2015 Elections: INEC Faces Multiple Hurdles

Malam Suleiman Mohammed was one of the early callers at the Tukuntawa polling unit of the Kano metropolis when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) kick-started the continuous voters’ registration exercise in the North-West state. The exercise, which was conducted between November 12 and 17, was later extended to November 19. But in spite of […]

Malam Suleiman Mohammed was one of the early callers at the Tukuntawa polling unit of the Kano metropolis when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) kick-started the continuous voters’ registration exercise in the North-West state. The exercise, which was conducted between November 12 and 17, was later extended to November 19. But in spite of the two days extension, Mohammed, who had repeatedly visited the polling unit in the hope of getting himself registered, went back home disappointed day after day.  Not even the prompting of bribing the thugs that were reportedly in charge of the centre could make him get registered.
“I came here as early as 8am and gave N200 to the thugs who were helping people to get registered. I have been coming here since the beginning of the exercise but yet I couldn’t get registered even after paying the bribe”, Mohammed said, as his sweat-soaked face bore the furrows of sorrow.
Mohammed was just one among the millions of prospective voters in Kano State whose hopes of getting registered ahead of the 2015 election were dashed despite alleged attempts to bribe their way to do so. The exercise was also alleged to have been marred by several other irregularities ranging from late commencement, invasion of the registration centres by thugs, bribing of INEC staff, unserviceable printers and failure of computer batteries, as well as engagement of incompetent ad-hoc staff. It was alleged that the hitches prompted politicians into inducing INEC officials to register them in their private homes. Some INEC officials were allegedly arrested while conducting the exercise at the private homes of some politicians. This much was confirmed by the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Danyaya.
Although the Kano Emirate Council reportedly appealed to INEC to extend the exercise to allow prospective voters to be registered, the Kano State government threatened to institute a legal action against the commission. The states deputy Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje who issued the threat said: “Our people were highly mobilized both in the rural and urban areas. They came out enmasse for the exercise but their hopes were dashed by the commission. We don’t want to believe this is sabotage but we are of the view that it is an indication of lack of capacity by the commission to carry out a national assignment.”
The situation in Kano was similar to that of Lagos State where the issuance of permanent voters’ cards was scheduled to take place between November 12 and 17.  It was scheduled to hold at: Agege, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Ibeju-Lekki, Ifako–Ijaye, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Mushin and Ojo local government areas. The exercise was postponed in nine LGAs namely: Alimosho. Amuwo Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Oshodi-Isolo, Somolu, Surulere and Eti-Osa.
In spite of the declaration of a public holiday by the Lagos State government to enable civil servants participate in the exercise, it was characterized by tales of woe on the very first day as prospective voters were allegedly made to wait for several hours before the coming of INEC officials. Even with the extension of days for voters to cross-check their names in the displayed voters register and collect their PVCs in exchange for the old ones, residents said they did not see INEC officials at the polling units where they had registered in 2011. Among them was Lamidi Idowu, a civil servant who lamented that he spent his public holiday waiting in vain.
“I checked everywhere but didn’t see INEC officials at any centre, and I was not the only one. I live at Ejigbo and went to the centre where I registered but nothing like that was in place. I trekked to polling centres I knew existed around Ejigbo and beyond even up to Idimu but nobody was issuing PVCs”, Idowu said.  Similar tales were replicated at Lagos Island, Ibeju, Lekki, Ikorodu and other parts of Lagos State where residents said they were subjected to untold hardship in an attempt to obtain their permanent voters’ cards. Chief Ayinde Muritala, a resident of Agbado Oke-Odo said he eventually obtained his PVC after three days.
Interestingly it was the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Adekunle Ogunmola that raised initial suspicion over INEC’s inability to supply the PVCs. Ogunmola had announced prior to the commencement of the exercise that out of the over six million Lagosians that were registered by the commission to vote in the 2011 elections, the total number of eligible voters on the list to collect the PVCs  was only 4.8 million. No sooner had he made the pronouncement than Governor Babatunde Fashola raised eyebrows demanding to know why over one million Lagosians were missing on INEC’s registered list.
The controversies generated in some states over the non-availability of permanent voters’ cards have raised doubts over the successful conduct of the 2015 general elections. In spite of repeated assurances by the INEC that there was no cause for alarm, not many Nigerians are impressed. Many Nigerians have bared their minds over the issue.
Barrister Festus Okoye said it was rather unfortunate that so much confusion had characterized the distribution of permanent voters’ cards. “It seems to me that the electoral management body does not understand the enormity of the challenge of distributing the cards. They did not plan the distribution well; they clustered the distribution and that is part of the challenge. The distribution should have started earlier than now. It is coming too close to the elections and the political parties/ aspirants would want to make political capital out of any challenge the electoral management body has”, Okoye said.
Barrister Okoye attributed part of the confusion to what he described as the restrictive reading of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010. While acknowledging that the Act envisages continuous voters’ registration, he explained that anybody that had reached the voting age could walk into the nearest local government of INEC and get registered as a voter, saying, “By so doing the bazaars and national calamity called voters registration will be avoided.”
A political scientist and lecturer at the University of Lagos, Dr. Dele Siteolu said it was rather unfortunate that the exercise designed to bring about electoral sanity had been grossly mismanaged. “We are aware that the distribution of PVC had been so poorly conducted in many parts of the country, Lagos State inclusive. As we speak I am aware that the PVCs are yet to be distributed in some LGAs till the end of November”, Siteolu said.
In his reaction, the Senator representing Lagos East on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Gbenga Ashafa predicated his grouse with the process on the over one million prospective voters whose names were missing on the INEC registered list in Lagos State. He said: “It is obvious INEC had attempted to frustrate the APC, particularly in Lagos. How can the commission say that the 6.1million voters in the state in 2011 were reduced to 4.8million without convincing reasons?”   

