By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Ever since the late United States president, Abraham Lincoln, identified and defined democracy as the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, voting has come to be identified as one of the pillars of the concept.

Usually, during elections, the whole society is mobilised to exercise its franchise in electing and changing governments. Voting is a cumbersome exercise that requires the supervision of electoral agencies, officials, and members of the security forces.

Experts argue that the integrity of elections is not guaranteed without the diligence of the security agencies, especially the police, which is closer among the security forces to guide secure voting. They say that no reasonable elections are credible if the outcome of the voting processes is found to be compromised by security agencies, particularly in abating malpractices such as rigging, ballot-boxes-snatching, thuggery, and acts of intimidation of opponents, among others.

Such compromises in the past, they also note, had aided the nasty experience of cancellation of the outcome of poll results, or upturn of administrations after discovery, through legal means, of electoral fraud.

Courts would not hesitate to change results and depose defaulters in elective offices, if the security forces, among other miscellaneous operatives, are found to have influenced the outcome of elections in any way.

A researcher, O.S. Afolabi, of the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, in an essay entitled, ‘The Police and Electoral Process in Nigeria’, had noted that elections and electoral democracy in Nigeria have often been accompanied with violence since the independence elections of 1959 in Nigeria.

According to him, the violence itself is directly related to the activities of miscreants, rioting, assassinations, ballot snatching, rigging, and general brigandage before, during, and post-elections, which have raised the need for more security personnel involved in elections in Nigeria.

“This is where the Nigeria Police comes in as the security organisation constitutionally charged with the maintenance of internal security of the country. While there is controversy over the role and place of the police in elections, much of the emerging literature on elections has not addressed the implication of the police in the larger electoral process in Nigeria, which underscores the role of the police in the electoral process, with policy prescriptions to guarantee the sanctity and credibility of elections in Nigeria.

He added that the march towards another general election in Nigeria is always characterised by questions as to the nature of elections and the credibility of electoral democracy in the country.

A study records that, after Nigeria emerged from military rule in 1999, the security services continued to play a critical role in elections.

It is as a result of this ugly trend that, ahead of another election year, members of the Nigerian Police Force, a non-strictly military force that has the pedigree of interfacing with the civilian populace, recently held a conference to plot strategies to prosecute the coming 2023 general elections.

The lecture and discussion, a three-day affair, was packaged as a retreat for senior police officers. With the theme, ‘Democracy and Electoral Process: The Role of Law Enforcement, the lecture was held at Owerri, Imo State, on October 31, 2022.

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It aimed at indulging senior police officers in academic exercises reviewing the many theories serenading election security, as well as practical demonstrations of ways and means to achieve the all-important goal of good election management.

One of the able resource persons drafted to speak at the parley was no other eminent ‘lecturer’ than a former commissioner of the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who last served as the resident commissioner in Akwa Ibom State after completing his two-term tenure, Mike Igini.

In Igini’s perspective, the conduct of an election is an all-involving complex process that nations embark on in peacetime.

“It is a multi-stakeholder responsibility of people of different organisations with varied backgrounds and values orientation. These stakeholders include INEC, Judiciary, Security Agencies, political parties/candidates, voters, CSOs, and the media,” he added.

His approach focuses on viable practices that can deliver security in Nigeria’s elections based on practical experiences of the subject matter, and on how best to achieve the goal of a credible election by 2023.

This, he outlined, is through the practical implantation of integrity into our electoral processes, with a focus on how security agencies will contribute to the achievement of sustainable electoral integrity and generate discussions along those lines.

His recommendations, he said, were drawn from the ten years of practical field experiences as they relate to our electoral processes, reflecting the objectives of the retreat.

The major motivation of Igini’s paper is informed by a raging argument by stakeholders that policemen and security agents should be allowed to cast their votes, days before elections, like their counterparts in other climes, like the United States and the United Kingdom.

The emergent fear in election management security is the fear of disenfranchisement of policemen during voting periods because of the centrality of their positions during the process.

In practical terms, Nigerian security operatives are often allowed to leave their duty posts on the Wednesday before a voting date, if the date falls on a Saturday. And they don’t usually depart until the next day, and even then, without their voting cards, and so, they cannot exercise their voting rights at all.

A summary of the aspects of disenfranchisement was contained in a report which stated, “While most senior officers have returned to their home stations until next Saturday, almost all junior officers, who make up the majority of the force, will remain in the field for at least another week.

“These officers will do the majority of the heavy lifting come election day, responding to possible incidents of violence and crime, as well as policing against vote buying and political interference in the electoral process.”

Arguments against disenfranchisement are often explained away in another fact that it is the responsibility of citizens to vote. “The law does not require citizens to vote, but voting is a very important part of any democracy. By voting, citizens are participating in the democratic process. Citizens vote for leaders to represent them and their ideas, and the leaders support the citizens’ interests.”

So, in short, why should policemen not be empowered to vote before election dates, if their duties on D-Day disallow them from performing their civic roles?

Meanwhile, disfranchisement, or voter disqualification, has been defined as the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person from exercising the right to vote.

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Nigerian policemen, including their overall bosses, the Inspector-General, have often argued, for, or have been inundated with requests that they should be empowered to allow the police and other security agencies to vote ahead of the Saturday of election “because they are often denied the rights to vote since they are fully engaged in that day, whereas they are part of the society who should also decide who their leaders should be.”

