January 16, (THEWILL) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) successfully conducted three governorship elections between 2020 and 2021 in Ondo, Edo and Anambra States, respectively, but it will need to roll up its sleeves and get ready for the big task ahead.
Although many Nigerians have in the past given the electoral umpire pass marks for its handling of off-cycle elections across the country, the question is, will it sustain this and perform creditably well in 2022, which is the year preceding the 2023 general election?
Starting from this month (January), INEC will monitor primaries conducted by political parties for the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State. Two major parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) have fixed their primaries for January 26 and January 27, respectively.
The INEC will also shift its attention to the primaries preceding the Osun State governorship election, which is scheduled for July. The Commission will be quite busy involving itself in monitoring the programmes of the various political parties and their preparation for both off-cycle governorship elections.
Apart from monitoring the progress of the presidential assent to the all-important Electoral Bill amendment, which is still pending, it is INEC’s duty to keep an eye on the long-awaited National Convention of the APC scheduled to hold in February 2022.
This year, the presidential primaries of the APC and the other 17 opposition political parties will hold and they must be monitored by the electoral body. The latter will have a lot of work to do in 2023 when governorship elections take place as scheduled in about 29 states. While states like Edo, Ondo, Bayelsa, Anambra, and Kogi have had off-cycle elections, Ekiti and Osun will have their governorship elections this year. So in the 29 states where governorship elections will hold in 2023, political parties will conduct primaries to pick their candidates for the elections and INEC is duty bound to be present in those states to monitor the events.
With such a busy schedule, many wonder how INEC will be able to cope with pressure and ensure that it delivers acceptable election results that will receive the approval of Nigerians.
INEC’s hands will, no doubt, be full with activities. This is in addition to its preparation for the forthcoming general election, which will take place in the first quarter of 2023. The electoral body is saddled with the task of supervising the importation of ballot papers and ballot boxes, which are usually produced abroad.
Many Nigerians believe that 2022 presents INEC with an opportunity to plan properly and prove to the world that it is capable of conducting credible elections that will usher in the kind of leaders that the people have always yearned for.
Speaking with THEWILL, Comrade Sola Olawale, a member of the Campaign for Democracy in Ogun State said INEC must sustain the tempo of good performance, which has earned it applause from Nigerians in recent times.
“INEC has presented a huge budget, which I believe will be approved. So the Commission will not have any excuse for failure. They are not new to the conduct of elections and so they should bring in their experience over the years and ensure that we have well accepted elections.
“Nigerians are impressed that INEC under Prof Yakubu Mahmood has improved our electoral processes and the INEC must translates the success in the off season elections to the general elections”.
A Chieftain of the APC and Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Mr Osita Okechukwu, has described the performance of INEC in recent elections as excellent .
“INEC has tremendously improved since the exit of Prof Maurice Iwu. Prof Jega did well and Prof Yakubu Mahmood is doing well. That is my honest assessment. The last Anambra State governorship election is a case study,” he told THEWILL.
He particularly commended the deployment of Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the Anambra election, saying that BVAS is the vaccine to election rigging.
INEC also submitted, “The BVAS has come to stay. So is the uploading of results from polling units on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time on Election Day. We are convinced that the introduction of technology in voter accreditation and result management is better than the best entirely manual process. It also increases public confidence in the process. We will continue to deepen the use of technology in our elections.”
In an interview with THEWILL, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education and Information, Barrister Festus Okoye, has said that, in terms of the electoral process, technology is the way to go.
He said, “Technology is the way to go. Technology reduces human interference in electoral process. It also makes the conduct of an election much more transparent and accountable. So we apply technology in terms of party’s nomination process. We are applying technology in terms of the application of election observers and of the media. We will apply technology in terms of the electoral process because that is the way to go.”
Okoye advised politicians to assist INEC by embracing democratic ideals in order to make the commission’s job easier as the country moves toward 2023.
“I believe politicians should embrace democratic ideals. When they embrace democratic ideals, they will operate within the confines of the rule of law and due process. They will conduct themselves and their campaigns in such a manner that benefits the electoral process. Party’s nomination processes must also be done in a way that is as accountable and transparent as possible. Only validated and nominated persons must be presented to the election management body as candidates by the political parties.
“Democracy is a work in progress and we must continue to cultivate it, nurture it and protect it. We must also continue to guard it because if we don’t do that, democratic forces will be on ascendancy. I believe all the stakeholders must stand firm with democracy, for it to succeed,” Okoye said.
Speaking with THEWILL, a prominent female politician, Prof Oluremi Sonaiya, urged INEC to listen to Nigerians on the way forward.
“I believe Nigerians have been expressing their opinions in this regard. They are urging INEC to engage more technology in the conduct of elections. I agree with that. Let us begin to start thinking outside the box. I am even of the opinion that we don’t have to run our elections in the same way in every part of the country.
“There are places in the world where elections are conducted on state by state basis. A state may decide that it will not use physical ballot paper on Election Day. Let us not force ourselves into an unworkable system. It is because we are trying to be uniform that we have problem,” Sonaiya said.
She said the use of technology will reduce the cost of elections and ensure transparency in elections.
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.