2015 and the challenge of IDPs
The controversy over the successful conduct of the 2015 general elections is further compounded by the current insurgency in the North-East part of the country. This has raised questions not only over the possibility of conducting elections in the affected states but also the voting rights of the thousands of internally displaced persons from the zone, many of who have relocated to other parts of the country as IDPS.
The case of Adamawa State is particularly striking as internally displaced persons there have sought government assistance for the replacement of their lost voters cards to enable them participate in the 2015 general elections. This is because most of the displaced persons, particularly from the Northern and Central part of the state, said they left their voters slips at home in the wake of the insurgents’ attacks.
Mamman Gulak, a displaced person resident in Yola said he was desirous of voting in 2015 but that his new status might hinder his desire. “How can I vote when I am hungry? Nobody ever assisted me with a cup of rice since I escaped Boko Haram attack in Gulak. I did not take anything from my house. I will be happy to vote but cannot afford transport fare to INEC office or anywhere to process a new voter’s card, neither can I spend an hour on a queue when I am hungry”, Gulak lamented.
Another displaced person Mukhtar Michika said he was not ready to subject himself to the rigorous process of obtaining a new voter’s card. Michika, who said he lost valuables during an attack at his village, appealed to government to put in more effort at reclaiming towns and villages occupied by the insurgents so that the residents can go back and exercise their voting rights. “We are ready to cast our votes in 2015 because it is the best way to bring about change in Nigeria. We have suffered enough and our leaders have proved incapable of controlling insurgency. I advise IDPs to utilize their votes and vote wisely”, he said.
Malam Ahmad Sajoh, the spokesman to former Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako said the hope of Adamawa voters to participate in 2015 will be difficult and the election may turn out to be a mirage.
“It is the hope of everyone in Adamawa State that the 2015 elections be held in the state. But it may eventually remain just a wish. The reality is that all the indices that point to the possibility of holding elections in this state show a negative trend,” he said.
He said Boko Haram had practically occupied nearly a half of the state, while most of the displaced residents lost their voter cards, thus making it difficult for many to participate in the elections.
Sajoh posited that the effort by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide special polling centres for displaced persons may not solve the problem because the majority of the displaced live outside camps with thousands crossing to other states and neighbouring countries.
He added that the IDPs camps harboured people from Gwoza, Uba, Askira and Izige in Borno State, arguing it may not be possible for INEC to group voters in accordance with their respective constituencies for them to elect their representatives.
“The majority are in people’s homes within and outside the state. Others are in the Republic of Cameroon as refugees. So, how will INEC locate them to enable them vote? In addition, most of those who escaped for their dear lives did not remember to take their temporary voter’s cards. At least, my family did not. The camps harbour people from diverse places and not just persons from the same locality. In Yola, we have IDPs from Borno State. How do you sort them out to create polling units and how do you identify their constituencies for purposes of knowing the candidates they will vote for?” Sajoh argued.
He noted that government policies and the state of emergency in the state had negatively affected the possibility of holding elections even in areas not affected by insurgency. He said government’s handling of the war against insurgency and the ease with which Boko Haram took towns from Nigerian security forces had eroded the hope of conducting peaceful election.
“The Emergency Rule, for example, appeared to have only caged us for the insurgents to subdue. Otherwise, how do you expect a situation where Mubi was put under a dusk-to-dawn curfew for nearly a year, and yet when the insurgents came to take over the town, they arrived in broad daylight unchallenged and unmolested. How many will agree to stand on an election queue, knowing that the insurgents could overrun the area with ease on Election Day, if they so desire?” Sajoh added.

