BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
With less than 12 months to the 2023 general elections, possible time constraints would heighten activities and to some extent, anxieties within the Independent National Electoral Commission, the electoral umpire in the country.
Indeed, by this time next year, other things being equal, the burden of conducting Presidential, National Assembly and governorship as well as State House of Assemblies’ elections would have been removed from its shoulders.
But it would seem that the electoral body has been swimming in murky waters as far as preparations for the conduct of these elections are concerned. Many factors have been observed to be against the possibility of conducting elections that are of global standard.
In the first place, security challenges are so prevalent that one wonders what fate awaits the electoral body if the current trend is not brought under control. The country has fast become a haven for terrorists that have been identified by different nomenclatures but steadily carrying out their nefarious acts. They kill, main, abduct, rape, and demand ransoms for the release of their victims. At one point they collect ransoms and yet go-ahead to kill their victims.
All these are clear indications that the country is not safe for the conduct of the 2023 general elections at whatever level but the electoral umpire has remained steadfast in its resolve to conduct elections that would be judged free, fair, transparent and credible at the end.
The National Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and his team have continued to work round the clock, introducing several innovations both in law and technology.
They have secured the Electronic Transmission of Results (ETR) with the signing of the Amended Electoral Act into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. This law and several others in the Amended Act have empowered the Commission to effectively employ the use of technology in the conduct of the elections nationwide.
National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education and Information Committee, Festus Okoye has assured the electorates that the 2023 general elections would be conducted with life and property comprehensively secured.
“The Commission has always been abreast of the security situation in our country. Yes, there are threats to the conduct of the 2023 general elections but like I said before, the Commission has been working with security agencies in all our preparations.
“We have been meeting with the heads of these agencies, involving them in the plans, so there are assurances that we will conduct the elections and life and property will be secured.”
While the assurances are coming from the INEC, recent activities of the terrorists tend to instill fears and cast doubt on the minds of Nigerians on the possibility of conducting the forthcoming elections without bloodshed.
A few weeks ago, the terrorists attacked a Kaduna bound train from Abuja, killed and abducted many passengers, some are still in their den as at the time of this report. This came at the heels of an attack at the Kaduna International Airport. While the country was yet mourning these nefarious acts, the terrorists invaded and murdered hundreds of harmless and innocent citizens in Plateau and Benue states.
Last week, terrorists again invaded INEC Continuous Voter Registration Centre in Imo State and killed a staff of the Commission with the whereabouts of two yet unknown at the time of going to press, forcing the suspension of the exercise in the state.
A statement by INEC on the suspension of the exercise in Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area where the killing occurred also indicated that besides this LGA, many areas have come under the attack of terrorist operating in the South East under the label of unknown gunmen.
The Commission’s statement that suspended the CVR in these areas was sequel to a report by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Emeka Ezeonu, to the effect that on 14th of April 2022, Nwokorie Anthony, a staff of the Imo State office of the Commission involved in the ongoing CVR exercise, was shot dead by unknown gunmen at Nkwo Ihitte (PU 004) in Amakohia Ward (RA 02) of Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area. The REC however, reported that the state office has established contact with two of its staff involved in the registration exercise with assurance of their safety and will be soon reunited with their families.
Prior to this incident, the Commission had suspended the CVR in Orsu and Njaba Local Government areas of the State on account of insecurity while the exercise is taking place only at the INEC LGA office in Oru East, Oru West, Orlu and Ohaji – Egbema Local Government Areas of the State.
The incident has been reported to security agencies to unravel the circumstances that led to this unfortunate incident and bring the culprits to justice.
This nefarious act happened a day after the National Chairman of INEC lamented the large number of invalid registrations arising from the CVR and warned that it took the connivance between some compromised staff to get this mess done.
Nevertheless, Prof Yakubu was emphatic on the actions to be taken by the commission, because it must forge ahead with the conduct of the 2023 elections despite all odds. He outlined the efforts by the Commission to smoothen the conduct of the forthcoming elections but regretted that challenges are increasing by the day.
“As you may know, the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise is now into the Fourth quarter nationwide. We restarted the CVR on 28th June 2021 after it was suspended for the 2019 General Election. Although the exercise was scheduled to restart earlier, it was delayed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and various security challenges, including the persistent attacks on our offices and facilities in various parts of the country, mainly between October 2020 and May 2021.
“In restarting the CVR, the Commission introduced the online pre-registration system as part of our determination to continue to improve the electoral process and ensure that Nigerian voters have the best of voting experience. This innovation makes it possible for intending registrants and already registered voters who may have issues with their registration to commence the process online and subsequently complete it in person at a Registration Centre of their choice.
“This has worked tremendously well based on the reports we have received so far. Since the resumption of the CVR exercise, millions of eligible citizens have availed themselves of this online pre-registration facility as well as the physical registration in our State and Local Government Area offices nationwide to register, update their records or transfer their registration to other places where they wish to vote in future elections.
“Again, you may recall that at our press conference held on 24th June 2021 just before the commencement of the CVR, the Commission informed the nation that the exercise will take place over a period of one year with the one-week mandatory publication and display of the register for claims and objections by citizens as required by law taking place every three months. The quarterly exercise was broken down into four phases.”
