal to defend the sanctity of their votes. Moreover, ignorance of the process also makes it easy for supporters of political parties and candidates to be recruited as perpetrators of violence.”
However, the commission is not the only voice crying in the wilderness to draw attention to the impending challenges confronting the conduct of 2023 polls.
On two instances, most recently, the leadership of the coalition of registered parties had drawn the attention and awakened the consciousness of Nigerians and the international community, to the twin issues of planned dubious adulteration of INEC’s voters register and the grand conspiracy to suspend the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine and other technologies in conducting next year’s general elections.
The leadership of CUPP had specifically announced to Nigerians and relevant authorities on the plot allegedly hatched by the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to use secret litigation to suspend and subjugate the use of tested electronic result transmission technology, BVAS machine in next year’s general elections.
Spokesperson for the Coalition, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, had explicitly claimed that CUPP’s vigilance team discovered, through credible intelligence, a suit at the Owerri Federal High Court filed on August 24 this year for the hatchet job.
He said; “the chairmen of CUPP, and heads of political associations have intercepted intelligence of an alleged fresh plot against the 2023 election and this time being coordinated by leading figures of the ruling APC Party, APC Governors led by a South East APC Governor with controversial past and another from the North West who are working with their colleagues to perfect a plot to intimidate INEC leadership into abandoning the use of electronic transmission and uploading of election results to the INEC server.
“It also involves deactivation of the BVAS machine from INEC server and the creation of crisis of confidence based on trumped up charges that will lead to the removal of top officials of the Commission including the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood and other National Commissioners who are insisting on the use of the BVAS for the 2023 election and the irreversible use of electronic transmission of the result.
“This latest intelligence and shocking information involve the use of security agencies, the APC-controlled Senate, and the court to cause a leadership crisis and change that will see to the removal of the commission’s top leadership led by Prof Yakubu and the appointment of a pushover and compromised acting chairman who will ruin the credibility of the 2023 election by deactivating the BVAS machine from INEC server.
It will also stop the use of electronic transmission of results and ensure that the commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioners nominated by APC Governors are quickly approved and deployed to states where they will be of assistance to the ruling party at the expense of credible, free and fair elections,” CUPP had alleged.
Earlier, the coalition had raised similar alarm over plans by certain forces to adulterate the commission’s voters’ register, alleging that at least 10 million fake registrations have been done by one of the political parties.
It had further alleged that names were sourced from within and outside Nigeria, including African countries, like Ghana, Cameroun, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Togo, Guinea, Gambia, and foreign nations, like Jamaica, Brazil and New Zealand.
It also showed several registrations, claiming they were captured from passport photographs and other photos.
He said: “many people were also shown to have been born between 1900 and 1914, yet their photographs were those of young people. Equally, many male photos had their gender written as female and vice versa.
“This move was erected as a safer option, as the alternative and the more risky option is to pre-load the BVAS machine with accreditation figures matching numbers of the illegal registrations and generating results in those areas,” CUPP had alleged.
However, dousing the fears expressed about the humongous threat facing INEC in the conduct of the polls, a foundation member of the APC, Osita Okechukwu, argued that there are bright indicators to show that organising free, fair and credible polls is in the offing.
He said: “To be candid, one harbours no fears over today’s INEC’s capacity to conduct free, fair and transparent elections because of the following reasons: One, the Vote-Rigging-Vaccine (VRV) with milestones BVAS and other electronic transmission applications.
“The VRV in other words is the name one dubbed the 2022 Electoral Act, which its major feature is engraved in our law books electronic transmission of results.
“With the VRV feature of electronic transmission of results, manipulation of results, to a greater extent, is contained. Therefore, the rigging of election results can only happen in the polling units where there is consensus; scenarios in which the multiparty system and do-or-die battle tactics make such consensus very difficult.
“For in all the geopolitical zones and Polling Units nationwide, there are gruesome electoral battles between either APC vs PDP or APC vs LP, or PDP vs LP or all.
“Secondly, one has no fear over INEC’s successful conduct of the 2023 general elections because of the character and passion of the chairman of INEC, Prof Yakubu, and his team. Luckily, those who plotted to remove him failed as President Buhari didn’t hear their demand as you cannot change a successful umpire. 2019 general elections and especially off season elections exemplified Prof Mahmoud INEC’s par excellent record.
“Thirdly, yes, we are humans with our follies; however methinks no one can scuttle the iron-clad will of President Buhari to bequeath Nigerians with the golden legacy of free, fair, and transparent elections,” he said.
Although both the electoral umpire and the political party fingered in the alleged manipulations and litigated plot have denied and dismissed them with a wave of the hands, the claims have heightened the curiosity of many Nigerians and the international community alike to the possible threats that may scuttle the smooth conduct of credible general elections next year.
In its determination to mitigate the threats, the commission had however explored varieties of options to scourge the misgivings in many quarters and restore hope in many despondent Nigerian electorate and the international observers to expect the best and nothing short of the best in next year’s polls.
Announcing the measures it has put in place to diminish the threats, the commission’s boss said: “We believe that the antidote to fake news is greater transparency and openness and we have been demonstrating greater transparency and openness. What we have done is to continue to deepen our cooperation and relationship, particularly with organized social media.
“We have spoken to the security agencies, and they have assured us that the security situation will improve before the elections. So, fingers crossed. Those who are supposed to secure the environment have also assured us that they will secure the environment for us to conduct elections. Our responsibility is to conduct elections,” he resigned to fate.
But should the authorities renege in tackling the identified threats, the warning from CUPP’s leadership to stoutly resist them, should be another source of concern to Nigerians.
“Any attempt to re-enact the Onnoghen formula by a few desperate APC leaders and governors who know that they, as well as their sponsored candidates, are now unelectable, will not work. The plan to destroy the only ray of hope for our election represented by the electronic devices that will also transmit results electronically, especially BVAS, will be resisted.
“We are also storming the USA, UK, and other foreign embassies to submit petitions and alert them of the alleged new conspiracy which threatens the Nigerian electoral process and electoral stability. We will urge them to keep vigilant eyes on the process as development partners and ensure there is adequate vigilance and support plus pressure to ensure the right things are done in compliance with extant laws,” they warned.