INEC STILL HOPEFUL THAT IDPs WILL VOTE
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it was working out models to ensure that internally displaced persons were allowed to vote in the 2015 elections. The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu said:  “The commission is working hard to ensure that IDPs are allowed to vote and various models are being explored. There has been engagement with every major stakeholders. One of the heart-warming things is that even the National Assembly might be considering an amendment of the law and that would go a long way.
But Barrister Okoye said a mere amendment of the law by the National Assembly to allow IDPs to vote would amount to a fruitless exercise. According to him, it gives the impression that we do not want the issue of insurgency resolved and for them to go home. “We should work towards the resolution of the insurgency; we should encourage the troops and other security agencies to secure our towns and villages ahead of 2015. The federal government should live up to its responsibility of providing for the peace and security of the citizens; internally displaced persons want to go home”, Okoye said.
The executive director, Civil Society and Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mr. Auwal Ibrahim Musa, said the only way to save IDPs from being disenfranchised is the provision of adequate security in the affected areas. “The only way out is for the government to ensure that adequate security is provided in those places. If the government is determined to do that they can help to ensure that security is provided in the affected places”, he said.

HOW INEC SHOULD HANDLE EXCESSIVE CAMPAIGN FUNDS
Another issue of concern to analysts ahead of the 2015 general elections is that of election campaign funds. With the lift of the ban on campaigns by INEC, analysts have asked the question of what INEC is doing to ensure compliance to the stipulations in the law on campaign funding, especially as it relates to section 91 sub sections 10 of the Electoral Act.
Barrister Okoye said most of the political parties were engaged in third party funding and campaigns, while others were using fraudulent means and fronts to campaign. “The National Assembly must amend the law to prohibit third party intervention in the electoral process. The law recognizes political parties and candidates and should not allow candidates, political parties and aspirants to hide behind mere organizations to carry out campaigns using funds that are obscene and cannot be accounted for”, Okoye said.
Musa said INEC does not have the capacity to monitor campaign spending. “If the Code of Conduct Bureau is not able to monitor and verify the claims of politicians about their assets declaration, I wonder what INEC will do when they are battling with lack of manpower and skilled staff that would be able to track the funding of campaigns,” Musa said.
However, INEC spokesman, Idowu said the commission had devised strategies to track campaign funds. Idowu said: “The commission is tracking campaign funding based on the provisions of the law.  Like the chairman had repeatedly said when this commission came on board in 2011, there was no existing mechanism to track campaign expenditure and so no attempt was even made to track it. But we have come a long way now, we are in a different position now, we have the structure and manpower in place to track campaign expenditure and we are tracking it. By the end of the day violators would face the law.”
There has also been allegations that INEC was under pressure to print ballot papers locally ahead of the 2015 elections.  The controversy over whether INEC should print ballot papers locally or otherwise stems from the argument concerning the security of the electoral materials. But Musa said the controversy arises over fears of politicians hijacking the process.  “If INEC is confident that there are places they can print the ballot papers without creating any suspicion or attempt by anybody to duplicate them in order to rig elections, let INEC test the confidence of Nigerians. But if they think it would be more secure to print outside for the purpose of securing peoples’ votes, it should go ahead. What Nigerians are interested in is not where ballot papers are printed, but the security and safety of their votes.”

‘2015 elections not a tea party’
The biggest question analysts have asked is that given the seemingly tough challenges ahead of the 2015 general election, how should the Professor Jega-led INEC navigate the murky waters to ensure a hitch-free poll?  Barrister Okoye said the 2015 elections would certainly not be a tea party for INEC. According to him, it would be full of challenges and blackmail. “This is why I considered it a tragedy that INEC bowed to pressure and dropped the creation of additional polling units. INEC should think through its processes and procedures”, he advised.
Musa said the way to a successful conduct of elections in 2015 is for INEC to be free from executive interference. “The President should not be the one telling them what they should do. INEC should be able to think through, and take the confidence and trust given them to run the commission in a manner that they will not mortgage the confidence of Nigerians.”
But in spite of the apparent challenges INEC said there was no cause for alarm as it was prepared to deliver credible elections. Mr Idowu said: “INEC is very prepared for the 2015 elections. The Commission is very confident and can give a guarantee that it is ready to deliver elections that are not only far better than the one we had in 2011 but would measure up to global best standards. Idowu, however, admitted that the most daunting challenge is the low trust of the populace in the electoral process, including the political class. “It is key to the conduct of election everywhere in the world. There is so much low level of trust everywhere but INEC is doing everything possible to ensure that it delivers credible elections in 2015”, he said.