INEC: Doing the right thing wrongly

Once again Nigerian citizens are being put through a process of death, intimidation, destruction of property, loss of time, inconvenience and massive financial outlay all in the name of empowering leaders. As human beings we are united in imperfection and tend to continue making mistakes even as we grow older and wiser.  All human beings […]

Once again Nigerian citizens are being put through a process of death, intimidation, destruction of property, loss of time, inconvenience and massive financial outlay all in the name of empowering leaders. As human beings we are united in imperfection and tend to continue making mistakes even as we grow older and wiser.  All human beings are vulnerable to making bad decisions, but what is important is reaping valuable lessons from doing the wrong thing.  Nothing is more tragic than confidently doing the wrong thing. Unfortunately this is the stage Nigeria has reached with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the conduct of elections.

Every four years INEC puts Nigerians through trauma simply to be able to operate a democracy. The manner in which they have chosen to conduct elections has been severally criticized but rather than change they strive to improve on an inherently defective system.  Sometimes people have to learn how to swallow their pride and accept they are wrong. It’s not called giving up, it’s called growing up. Despite their monumental budget INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu has admitted that the Commission was aware of “usual” failings of voter intimidation, abductions, hostage-taking and violence unleashed on election officials and NYSC members.

Tragically he informed the nation of the death of an ad-hoc staff by gunshot wounds, and said that despite their “best efforts” there were places where materials and personnel didn’t arrive on time, Card Readers experienced “glitches”, and dereliction of duty and “other infractions” by INEC staff were reported. He informed the nation that an INEC Officer in Imo State has been arrested by police and accused of altering election results. The truth is that INEC have never been fully prepared to conduct free and fair elections. Fortunately for them the bench mark for success has been set so miserably low, because they only need to prove “substantial compliance” with the electoral law to continuously get away with their imperfections.

In the run up to the Presidential ballot, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) who is seeking re-election promised a free and fair process. In line with this he issued a warning to those planning to snatch ballot-boxes. Although he never said so, his words were interpreted to mean that ballot-box snatchers would run the risk of being shot at sight. This warning was of little significance. All available evidence shows that ballot-box snatching isn’t the most impactful form of electoral malpractice. Unprincipled INEC Staff, under-aged voting, mass thumb-printing of ballot papers, insecurity, vote-buying, and mal-functioning card-readers pose far more of a threat to free and fair elections,  yet appear to defy solution. Political touts found a quite simple solution to ballot-box snatching – leave the box but destroy the polling booths, and burn the ballot papers!

Surprisingly all this went on in the absence of any armed security and was posted on social media with the culprits making no attempt to hide their faces. In Benue State instead of ballot-boxes they chose to snatch results sheets! Governor Samuel Ortom and former Senate President David Mark reported to INEC office in Makurdi Benue State that election results sheets were snatched by unidentified soldiers. In Lagos State in particular the situation was a national disgrace.  Thugs operated at will while armed soldiers and policemen were nowhere to be found. In Okota, an area populated mainly by Igbo speaking peoples some unscrupulous individuals with alternative motives tried to pass the disruption of voting as some sort of tribal warfare, rather than understand it to be the usual shenanigans of sponsored touts during elections.

The sheer irresponsibility of the politicians who financed the thugs should be condemned in its utmost. The widespread use of mobile phones to record incidents further confirmed that ballot box snatching is the least of the nation’s electoral problems.  Irate youths in Brass LG Bayelsa were filmed manhandling a Deputy Police Commissioner who they alleged assisted in rigging by denying many voters the opportunity to exercise their right. In Abia State an INEC staff arrived at a polling booth with 100 ballot papers when over three hundred voters were registered there. He couldn’t explain where the remaining ones were.  The allegation that the rest were being thumb-printed in another location would have sounded bizarre and unbelievable but videos surfaced of security agents apprehending suspects, and in some cases even assisting where mass-thumb-printing was going on.

Regrettably a female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member was caught in the act. If the nation is ever to have truly “free and fair” elections INEC must go back to the drawing board and come up with a system which is cost effective, voter friendly, efficient and which eliminates opportunity for destroying votes already cast. Democracy is essential for Nigeria to develop, but there is really no point continuously doing the wrong thing just to do the right thing!