On Saturday February 25, 2023 Nigeria’s registered voters defied sun and rain to line up at the various polling units across the country to cast their votes.
Despite technology glitches, Nigerians were still patient with the process. This was until it began to look like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not exactly on the level when it blamed technology for the glitches. This is so because many of the problems appear to be institutional.
There are many reports of electoral officials who failed to show up on time, thus in many polling stations, the voting process started very late and eventually lasted to the late hours of the night.
INEC was so ill equipped that we saw patriotic citizens volunteering their personal generators to provide light and energy to charge some of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) equipment.
Other than this, there are so many authentic videos showing men in uniform snatching ballot boxes. There were also men in uniform destroying already cast ballots, while policemen stood by as thugs threatened voters. All these seem to lend credence to complicity of high up individuals if not state actors!
Other than this, Nigerians also waited patiently to see the results of their polling units uploaded to the INEC server to no avail. In some cases, after several trials only the Senatorial and House of Representatives results were uploaded to INEC server while the presidential results were often not uploaded.
This development has caused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Mr Peter Obi and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar to raise the alarm over alleged moves by INEC to manipulate the presidential election results.
The Obi-Datti Media Office had raised the alarm over what it alleged is an underhand move to manipulate the presidential election results across the country following the alleged refusal by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission to upload much of the election results to the INEC server at the polling stations.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Head, Obi-Datti Media Office, Diran Onifade, in Abuja. He said, “It is curious, unacceptable, and smacks of fraud that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) device could nobly transmit the Senate and House of Representatives results, but cannot do that of the presidential.
“The Obi-Datti Media Office finds it curious that the BVAS would choose which results to upload and which not to upload. Certainly, this smacks of a serious fraud aimed to torpedo the wishes of the Nigerian electorate who have already decided that things can no longer continue to go wrong in Nigeria, using the ballot box to do so.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be held responsible for this flagrant anomaly that defies logic, as the Obi-Datti Media Office finds what is developing as a recipe to manipulate the process and truncate the electoral wishes of the Nigerian masses.
“We also find unbecoming, the reported interference of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike. We call on all relevant bodies to do the needful and prevent the Governor from meddling in the electoral process.”
Also the president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Joe Ajaero has in a statement titled, “ Is INEC Subverting Nigeria?” dated February 26, 2023, noted widespread irregularities and violence in Lagos and Rivers among others. He said, “Using of thugs in Rivers state and in Lagos to mete out violence and intimidate voters in these states run counter to the tenets and practice of Democracy.”
“The bloodlettings, harassment, ballot box snatching and willful destruction of election materials especially in these two states even in the presence of members of the Security agencies and INEC officials cannot be interpreted any other way except that of collusion. It calls for urgent investigation and action to reassure the people of their safety as the election runs its course.
The inability of INEC to prevent the recurrence in this election of the ills of past elections speaks volume of its ill-preparedness for this election as can be demonstrated in the late arrivals of critical election materials to the polling units and the almost deliberate tampering of the BVAS in many polling units including the outright refusal of its operatives to upload results from the BVAS to the INEC Servers in total violation of the rule of the election and INEC’s own election guidelines,” he further stated.
Comrade Ajaero warned that a nation at the precipice like ours cannot be stoking fires in its house filled with dry straws. “INEC should not be the one that will strike the match. Our worry is that when a people’s will are subverted, they may be forced to take laws into their hands and the stage seem to have been set for such conflagration and all hands should be on deck to avert it,” NLC president said.
These statements on alleged moves by INEC and other institutions of state like state governors in many of the states where voting was disrupted by agents of state governors has called to question the integrity of the process. Institutions of state should not be used or seen to be used to subvert the will of the people. Democracy may not be the best system of government but man has never been able to find any better alternative to democracy. We all know that the classic definition of democracy, is government of the people, by the people and for the people. When the will of a people in a democracy is subverted, there is always consequences and it is never palatable to those who superintend over such subversions? Given how we got here, INEC or any other stakeholder should not put our democracy in danger by its actions or inactions.
There was the viral video and picture of an injured woman beaten by thugs who returned to her polling unit with stitched face and bandages to cast her vote in Lagos. She symbolized the defiance of Nigerians against anti-democratic forces that unleashed terror on voters in Lagos, Edo, Rivers, and Kogi states among others.
Several Nigerians, who we can rightly call the heroes of democracy fought for the democracy we are enjoying today. Many lost their lives to the struggle to send the military back to the barracks. It was a tedious struggle in which several transitions to civil rule programmes by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida failed, until 1999 when there was successful transition to democratic rule under the General Abdulsalami Abubakar administration. Since 1999 we have been having uninterrupted democratic governance, nothing should be done to disrupt this democratic governance as a result of the failure of INEC to do the right thing.
It is noteworthy that President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed the INEC chairman and other officials of the electoral body has severally promised Nigerians and the international community that he is committed to leaving a legacy of free, fair and transparent electoral process that would engender smooth transition from his administration to another administration. Buhari needs to walk the talk. He has to make INEC do the right thing by ensuring that the will of Nigerian people in this election circle is not subverted by any means.
The mood of citizens is brittle at this time. As such, it is necessary that INEC helps build confidence by ensuring a free, fair outcome lest, the new administration will be handicapped by an utter lack of followership.
MAY NIGERIA REBOUND