He disclosed that during the period from 28th June to 20th December 2021, millions of Nigerians commenced their registration online and thereafter scheduled appointments to complete the process physically. Millions more visited INEC State and Local Government offices to register in person without the option of going through the online procedure.
For the pre-registration option, 1,014,382 registrants completed the process while 1,509,076 Nigerians registered in-person at our designated registration centres nationwide. Furthermore, 671,106 Nigerians submitted requests to update their records, transfer their registration from where they are currently registered to other locations or the replacement of their lost or damaged PVCs.
But while the number of new registrants is very impressive and demonstrates the eagerness of Nigerians to vote in the forthcoming elections, the Commission is faced with a duty to clean up the data to ensure that only eligible Nigerians are registered. This is because the foundation for any credible election rests on the credibility of the Register of Voters.
No doubt, the introduction of the biometric registration of voters in 2011 has helped to sanitise the Register. Initially, 73,528,040 Nigerians were registered in 2011. Using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the Commission was able to remove 4,239,923 invalid registrations. Consequently, the Register of Voters for the 2015 General Election stood at 69,288,117 voters.
“They are trying to block every loophole in our politics that creates room for the shambolic exercises called elections in the past. They have secured the law for Electronic Transmission of Results, introduced BVAS and so many innovations that will make our votes count
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Subsequently, some 432,173 new voters were added to the Register during the CVR exercises ahead of the off-cycle Governorship elections in five States (Bayelsa, Kogi, Edo, Ondo and Anambra) from late 2015 to early 2017, bringing the total number of registered voters in Nigeria to 69,720,350.
Also preparatory to the 2019 General Election, the Commission, for the first time, embarked on a nationwide CVR exercise on a continuous basis as provided by law. From 27th April 2017 to 31st August 2018, 15,317,872 new voters were registered. Out of this figure, 1,034,141 ineligible registrants were detected and removed from the register to arrive at the figure of 84,004,084 voters for that election.
However, the troubling issue of invalid registration still persists which the Commission detected while cleaning up the latest registration data. As against the AFIS used in previous exercises, the Commission introduced the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) which is a more comprehensive and robust system, involving not just fingerprint identification but also the facial biometric recognition, all in a bid to ensure credible elections in 2023.
Social and political critic, Mallam Abdulaziz Abu described what is the Commission is passing through as an acid test that would definitely chart a course for Nigeria’s political development if the electoral Umpires remain resolute.
He recalled how it took the involvement of virtually people from all sectors of the country to join INEC and push for the passage of the Amended Electoral Act at the national assembly and even for the President’s accent.
“I must tell you, Prof Yakubu and his team are taking steps that will certainly lead us to political paradise. They are trying to block every loophole in our politics that creates room for the shambolic exercises called elections in the past. They have secured the law for Electronic Transmission of Results, introduced BVAS and so many innovations that will make our votes count.
“INEC has embarked on Continuous Voter Registration to enable everyone who is of the voting age to register and participate in the 2023 general elections. These are proofs that INEC is ready for the elections but you must know that there are always blacklegs in every set up. My fear is that there could be some of its workers who will be available to mess up the good work.
“Take their performances at the off season elections in states like Edo and Anambra. All of us applauded them. We are waiting for Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections’. You know they are too close to the 2023 general elections, so if they excel in these two, especially on the electronic transmission of results, we can now go to bed. But I have confidence INEC can do it and do it right.”
Mallam Abu did not see the security situation in the country to be a hindrance to a successful polls next year. “I am not a security personnel but remember the kind of tension before the Anambra gubernatorial election. In the end, that election remains the most peaceful for now. We will hold our election next year, insecurity or not.”
Sadly, while Nigerians are optimistic that INEC is capable of doing a great job, it seems that many registrants, either out of ignorance that they do not need to re-register if they had done so before, or a belief that INEC systems will not detect this infraction, have gone out to register again.
This is despite repeated warnings by the Commission against this illegal action. In addition, there are also registrants whose data were incomplete and did not meet the Commission’s Business Rules for inclusion in the register, according to the national chairman. Both categories i.e. the failure of ABIS and incomplete data constitute invalid registrations.
The INEC Boss confirmed the postulations by Mallam Abu that some staff of the Commission may be willing tools to derail the system when he lamented that some of their staff may have been complicit in facilitating the information that happened during the Continuous Voter Registration.
He said, “Consequently, the Commission is reviewing reports on such staff and has commenced a detailed investigation which may include the prosecution of those found culpable. Specific registrants associated with these infractions by our staff may also face prosecution in line with Sections 22 and 23 of the Electoral Act 2022.
Political analyst and lawyer, Victor Benjamin expressed mixed feelings. He said if one follows closely the programmes of INEC leading to the 2023 general elections and the things they are putting on ground for the elections, one would say they have got it right. But, since the INEC cannot be separated from the authority that appointed them, the Nigerian factor must still play out.
“What do I mean by the Nigerian factor. I’m saying that despite the good processes and programmes, INEC may succumb to pressure that will come from the ruling party during the elections because I see a situation where influential politicians will attempt to muzzle the Commission so as to dance to their tune. Outside this, I think INEC is ready,” he said.