This challenge is often covered with propositions from a human rights perspective, that policemen, like their civilian counterparts, ought to be ‘empowered’ to vote on election days, even if they are on engagement, security duty-wise.

The importance of the police in security during elections had been captured by former Force Police spokesman, Frank Mba.

He said, “In many parts of the country, civil conflict and criminal violence continue to threaten voter turnout. Security agencies are necessary to ensure that Nigerians feel safe enough to head to the polls, and Nigeria’s Electoral Act names the police as the lead agency in providing election security.

“Civil society groups estimate that the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) will provide anywhere between 60 and 85 per cent of election security personnel, though the NPF has not confirmed these numbers. As a matter of strategy, we try not to give out numbers, but what I can say is that almost every police officer in Nigeria (approximately 350,000) will one way or another be involved in policing this election.”

This, experts note, invariably translates to the fact that because of the fear of election violence, largely because the security agencies find it difficult to resist political influence is no easy feat during Nigerian elections, many policemen end up being disenfranchised despite being empowered to vote with their possession of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

“Political parties have significant resources at their disposal to buy influence, and it is not hard to imagine that tired, hungry officers might be less resilient in the face of corruption, intimidation, or violence,” a report noted.

A substantial portion of Igini’s lecture is itemised in subheading 9, which deals with the protection of poll officials, voters, and electoral materials.

According to him, “this is one of the most important election security duties of the Nigeria Police that is at the heart of the conduct of credible elections.”

This, he states, is predicated on the fact that physical safety, both voters and election officials, is one of the indices to measure electoral integrity.

“No voter wants to risk his or her safety to cast a vote. Poll officials too decline their duties when faced with threats of violence. This may result in low voter turnout, unavailability of poll officials, and the integrity of the election.

“To avoid this agency (the police) are expected to perform certain crucial roles such as the protection of the physical safety of individuals; protection of electoral offices and locations; protection of electoral materials and arrest of electoral offenders, among others.

Others, in Igini’s words, are the investigation of electoral offences and prosecution where and when necessary, and the provision of deterrence measures against resorting to violence or fraud, as winning electoral strategies.

To perform these critical roles, he said, security agencies must know the various forms and nature of security threats that are usually associated with the nation’s electoral environment, some of which include violent campaigns and rallies and disruption of rallies and campaigns.

The other pertinent issue, he told his audience, pertains to the issue of rallies as a political right and duty of the police, especially in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 22 which “unequivocally declared political campaigns and rallies as activities that are legal and no registered political party or candidate shall be prevented from holding rallies or processions or meetings for their constitutional purposes.”

A lawyer, Igini specified that security for political campaigns, rallies, or processions, as statutory provisions under Section 91 of the Act, enjoins the Commissioners of Police across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to provide adequate security for all political rallies and processions supported by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

In terms of resolution of the conflict of venue and time, he harped, “The Nigeria Police has been placed under a statutory duty to, in a consultative manner, resolve conflicts arising from the use of venues and time between political parties. This should be done by applying the principle of first in time to apply, irrespective of whether it is the ruling party, either at the state or federal level of government.

“The country is currently in the season of intolerance and lack of regard for opponents’ constitutional rights guaranteed under Sections 91 and 95 of the Act to use all state apparatus, e.g. state-owned media (TV or newspapers, civic centres, stadia that belong to all citizens. Contrary to the clear provisions of the law, there have been disturbing reports from various states of denial of opposition parties from the use of venues applied for political campaigns, disruptions of rallies.”

Another issue addressed pertains to the challenges of enforcement by security agencies, most notably in the field of knowledge of electoral procedures, rules, and offences. This is done with the intent of enforcing and sustaining electoral integrity.

He said police officers should have a fair, if not, comprehensive knowledge of subsisting electoral laws, regulations, and guidelines, without which, he added, an officer may not be able to recognise electoral infractions when they occur.

These problems include transportation (non-provision of vehicles to convey security personnel to places of assigned duty on election day).

Igini said this “has always occasioned delays for the early opening of polls, creates anxiety and suspicion by voters who have been waiting for the arrival of poll officials, and sometimes leads to violence.”

The ex-INEC REC argues for the institution of welfare/allowance for personnel on election duty, through ‘a good practice’ that some special allowances are paid to security personnel deployed for election duties, particularly those deployed to polling units.

He notes that INEC usually pays some stipends to its ad hoc staff on election duty, “and also gives a little refreshment allowance through Supervising Officers (SPOs) to polling units’ security personnel. However, in his view, “from experience, many security personnel deployed on election duty are either not paid allowances they are entitled to or paid several months after the election.”

He calls for an adequate budget for election security and the release of funds, for the Nigerian police to plan early enough before the conduct of the election, “and to be able to effectively and efficiently address the challenges identified above (transportation and payment of allowances).

According to him, the approved election security fund budget should be released to the authority not later than two months before the general election next year. Such monies, he notes, should be disbursed to the various commands that should ensure that those entitled get these allowances.

In conclusion, he advocates that, like in the most advanced democracies of the West and even in neighbouring Ghana, “the conduct of election does not constitute security threats that requires mobilising the entire security organisations to have a successful election. It is a simple task and straightforward, but, in our country, democratisation process and consolidation of democracy are still work-in-progress.

“Democracy itself is not a final product that you graft into a society, but a set of principles and values, a dynamic process that grows with the growth and evolution of society depending on the nature and character of its elites as no nation can rise beyond the value orientation of its ruling elites.”