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It is unfortunate that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has saddled Nigerians with another controversial election in spite of its boast to conduct the best ever election in the history of Nigeria. The shoddiness in the conduct of February 25 poll could not be hidden. The late arrival of INEC officials in most polling units across the country exposed the logistical challenges of the exercise. The aloofness of some INEC officials to mounting complaints from patriotic Nigerians over non-arrival of polling officers even at 12pm further underscored that the electoral umpire was not really prepared for the poll that took it four years to prepare. In spite of the billions of naira budgeted for the election, INEC could not transport election officials and materials to polling units. The pictures of those polling officials trekking to their polling units with INEC sensitive materials on their head showed the failure of INEC. On the eve of the election, the INEC ad hoc staff were quartered in primary schools without food and other basic necessities. Their allowance is yet to be paid. INEC treated the ad hoc staff with great disdain. The shoddiness of INEC in this election needs to be investigated.
Many things went wrong in the election. There was voter suppression and intimidation in some parts of Lagos State. Some voters in Lagos were told to either vote for a particular candidate or forget about the poll. Some political thugs violently stopped the election in some polling units with guns in an election that police deployed thousands of security officials and where President Muhammadu Buhari promised all Nigerians to come out and vote for their preferred candidates without fear of molestation.In some polling units, some volunteers went to INEC offices and conveyed the electoral officials to the polling units after waiting for them endlessly for several hours. That was why the poll lasted longer than necessary in many polling units. In some polling units, the voting materials were short of the number of registered voters. The logo of some political parties were missing in some of the ballots and in some the logo of certain political parties were faint and not visible.
It has become apparent that the election was planned to fail from the beginning despite assurances from President Buhari and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. The President did not pretend his desire to ensure that APC will continue in power by showing who he voted in Daura and boasted that his preferred candidate will win from Daura to Lagos. The worst thing that happened during the exercise was the refusal of INEC to upload the declared results from the polling units to the IReV portal. Why did INEC not allow its officials to transmit the results electronically as promised? Why was the INEC server down at the time of transmission of election results? Why did INEC instruct election officials to upload the results offline? The inability of INEC to transmit the election results electronically has tainted the outcome of the election no matter the winner. I pity the INEC chairman over these man-made lapses and the bold face to refuse to rectify the inadequacies of the highly flawed poll. I pity other INEC officials who might have contributed to this perfidy. They should take the blame for the shortcomings of the poll. Nigerians have lost faith in the electoral system that refused to be transparent and credible. International and local observers said the conduct of the poll was short of public expectations. They identified so many irregularities that marred the poll, including election not starting on time and late arrival of electoral officials, voter suppression and intimidation and electoral violence and shoddy transmission of election results and manipulation of the exercise at certain stages. Following the dawn declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the poll on Wednesday, the opposition had faulted the outcome and vowed to seek redress through the courts. The PDP, LP and NNPP and some others did not accept the results. They had earlier called for the cancellation of the exercise in view of its imperfections. It is sad that the fate of another well-funded and adequately prepared poll will be decided at the courts.
Unfortunately, Nigerians no longer trust the courts in handling election matters because of some tainted verdicts emanating from the apex court in recent times over some decided election matters. The President-elect has extended the olive branch to his opponents and promised to be fair to all Nigerians. This is not enough in a fractured poll. He should consult more with his opponents and other stakeholders for the best way forward. It is good that the aggrieved parties have decided to seek redress through the courts instead of resorting to self-help.
Regardless of the outcome, the fragile situation we found ourselves now could have been avoided if INEC did the right thing. Uploading the results from the polling units to the IReV portal would have cleared all doubts and make the outcome more credible and transparent. It would have saved all of us from the controversies trailing the Saturday exercise. Why did INEC renege in doing what it promised Nigerians and the international community it would do? When people in high places pontificate on the fight against corruption and yet refuse to do the right thing in a general election, then the country is in trouble. Corruption is not about not stealing of public money or elevation of nepotism or clannishness alone, it is about strengthening democratic institutions such as INEC, the judiciary and the security agencies and others. If those who champion the anti-corruption crusade are allegedly compromising the integrity of the electoral system, then we are in trouble without an end in sight. And where election outcome is influenced by the incumbency factor, democracy is imperiled and doomed for ever and ever. Democracy is not about conducting an election every four years and declaring results no matter how citizens view such results and asking those aggrieved to approach the courts if not satisfied. Democracy is about truth telling. It is about being honest and transparent. It is not about conducting a wuruwuru and magomago exercise. A tainted mandate is not good for the holder and the opponents and even the country. Its ghost will continue to haunt the nation now and in the years to come if not quickly exorcised. Those in leadership position should realize that impunity has an expiry date. Injustice has an expiry date. Imposition has an expiry date.
The biggest discovery of this poll is the Labour Party under the leadership of Mr. Peter Obi and the Obi-Datti movement. They are the heroes of this poll. In all, what is at stake is the future of the country after the poll. INEC should get ready for the March 11 gubernatorial and State assembly polls. We don’t want to experience long wait for INEC officials or going to their office to convey them to the polling units.
Let the federal government provide adequate security in all parts of the country, more especially in areas where there is voter suppression, intimidation, harassment and threat to lives and businesses. Above all, the results should be uploaded in IReV portal to avoid creating doubts over the outcome. Now that the hoarding of the naira did not prevent vote buying, let the CBN governor make the old notes and new ones available to Nigerians so that we can move about and purchase our basic daily needs that do not require cash transfer. Enough of this punishment in the name of naira redesign and credible election.
