By Linus Aleke
This is not the first time that unsuccessful candidates at the polls in Nigeria are raising dust over the legitimacy, credibility, or otherwise of the poll.
Precedents in the Election Petitions Tribunal and Supreme Court verdicts on presidential, legislative, and subnational elections are enough testimony that political parties, actors, and those sympathetic to them lack the milk of sportsmanship.
Curiously, this election witnessed the highest number of forecasts from clairvoyant practitioners, who concealed selves under the roof of prophets.
But all that is history now as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has declared the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, winner of the 2023 presidential elections, bringing to nothing predictions of those whose prophecy did not align with INEC’S declaration.
Interestingly, the fun fare that often accompanies the announcement of presidential election results in major cities, in Nigeria was conspicuously missing as citizens went about their legitimate businesses without expression of joy, agony, or resentment.
Before the announcement of the election results, it was reported that some party agents stormed out of the collation centre to register their parties’ misgiving about the handling of the process by the electoral umpire.
They, however, did not end their protest by walking out on INEC but also, addressed a joint press conference where they requested for outright cancellation of the election, as well as called for the probe of INEC leadership for compromising the process.
Nevertheless, the ruling party reacted to the call for the cancellation of the election, describing the call as a treasonable offence.
Chieftain of the ruling APC, and member of the campaign council, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, said that the law provided for how critical stakeholders in an election can seek redress if they are dissatisfied with the process.
Like President Muhammadu Buhari, Ndoma-Egba asked the opposition to go to court.
This advice is in line with the nation’s extant laws and calls by international observer groups to forestall the breakdown of law and order.
It is also, instructive to note that the events of the past few days corroborate the thoughts of human rights lawyer, Prof Mike Ozekhome, who often will say that God is a Nigerian.
The prophet of doom who had predicted violence, before, during, and after the election should also hide their heads in shame, just like the US think tank that predicted the likely break up of Nigeria in 2015, is still swimming in the shame of their inaccurate prediction, indeed God is a Nigerian, apologies to Ozekhome.
But does this God factor prevent citizens from asking pertinent questions; was the election compromised as alleged by the opposition and some civil society groups?
Did INEC adhere to the provisions of the Electoral Act? Why were election results not transmitted as was the case in Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun states? Are answers to these questions responsible for the lack of pomp and pageantry that usually accompany the announcement of the winner of the presidential election in Nigeria.
A civil society activist, and domestic observer, Ms Nma Odi, said this is the worst election she had witnessed since the return to democracy in 1999.
Odi, who was quest at Arise news, said her team of observers went to over 20 polling units before 8.30am and did not see any INEC personnel or material.
She posited that it was when they got to the Kabusa registration area that they saw many INEC vehicles, moving to their various polling units.
She averred that her team saw one polling unit in that Kabusa registration area that has over 1000 registered voters, saying “the polling officials were on the ground but did not bother to set up and when I took pictures of the area. They attempted to force me to leave the area but I resisted and told them I needed the picture to send my report to the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room”.
“But while we were complaining of Abuja, the situation of the southeast was so bad. At a point, we issued a statement, only six per cent of the entire South-East had polling officials and electoral materials.
“The worst case was noticed in Okpara Avenue, opposite the INEC office in Enugu. The polling units there had no polling officials or electoral materials, up till noon. This is the worst election I had observed since 1999.
“I have never seen the kind of thing I saw on the field during this 2023 election. When they arrive late, they will take their time to paste things on the wall. They take another time to do voter education for voters who had been in the queue since 7am.
“It was after these unnecessary things that they will start accreditation if the BVAS is working. The next thing you will hear is that the ink is finished and this is the most expensive election, over one trillion naira, minus funds from donor agencies.
“A former NLC President called the civil society situation room around noon from Bornu State to complain that they had not sighted a single polling officials. Similar calls were coming from all over.”
Another guest on the Arise Election Studio, Mr Adeyinka Olumide Fusika (SAN), said that only INEC cannot take the blame for the lack of transparency in the 2023 elections.
He said, “I don’t want to speak for INEC, appearance sometimes reflects reality. INEC is not the only player in this election. Nigerian politicians are very crafty, earlier, we were told of polling units without a pad and ink. INEC would have provided those materials or would have made arrangements for enough personnel to man the polling units. It is unthinkable to believe that INEC would not have done that”.
He further pointed out that Nigerian politicians do a lot of surveys and they know their areas of strength and weaknesses.
“As they are planning to win, they are also planning contingencies in an event that things did not turn out as planned. I am not saying that was what happened, but don’t rule out a situation where the polling officials are also influenced by an interested party not to be at their duty post on time. To disenfranchise voters in areas where a particular candidate is not strong.
“He could compromise electoral officials to delay polling in such areas by instructing the polling officials to arrive at the polling units in the afternoon instead of the 7am. And if they cannot achieve that it could tell them that there is no ink or other polling materials.
“INEC alone cannot deliver free and fair elections, they need the cooperation of Nigerians. You saw the report on eligible voters who trooped out to vote in their polling units in Warri, only to be told that polling is already over.
“Politicians practice democracy, but do not believe in it. They could do anything to make them win. I think what INEC should do going forward is to find a way to remove state structure completely. It is only when there is a federal election like this that we see a semblance of the election.
“What the states do is that if there are 20 LGAs the party in power will win all the positions from chairman to councillor, without the opposition party getting anything. You see ballot papers not counted thrown away somewhere, it is Nigerians that are doing all these things,” he posited.
Responding to the scenario painted by Fusika, Ms. Nma Odi said, “After I spoke, somebody from that end was trying to defend INEC. I actually would have loved to also defend INEC because when we saw BVAS and elections in 2022, we were overjoyed. When we followed the Anambra state elections in 2021, when we saw results uploaded on time in Akwa, the same thing with Ekiti and Osun we were overjoyed.
“As a matter of fact, by 9pm, over 80 per cent of the results were already uploaded. I want to ask the person defending INEC there, was it the compromised INEC officials that made INEC not upload the results of the election on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV)? So, I just want to put the questions on the table, because you can defend INEC, for all you care, but the thing we saw on the field during the elections was unthinkable.”
Odi posited that the election observer group that is observing elections to protect INEC, are yahoo-yahoo observers, stressing, “They don’t know that this democracy came with blood.”
Asked about the implications of displaying thumb printed ballot before voting, another senior lawyer on the Arise programme, Mr Kunle Adegoke (SAN), said what transpired concerning the individuals mentioned, is something that is not statutorily correct.
He said it was wrong, and an offence under the Electoral Act 2022, for anybody, whatever the status of the person to vote and display to the people or leak information about which particular candidate somebody else voted for.
In this regard, he said, “We see that what the president and other people that you mentioned did is not only sanctionable, it is criminal.”
“It is completely out of place if high-ranking government officials are the ones that are seen perpetrating such act that is not only violating the position of the electoral act but has set a very wrong and criminal precedent that the fewer privilege individuals may want to copy,” he added.
