Aftermath of by-elections: It was easier to rig elections in the past — Samaila Mohamed

In this interview, a former member of the House of Representatives, Samaila Abdullahi Mohamed spoke on his experiences during elections and suggested what can be done to have hitch-free polls in Nigeria.   How easy was it to win when you contested – first as a local government chairman and later as member of the […]

In this interview, a former member of the House of Representatives, Samaila Abdullahi Mohamed spoke on his experiences during elections and suggested what can be done to have hitch-free polls in Nigeria.

 

How easy was it to win when you contested – first as a local government chairman and later as member of the House of Representatives?

I contested for the office of the chairman of a local government in 1990 under the National Republican Convention. The party at the state level was Social Democratic Party (SDP). That was the dominant party. It was not really easy to contest in a minority party in a state where you had a dominant party.

I say so because the state government had a lot of resources to fight you – financial and security resources to restrict your voters or mobilise people by giving them money to vote. So it was not easy, especially for a minority party.

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You contested in 1999, but we are now in 2025.

I also contested as a member of the House of Representatives in 2006/2007 and won.

The challenges one had during the chairmanship of the local government was also the same because I contested under the All Nigeria People’s Party and the dominant party in the state was the Peoples Democratic Party. Everything was done to frustrate me, lawfully and unlawfully. Fortunately, thanks to Allah, I was able to overcome them and win.

 

Would you say there is any difference now?

There are differences. Let me start with the electoral law. When we contested in 1990, it was easy to rig, especially if you had control of the security. They would just stuff ballot papers, sign and declare that they had won. But now, with the electoral law, it is a little bit difficult to rig elections. That does not mean it can’t be done, but the avenues are narrowing.

 The second area is the voters’ register. When you go to any particular polling unit you discover that the number of voters is listed and you cannot add more.

These are some little changes that have taken place. But the determination of a majority party in a state is still as before, in the sense that they will win by hook or by crook.

Now, let’s look at the just concluded by-elections in some of the states, where candidate of the ruling parties emerged as winners.

 

 Can we then say that we have what we call the winner-takes-all? 

Exactly. That is what we are saying – the winner-takes-all syndrome. That is what is taking place, especially in a by-election because the seats are not many and the resources the governors would push to make sure they win that election is not that much.

 

 Why is it difficult to win elections these days?

It is difficult because it has been monetised. We know what happened during the Federal Capital Territory elections, where those who won paid top people of the party huge sums of money and were declared as winners.

 

Is that not an allegation?

It is an allegation, but there have been consequences for certain individuals. We noted the consequences that have taken place because those who lost wrote petitions and the petitions were acknowledged by the security agencies.

It is not just an allegation; it is what took place, where a dominant party pushed it.

It is better when you have the APC as the dominant party. If the PDP gets their act together, or the ADC is strong, it is a battle of two political parties who have some level of equality in resources. But in a situation where you enter what I call an orphan party, unless you have a lot of money, you will not be able to win.

 

Can we say you can only win elections if you have money?

You need to have more than N300 million if you are contesting for the office of the chairman of a local government or the House of Reps. If you don’t have that amount of money, you cannot do it. And if you cannot protect your votes at the level of polling unit, there is no way you are going to win.

 

Even if you have the popularity?

Even if you have the popularity you must have a minimum of two agents in every polling unit within your constituency. That is the major thing. And if you want to go to the Senate, make sure you have at least N1 billion to N1.5 billion or even N2 billion in some constituencies.

 

What do you think would be the implication if we continue like this?

The implication is that politics has been monetised in Nigeria and popular votes are not really reflecting popularity. They are just reflecting moneybags that have gone into politics.

The second implication is that those who are elected are not going to serve the country, their constituencies or the local government area because they know they spent money and their first preoccupation when they are going to office is to collect back as much money as possible.

If that happens, it means that development is constrained. You are not going to see development. You just see individuals whose main purpose is to look for money in all manners to make sure they recover the money they spent and make profit.

 

What advice do you have for Nigeria? What do you think can be done to address this problem?

Well, the issue is for the civil society to wake up and talk in reflection to what I said – ensure that popular candidates who have the interest of their constituencies, local government areas or senatorial districts emerge. These civil society organisations should gear up and campaign in such a way that money will not be used in elections. They need to sensitise their communities. They need to sensitise their voters to ensure that they can reject the money given to them.

This is because once you collect their money, you vote for them. You need to tell them that your vote cannot be purchased. That is a point to start with.

 

What do you think can be done about the area of authority?

Again, it is a question of the civil society to be in a position to report what happens. Some of these things come into play because security agents have also been compromised. Normally, you have election reporters and watchers.

They should be able to file relevant reports that actually document what takes place. If they do that, some of the security people may be careful about what they do.