July 17, (THEWILL) – As politicians across party divides in the country are strategising on how to secure victory during the 2023 general election, Nigerians are also looking towards the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deliver a free, fair and credible election.
Many Nigerians feel that INEC’s conduct of general elections in the past has not been satisfactory and they are yearning for an improvement. This position was corroborated by the European Union Election Observer team in its report on the 2019 general elections. It said that the elections were marred by severe operational shortcomings and lack of transparency. The group also lamented the inability of INEC to release results on time due to logistic challenges.
In its own reports, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room equally expressed disappointment on the poor showing by INEC and various security agencies during the 2019 general election. It said that despite expectations that the 2019 presidential poll would be well organised after the initial postponement, the exercise was marred by serious lapses on the part of the electoral umpire and security agents.
“Situation Room is, however, disappointed by the serious lapses observed with the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday, February 23, 2019.
“Despite the elections being conducted against a background of an earlier postponement on February 16, 2019, on grounds of logistics challenges, it still suffered from major logistic lapses.
“In addition, the election was marred by violence, security lapses and instances of overreach. Other challenges include compromised INEC officials and partisan security operatives,” Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre and Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, said.
Although INEC had been commended for its good performance in off-cycle elections, especially in the 2020 governorship elections in Ondo and Edo States, Yiaga Africa has equally, in its review of the conduct of the 2021 governorship election in Anambra State, lamented that the election was marred by delays in the deployment of materials to polling units and general logistic challenge and called for concerted efforts to avoid a repeat of such lapses in future elections.
But despite this skepticism about the performances of INEC, a high turnout of eligible voters was recorded during the continuous voter registration exercise across the country which, made INEC to extend the deadline for the registration by 60 days from the June 30, 2022 deadline.
This is an indication that the citizens had shrugged off the past disappointments of INEC’s performance and they are ready for the coming election.
It was gathered that the recent signing of the Electoral Act 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari, which granted power to INEC to use electronic transfer of election results had made many Nigerians to believe that their votes will count this time around.
Also the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, (BVAS) has given the people the confidence that votes will count and future elections will be free, fair and credible.
Thus with great enthusiasm, the youth thronged various registration centres to register and obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to enable them vote in the 2023 general election.
The first challenge facing INEC is how it will satisfy everybody who wants to register, by registering them and ensuring that they obtain their PVCs before the general election takes place between February and March 2023.
One of the biggest challenges facing INEC is the worsening insecurity across the country, which has led to the burning of its offices and materials in various parts of the country.
There is also the challenge of expanding voter access to polling units in the context of a growing population and the growth of new settlements across the country..
INEC on its own has also identified the challenge of vote buying as one of the issues that may serve as major obstacles ahead of the 2023 general election, if not addressed early.
Speaking on this, the former Oyo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC, Dr Mutiu Agboke, gave the warning recently when he said vote buying, amongst other issues, remains a major concern for the Commission in preparation towards the 2023 General Elections.
He, however, gave the assurance that INEC is working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to ensure the prosecution of persons arrested in the recent Ekiti governorship election, which he described as an assault on Nigeria’s democracy.
Agboke added that action would commence as soon as the EFCC completes its investigation, urging all security agencies and political class to continue to join hands with the commission to tackle the menace.
Other obstacles to major elections, as identified by the former Oyo REC, include transportation of INEC officials and materials, issues of logistics, late opening of polling units, technical challenges, payment of ad-hoc staff and security challenges.
He noted that within the four and half years he had served as REC in Oyo State, the problem of transportation of its officials and materials were usually created by the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), noting that now that the union had been proscribed in the state, the commission would have to source vehicles elsewhere to move the electoral materials on election days.
Agboke appealed to the media to be factual, objective and professional in reporting the forthcoming general election in the state.
He urged the media to encourage the electorate to collect their unclaimed PVCs, adding that the introduction of BVAS by the commission, which he described as a game changer, would put an end to snatching of ballot boxes and forging of election results in the electoral process.
Agboke affirmed that the commission would ensure a transparent, credible, free and fair 2023 general election.
In an interview with THEWILL, a public affairs analyst based in Abuja, Nduka Anthony, also described the lingering insecurity across the country, epileptic power supply and general infrastructure deficit, as well as logistics problems, as challenges facing INEC. The commission is not in denial of these obstacles, but it has said that it is determined to tackle them headlong.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, told THEWILL that the commission is aware that the 2023 general election will come with challenges and it is determined to surmount these challenges and conduct a free, fair, credible and inclusive election.
