Inconclusive, symbol of denying!

The new modernized mechanism of withholding announcing the results of an election is to make it “Inconclusive” defined as intellectual dishonesty created by a group of University professors who have high-jacked the country’s electoral body. What makes an election “inconclusive” is derived from the INEC guidelines, rules and procedures governing counting, collation and announcing of […]

The new modernized mechanism of withholding announcing the results of an election is to make it “Inconclusive” defined as intellectual dishonesty created by a group of University professors who have high-jacked the country’s electoral body.

What makes an election “inconclusive” is derived from the INEC guidelines, rules and procedures governing counting, collation and announcing of results in a Polling Unit (PU), local government and state headquarters. If the winner takes majority of the votes (as democracy is a game of numbers) over his/her opponent, would be declared victorious if and only if, the difference the winner and the loser is less than the “conflicting” factors enumerated below:

Now, since the encroachment of University Dons into the electoral college, the system is becoming complicated hiding under the phrases of “invalid”, “snatching of boxes”, “cancellation of votes cast” “rioting” etc as illegal activities carried out in a Polling Unit(s).

The electoral guidelines, in announcing the winner, has among other things stated that if the number of votes in those conflicting areas mentioned above exceeded the difference between the winner and the loser, a rerun election has emerged.

It is highly gratifying to note that illegality cannot be made to match a lawful act in any part of the world. They say two wrongs do not make a right! They should be discarded, forgotten and ignored as failure to adhere strictly with the conditions and procedures of voting were clearly breached.

Alternatively, the culprits should be made to suffer the consequences they committed as directed by President Muhammad Buhari in ballot box snatching. The rest of the illegality cannot used to punish the innocent voters who voted according to the ethics of the voting practice. Thus, making the election “inconclusive” amounted to breach of fundamental human rights of the innocent voters.

It is left for the INEC and other security personnel attached to a Polling Unit(s) to be enforcing voting offenses committed by those unscrupulous people or politicians to face the wrath of the laws of the land.

I want to state categorically that no future election should be made “inconclusive” if the electoral body is ready to do its job well and receive the blessing of the electorate.

Therefore, I submit to INEC that they should revisit this University jargon of inconclusiveness to place it where it belongs to, in the academia. Secondly, INEC should allow the people celebrate the outcome of elections they participate fully. Denying them the right to celebrate as and when the results were announced would foster bad relationship between the INEC and the public.

Abbati Dankanti Gumel, Kano