• Says only electronic voting can stop impunity in future elections
• says impunity will stop when perpetrators are punished
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja.
Former Senate Minority leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Monday, has disclosed how the introduction of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and the cashless policy of the federal government just before the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections were instrumental to his victory.
This is even as he said only electronic voting as it’s done in countries like Estonia, Brazil, and Australia would reduce the level of impunity being carried out in the country because of human interference after voting process has been concluded.
The former Deputy Governor of Abia State said this on day one of a a two-day seminar organised by Media Educational Development Initiative for Africa with the theme, “Peace Journalism and Consolidation of Democracy in Nigeria,” for a select few journalists in Abuja.
Speaking on how he benefited from the BVAS and cashless policy, Aberibe said: “I will say I benefited as someone who ran against a governor in a state, from the use of BVAS and the fact that you couldn’t manufacture results.
“Secondly, I benefited from the fact that the federal government through the CBN, advertently or inadvertently made it impossible for people not to have cash. What that meant was that, for whoever was my opponent, the governor of the state and all that, all the monies that were mapped out for elections, couldn’t reach the people they could use to buy vote. At the areas they got some funds, all the people they transferred funds to, saw it as their own and so they walked away with it, those who were given dollars to change also walked away with the dollars. So on the day of election, all of us were on the same page and the same level. And that was what gave me the chance to even compete. Because, we always knew what was going to happen.
“On Election Day, what normally happens is that people come there with tonnes of cash and give out while people are voting and all that.
“By the time we got to the governorship elections three weeks later, the cash crunch had eased and some people were now able to get access. And then we started seeing the vote buying actually happening.
“Immediately after that election on February 25th, I was asked what ought to have happened and I said, it’s obvious what we are seeing now. It means the technology is right but we have to go a step further by eliminating human interference after the voting process. It means electronic voting should be the way so that collations, additions and all those things will no longer be in anybody’s hands.”
The Senator also attributed is victory to what he called the Obi-Datti tsunami in the southeast, that saw some politicians retired prematurely as well as the goodwill he has built over the years.
Commenting on peace journalism in the country, he said that the conference for media and peace initiative should be held more for politicians than for journalists.
“On peace journalism, I still think maybe for those of us that are politicians are people that need this seminar more than journalists. You don’t tell journalists not to do their job,” he said.
Senator Abaribe, who contested and won the election on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had denied him the ticket for Abia South Senatorial District, said that the country needs to improve on her recruitment process.
He explained that if those contesting elections have some modicum of integrity, it will reduce negative reports which are usually sponsored by political opponents.
“Back to matter of peace journalism, I still think those of us doing the job on the field are the ones who actually need this seminar more than the journalists. And in this era of social media, breaking news, advertising revenue and all of that, it is difficult for people to restraint themselves when they see something that looks like a scope. That means, for us, it starts from the first base, which is recruitment mechanism for who is going to run for an election or not. Because if I discover that my opponent has got too much negatives, I will exploit that negative.
“So it behooves on us to see if we can clean up the recruitment process, make sure that those who go in are those who have some modicum of no filth around them, so that people will not utilize them.”
He noted with dismay that in Nigerian politics,
people don’t normally vote for the best candidate rather they go for other considerations that make competence and the ability to deliver to take the back seat.
Aberibe said impunity thrives in the country because the perpetrators are allowed to go free as seen in the handling of the elections.
Reacting to the unfolding drama in the Adamawa State Governorship election, Abaribe said, “The biggest problem we have as a country in Nigeria is the fact that bad behaviour is not punished.
“Impunity thrives because you don’t pay for it. We are always in our best behaviour when we travel out but act with impunity when we return.”
In his opening remarks at the seminar, President of Centre for Media and Peace Initiatives, New York, Dr. Uchenna Ekwo harped on the importance of Peace Journalism in the country.
He said that there is the need for journalists to report crisis in such a way that it would reduce conflict.
“We have to emphasize peace rather than war. We have so many flashpoints on the continent and we need to play a role in peace building.”