Well-meaning Nigerians are relieved that the misconceived bill which sought to impose “a maximum of six months imprisonment or a fine of no more than N100,000” on any Nigerian of voting age who refuses to vote “in all National and State Elections” which surprisingly scaled Second Reading at the House of Representatives recently has been withdrawn. Even the House Speaker, Mr. Abbas Tajudeen, who sponsored the controversial bill easily achieved the realization that it was poorly thought-out and hastened to withdraw it. Indeed, the widespread outrage the bill provoked was duly justified.
How can anyone sit in the comfort of the House chambers and attempt enacting a law that makes voting mandatory without first finding out the factors that watered the growing apathy towards voting? Indeed, there were several informed Nigerians who were ready to go to jail than allow any law to force them to vote.
For several years now, I have not voted in any election in Nigeria. I do
not even have a voter’s card and I have no intention of getting one any time
soon. My considered opinion is that almost every election conducted in this
country now by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) represents
a monumental insult to the intelligence of Nigerians.
How can Nigerians defy the elements and waste their precious time and
energy to go and cast their votes only for a few people to stay in the comfort
of a small room and announce whom they have decided to make the winner? From
the hideous revelations that emerge from the various election petitions tribunals
and the revolting accounts by election observers, sundry witnesses and the
media, voting in this country seems to have become just an instrument for
conferring credibility on electoral fraud.
During the 2023 governorship election in Abia State, it took the courage
and moral force of the Returning Officer, Professor Nnenna Oti, the Vice-Chancellor
of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, to ensure that the candidate
Abia people voted for was announced the winner. Mrs. Oti told the world that
overwhelming pressure was mounted on her from the INEC headquarters to discard the
authentic result and announce the concocted version that was authorized by her
superiors in Abuja, but she refused, because she did not want to soil her
relationship with God whom she had served with sincerity as a Christian.
Today, many people from several states in Nigeria proudly identify Abia
as their preferred state because within a very short time, Governor Alex Otti
has recorded marvelous achievements in the state and Abia people are
celebrating their good fortune daily. What would have been the case if the
Returning Officer had bowed to pressure and announced the wrong result? It is on
public record that after the 2023 elections, instead of celebrations everywhere
when the “winners” were announced, the country was in a very somber and
mournful mood, except, perhaps, in Abia State where spontaneous celebrations
erupted everywhere because the man they voted for was the man that was declared
the winner.
Governor Otti is able to freely work for his people because there are no
rapacious godfathers breathing down his neck and making several unreasonable
and crushing demands on him as payback for installing him as governor. This
should underline for Nigerians the exciting possibilities that credible
elections and having public officers duly elected by the people could yield in
this country. It also clearly advertises the terrible harm done on the life and
progress of Nigeria each time an election is rigged and the corrupt highest
bidder who feels no obligations to work for the people is imposed on them. As
long as candidates remain fully aware that the electorate retains the power to
elect and remove them, they would work to impress the masses and the country
would benefit from their efforts.
It can no longer be denied that we have at INEC a slew of unpatriotic
characters who lack the capacity to appreciate the sacred and strategic nature
of the assignment that has been put in their hands. And so, instead of seeing
themselves as impartial electoral umpires whose work is very vital to the survival
and development of the country, they brazenly take the liberty to redefine their
job and turn themselves into kingmakers who can impose even criminals on the
people as leaders with utmost impunity!
Why then should anybody take the pains to dignify this periodic charade INEC
organizes in the name of elections?
How long shall this country be burdened by an INEC that the Nigerian
people no longer trust? How long shall Nigerians continue to tolerate what
appears to be the electoral body’s remorseless determination to perennially sabotage
the growth and development of the country and the future of the citizenry
through the imposition of incompetent and ethically challenged leaders?
Sadly, INEC has also succeeded in dragging the once hallowed judiciary
which should be the last hope of the common man into the same slimy pit of
disrepute in which it now proudly wallows. The most common joke among many
Nigerians today is: “Go to Court!” This is one term INEC and the morally
bankrupt politicians have created and popularized which carries a very
injurious connotation that clearly tells the petitioner: Just go there and
waste your time and resources!
How to reverse these very unsightly situations that have turned Nigeria
into a laughing stock before the rest of the world is what should engage the
attention of responsible lawmakers and not seeking to unleash a law to compel
the people to dignify the drab joke INEC puts together periodically in the name
of elections.