He said, “The growing insecurity in several parts of the country and the increasing number of IDPs will pose the biggest challenge to the conduct of the 2023 general election. So many of the IDPs are living in the houses of friends and relatives and they have lost their PVCs. It is almost impossible to recreate their polling units.”
Okoye assured that INEC would do its best to address all the challenges ahead of the election, including technology, logistics and people living with disabilities.
On the operational challenges of technology, Okoye said the commission would continue to learn from issues and challenges that arise from the deployment of technology and it would continue to innovate and improve on them.
“The commission will not be looking backward, but it will continue to improve on its technological base and innovations. It will continue to work with security agencies to protect our equipment and personnel.
“With the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) and the uploading of polling unit level results, violence has left the collation centres and reverted back to the polling units. The commission will expand the base of the training of its ad-hoc staff to acquaint them more with the workings of the BVAS and other technological innovations of the commission,” he said.
He also gave the assurance that the commission would reverse the challenge of logistics and open the polls on time to enable Nigerians to have a good voting experience.
He said that INEC was addressing the issues of security under the auspices of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on election security.
“The commission is also addressing the huge issue of transporting large cache of security personnel on Election Day.
“The commission has through its Gender and Inclusivity Desk been relating to the various associations of persons with disability to collect data for the purpose of deploying assistive materials appropriately and strategically to the polling units.”
He also promised that INEC would deploy power generating sets to its registration area centres and deploy GP tanks, buckets, mats and toiletries to these places because of infrastructural deficit.
Okoye agreed that some of the schools and public places used as polling units and registration area collation centres are in a very terrible state, saying the commission will supply a comprehensive list of these schools and public places to the local and state governments for remedial action.
He said that of great concern to the commission is how to increase voters turnout in future elections.
He particularly expressed satisfaction with the recent high turnout of voters across the country, adding that one of the challenges facing INEC is the large number of uncollected PVCs.
Okoye urged the media to help to educate Nigerians that it is not only important to register, but also more important to collect the PVCs when they are ready.
Despite the challenges facing INEC, Nigerians expect nothing less than a credible general election in 2023.
Speaking with THEWILL, the Presidential Candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Mr Martin Onovo, described INEC as one of the major enemies of democracy in Nigeria.
“INEC has continued to violate the integrity of the ballot and the rule of law in many ways. INEC must not push Nigeria from a failed state to a collapsed state. In the past, INEC has disenfranchised voters; INEC has registered under-aged voters; INEC has allowed under-aged voters to vote; INEC has allowed voting without accreditation; INEC has falsified election results; INEC has frustrated the audit of election results. My advice to INEC is to maintain its independence and follow the highest paths of integrity and transparency at every stage of the elections”.
Also speaking with THEWILL in an interview, former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party , (PDP) , Chief Olabode George, thanked President Buhari on the new electoral law, which he said would end the era of physical movement of election results, which creates room for changing figures from point A to point B.
“I am throwing a bold challenge to the chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu. I know him personally. We have worked together before and he is trustworthy. He has the fear of God in him, but I need to remind him that he is concluding the apex of his career as Chairman of INEC. He has built a good career; he should let the concluding part be in gold.
“Despite whatever challenges, he must be honest as he used to be. He was the treasurer of our conference, the 2014 National Conference organised by former President Goodluck Jonathan and he performed well. I am challenging him openly, he should help this nation. I watched the French election held recently, they started exactly at 7am in the morning and by 7pm the voting closed. By 7:15pm the lady that lost the election congratulated the other party and I was impressed. Didn’t we have the competence to do that in this country? That is the question.
“INEC should conduct an election that will be acceptable to the winner and the loser. That is a challenge I am posing to the INEC and its chairman”, George said.
Former Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Philippines, Chief Yemi Farounbi, advised INEC to prove that it is unbiased, independent and impartial electoral umpire.
“It must avoid inconsistency and policy somersaults that will give people the impression that it is working for and with any political party”, he added.
How INEC, despite its pledge to perform creditably, will be able to overcome its challenges and give the nation a credible election, only time will tell.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
