2015 Polls: Thumbs up for INEC, Nigerians
The 2015 general elections in Nigeria, like a piece of music, has come and gone but the melody lingers. From the not-too-cheering history of elections in the country, the melody that now lingers is a sweet one given that largely, the conduct of the elections on March 28 and April 11 marked a remarkable departure from past experiences.
Though it was not an all smooth process, Nigerians still see reason to cheer and commend, more so for the break away from the past when elections were characterized by massive rigging, violence, rejection of results and subsequent court actions that took months to resolve.
In the past, outcome of elections was decided by a few individuals to public amazement and this created disenfranchisement and disinterest among the electorate.
The 2015 polls started with the introduction of card reader machine, a system alien to Nigerians who were used to paper identification and voting method. The propriety or otherwise of the use of the new system generated debate among Nigerians. Some people doubted the efficacy of the technology while others argued based on selfish interest.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), convinced on the practicability of the technology, having had some field tests of the equipment, insisted on its integrity, believing that the new technology would eliminate human errors and block rigging chances.
The card reader was also meant verify and ascertain the validity of the permanent voter cards (PVCs) presented by voters; show disaggregated data of accredited voters in male/female and elderly/youth categories for planning and national research purposes; and send the data of all accredited voters in the election to INEC’s central server.
The use of the card reader did not only give the electorate confidence that their votes would count, but also made large scale rigging by desperate politicians difficult. This assisted to give credibility to Nigeria’s democratic process before the international community.
International observers such as representatives from the European Union, Commonwealth, African Union and ECOWAS also commended the elections, describing them as peaceful and credible.
Head of the EU observer mission, Santiago Fisas, while giving the elections a clean bill of health, strongly encouraged INEC, in spite of strong tension and criticism, to maintain the highest level of impartiality.
Similarly, the Commonwealth Observer Mission, AU and their ECOWAS counterparts, also described the elections as transparent and credible. Former Ghanaian President and Head, ECOWAS Mission, John Kuffor, said the elections were peaceful; commended INEC and urged it to continue in that direction.
Again, as promised by INEC, there was no deployment of soldiers at the polling booths against the earlier apprehension by certain politicians and the electorate who had feared that the presence of military personnel would scare voters. Instead, soldiers were seen on roads to check recalcitrant behaviours.
It is noteworthy that Nigerians are now beating their chest, congratulating themselves on the peaceful and largely orderly conduct of the elections that produced choice candidates. Considering that most elections prior to the President Goodluck Jonathan had been marred by serious irregularities and political violence with notable stakeholders rejecting election result, attacking others and the electoral body, the 2015 presidential election result was outstanding in many respects. The actors, including INEC, treated the matter with decorum.
It instructive for us however, to point out that there were reported pockets of violence in the governorship elections. Many states such as Rivers, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Osun, Kogi and some others witnessed bloodshed and snatching of electoral materials by thugs.
The gubernatorial election was somewhat fraught with low turnout and violence perpetrated by hired thugs who were out to ensure that their principals did not lose the elections. Their mission was to disrupt elections in areas where they thought their opponents had stronghold.
We are pained that in spite of this huge gain and improvement, in some places, thugs were reported to have threatened INEC officials with guns and other dangerous weapons before snatching electoral boxes while in other areas killings and tearing of voters cards were reported.
Most painfully, at least, five persons were killed in Benue, four feared dead in Kebbi, and two each in Rivers and Lagos. There were also killings in Bauchi, Plateau and Ebonyi states.
The spirit of disruption engineered by desperate politicians to win elections at all cost contrasted with the character of President Goodluck Jonathan who demonstrated that there was no big deal in sitting presidents could lose election by conceding defeat and congratulating his opponent.
On the whole, we are happy with the conduct and outcome of the elections which produced candidates that reflect the wish of the people. On this score, we agree with former President Olusegun Obasanjo who noted that Nigeria’s democracy was fast maturing.
The introduction of the card reader in the conduct of the elections, though novel with some level of impactions, was central to the peaceful conduct of the elections as the voters were confident that their votes would count.
We however, strongly suggest correction of observed imperfections in the electoral process such as the malfunction of the card reader machine in future elections. We also recommend continued use of the machine in future elections.