Lessons From Osun Poll

The off-season election cycle in Osun state has come and gone with its surprises and disappointments.

An aspect of it that will linger for a while and possibly influence the forthcoming general election in 2027 is the opportunity it offers for us all to learn some vital lessons that will further consolidate on the gains of the democratic process.

In the event that such lessons are missed perhaps it will result in nail-biting situations that are unhelpful to Nigeria’s ambition to be part of the league of nations with enduring legacies in democratic practice.

As the days to the election approached, few gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the benefit of the doubt, given past experiences. The electoral body itself knew that much despite assurances that with its new leadership in place, old things have gone and all things have come anew.

Furthermore, INEC must be persuaded by the outcome of the Osun poll to accept that the people’s tolerance level is increasingly wearing thin. A lot is expected of it and excuses of any kind that can harm its credibility and integrity are unacceptable. They also know that the days of blaming glitches and network failures are numbered as the people themselves have developed strategies that could make such an idea appear uninformed.

The greatest lesson to be learnt is that the people themselves must protect their mandate, whatever it takes. This proved decisive in ensuring that the will of the people prevailed in that election, which attracted high-level interest.

The need for unrelenting vigilance and the deployment of technology outside the official cycle enabled people to monitor their votes in real time and, to a reasonable extent, thwart attempts to manipulate the outcome.

It is pertinent to emphasise this critical point, which has been the bane of past elections, because voters erroneously believed that their civic duty ended with casting their ballots. The Osun poll has revealed that protecting those ballots by any legal and necessary means is also part of exercising their franchise, deepening the electoral system and, by extension, democracy itself.

Observers noted the efforts of high-profile external influences to interfere with the election, but these were effectively checked by the people who refused to yield to such absurd meddling.

Perhaps it is also important to point out that such unyielding interest among the people is traceable to the confidence instilled in them by the quality of governance exhibited by the political actors in charge of state affairs.

That, in a way, will serve as a lesson for the incumbent political actors seeking electoral favours from the people as 2027 looms in the horizon. It brings to the fore the inexorable fact that a minimally satisfied citizenry is not easily persuaded to rock the boat.

The security agencies deployed to perform surveillance duties, confronted by the power of the people, knew better than to extend their boundaries.

There may be the argument that Osun is just a small electoral space and could not be a good example in the prevailing circumstances. Maybe. Still, it is large enough, experimentally speaking, to teach the needed lessons on how to and how not to conduct an election.

The inescapable truth is that Nigerians are tired of going round in cycles and coming out with the same well-worn story of electoral malpractice that neither helps the democratic process nor the image of the participants across the spectrum. Nigerians seek urgent improvement in the opportunities to play assigned roles in choosing those who direct the affairs that affect their lives. They want to beat their chest in self-adulation that the leaders they seek are the leaders they got when all is said and done.

With the widespread failures in governance and the hardship that  it brings about, the people themselves are beginning to understand that short term benefits mortgage their conscience in ways that inhibit not just the advancement of the present generation but also the chances of the next generation actually making a meaningful beginning and therefore make the judgement of posterity inevitable. When a people gets to this position in their historical march, what happened in Osun becomes easy to comprehend.

For the old brigade politicians used to having their access to power, money and influence speak and work for them even against the will of the people, Osun teaches them to rethink.

The philosophy that all is fair in politics is soon to hit the brick wall built by the sheer determination of citizens who have roused from self-induced slumber and have refused to be taken for granted any more. The incompetence and other excesses of the ruling class have been exposed, and the people are no longer afraid to look their oppressors in the face, and proclaim, in deafening decibels, enough is enough.