It is too late now to talk about appointing “credible people” to run
INEC. Given the amount of money that floods the INEC coffers during elections
from government subventions and donations from international agencies, which
runs into hundreds of billions of naira (plus the hundreds of millions that allegedly
flow into the hands of INEC officials from corrupt and desperate politicians), it
has become useless to trust anyone that works in that badly tarnished
organization anymore.
The only option open to this country now is to outsource the electronic transmission
and collation of the results of the elections to a reputable foreign software development
company. Let’s not even bother to mention anything that sounds like “national
pride” because none presently exists in this badly sullied country.
This option would offer such a transparent process that anybody with an
android phone or a computer can stay anywhere, log onto the INEC website and
monitor the progress of the elections. Nobody can now come out tell us about
“glitches” which is just an excuse to return to the old, easily corruptible way
of conducting elections.
In fact, we can even conduct paperless elections. All it would require
would be to provide laptops connected to
the internet at every polling unit. Once somebody thumbs on the face or party
log of his preferred candidate, it will register at the appropriate section on
the INEC server. This will even gratify the long sought opportunity for
Nigerians abroad to participate in our elections.
Why do I prefer a “reputable foreign software development company”? Many
foreign companies are now wary of indulging in unethical practices overseas. We
all were witnesses some years ago when some foreign companies, like Siemens,
Willbros, etc., were involved in ugly bribe scandals in Nigeria. The companies
were taken to court in their various home countries and huge fines were imposed
on them. But, sadly, after some noise in the media here, nobody heard anything
again about any punishment meted out to the Nigerian officials that received
those huge bribes from the foreign companies.
I don’t care who wins in any election as long as he is the people’s
choice. Recently in America, we saw how Donald Trump who was disliked by the
vocal minority swept the polls. Nobody went to court because the Americans
trust their electoral system and they know that Trump’s victory indeed
represents the will of the majority. Even in many countries in Africa now, free
and fair elections are taken for granted.
How long shall Nigeria continue to embarrass itself, the continent of
Africa and entire black race with the kind of crude, horrible elections which
INEC conducts every now and again? Why must everyone continue to watch
passively as a few vile characters at INEC and base politicians continue to
ruin the credibility of our electoral system and the judiciary (with disputes
over election results) and stagnate growth and progress of the country? How
long should Nigeria’s politics remain the dirtiest in the world?
Nigerians can no longer afford to allow an insignificant minority made
up of morally bankrupt politicians and unpatriotic and corrupt INEC staff to destroy
our organized systems and hold the country to ransom. Every Nigerian must now
insist on transparent elections as the first step in the effort to sanitize the
country. If the National Assembly members are unwilling to push for a law that removes
human interventions from the electoral process, members of their constituencies
should organize themselves and recall them – a very simple process, by the way.
It is because their determination to remain insensitive to the people’s
feelings has so far brought no consequences to them that they persist in it.
During the 2023 elections, INEC went to the National Assembly with so
much flourish to get the lawmakers to enact a law making electronic
transmission of results mandatory. Many Nigerians applauded and supported the
move and the successful passing of the bill sparked off jubilations across the
nation. Many Nigerians abroad were so excited that the country was going to
experience real democracy for the first time. Several of them bought air
tickets and flew to Nigeria to be part of the very exciting experience that
signaled the emergence of a new Nigeria. They posted pictures of themselves
brandishing their flight tickets on the social media.
But at the end of the day, it was the same INEC that invented “glitches” and used that as an excuse to
relapse into the same old, easily corruptible process of manual transmission
and collation of results, thus dashing the hope of the people.
That is why I insist that any election that would allow INEC officials
to manipulate the process is not worth anybody’s time.
Nigerians must insist on that. Who conferred on INEC officials the right
to choose our public officers for us? Is that not a huge insult? Why are we suddenly
witnessing a rash of defections that is threatening to turn Nigeria into a
One-Party state? Is it not because of the crushing fear that the ruling party,
not INEC, would probably decide who wins or loses in the next elections? Is
that not egregious enough in a supposedly democratic country?
I know there are other inhibiting factors like threats, violence and
inducements during elections. That can easily be handled for now by cancelling
the elections wherever they occur, but let us fix the core problem first, which
is, retrieving from INEC the power to impose leaders on us!
Indeed, credible elections are richly rewarding. Nigerians deserve a
taste of it and should no longer hang their hopes on the ethical configurations
of INEC officials. Let reliable technology help us. Certainly, a new Nigeria is
possible, so let’s all rise and work for it.
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