By Olakunle Agboola – Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) the winner of the 2023 presidential election. Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the People Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6,984,520 to emerge second while the third force, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) scored 6,101,533.
Nearly 90 million people were eligible to vote in this year’s presidential election, and there were high hopes that the election will be well conducted as promised by the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu in his laudatory speech at Chatham House in London. Many Nigerians hope a new leader will do a better job tackling insecurity, economic malaise, and growing poverty, which has made life difficult for a lot of Nigerians.
Technological Innovations
Globally, the deployment of technology in the electoral process has become increasingly prevalent in recent years as the world seeks to facilitate, and improve the electoral process toward achieving free, fair, and credible elections. Technology is to reduce human error and facilitate election transparency that will resonate with the will of the people.
Nigerians have complained about logistics and material deficiencies with the presidential election 2023, which debuted with the incorporation of new voting systems that utilized digital technology tools, such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, to reduce the cases of manual manipulation of figures.
Whether the use of technology can be fully trusted in an electoral process, especially in a multiple-interest country such as Nigeria, leaves many worried as critics raise concerns about the security and reliability of digital voting systems, when entrusted to men who may influence it.
Nigerians have complained about the Independent National Electoral Commission’s flouted promises of digitally uploading the results of elections in different polling units across the country, as they are sorted, counted, and collated.
Yakubu Mahmoud `reassured Nigerians on many occasions, most especially speaking at Chatham House in London, that there is no going back on its decision to upload the results of the 2023 general elections on its portal, to enable Nigerians to have a real-time view of the results as they are being collated.
Did Yakubu Mahmoud fulfill his promise of the use of technology to aid transparency of the election? Many Nigerians have continued to show their gripes from the day of the election most especially on the legitimacy of the result.
Election Security and Threat
Nigeria’s elections have historically been fraught with violence and other abuses. The election of President Buhari in 2015, the first transition of power to an opposition party since the country’s democratic transition in 1999, was largely peaceful. But the 2019 election was marred by violence from security forces, including the army, and thugs acting on behalf of politicians.
The failure of the Nigerian authorities to address accountability for past elections-related abuses and widespread insecurity across the country also threaten the safe conduct of the 2023 presidential elections. There have been widespread political thugs and police officials disrupting the de-franchising of people to vote.
Thabo Mbeki Former President of the Republic of South Africa
Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group in his speech after the presidential election said, ‘We note incidences of election-related violence and insecurity, some of which regrettably resulted in the loss of life and postponement of elections in some polling units’’. Also, there has been threatening of lives and suppression by political thugs in some polling units telling the voters not to vote for any other political party apart from their party.
Election Manipulation
Last week, Nigeria’s two major opposition parties called for the presidential election to be canceled and rerun, saying that it had been compromised by vote rigging and widespread violence. “We demand that this sham of an election be immediately canceled,” said Julius Abure, chairman of the Labour Party. “We have lost faith in the whole process.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said in a statement on Monday that it took “full responsibility” for the logistical problems and delays. Many Nigerians had looked to the election to put the country back on track after eight years of rule by an ailing president, Muhammadu Buhari — a military dictator turned democrat.
“Everybody was expecting a free and fair election,” said Ladun Ojo, a 31-year-old Make-Up Artist in Lagos, who said she voted for an opposition candidate. “But it’s been rigged. What happened last time is happening again,” she said, referring to previous elections that were tainted by allegations of vote rigging.
Bola Ogun, a Civil Servant thinks that many Nigerians are bleeding from the outcome of the election that was rigged to suppress the will of the people.
‘I knew the election will be rigged the moment we could not upload the election result to (INEC)’s IReV portal. I told myself that INEC is at work again. I came to vote due to the BIVAS development, and the promise by the INEC Chairman that the election will be transparent, and credible where you can monitor the outcome of the election on your mobile phone, but as it is, the wish of the people is suppressed’’.
Bodunde Jones, an IT professional was disappointed with the election process. He feels Billions of Naira given to INEC to conduct a credible election should be enough not to be in this state of pandemonium.
‘The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) proposed N305 billion for the conduct of the 2023 general election last May, a 62 percent increase over what was spent on the 2019 general elections, but pouring more money into the elections has not alleviated the familiar frustration of Nigeria’s old logistical nightmare.
On February 25, the results of a country whose institutions do not commit to excellence and a people too comfortable with mediocrity were on full display. Despite loud assurances, the electoral umpire didn’t live up to the billing’’.
International Observers
International observer groups believe that the just-concluded presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25 were flawed.
According to a statement issued by the European Union Election Observation Mission in Nigeria (EU EOM), the elections were not free, fair, and transparent.
They claimed that there was widespread suspicion of vote purchasing and that incumbent political officeholders abused their influence to stifle competition. The media extensively covered the three main campaigns, but on Election Day, voters were unable to make informed choices because of false information, they said.
The EU EOM observers were concerned that the results were not uploaded on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s IReV portal as anticipated and promised by the electoral body, noting that INEC lacked efficient planning and transparency during critical stages of the electoral process.
The Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group, former President of South Africa H.E. Thabo Mbeki, delivered his team’s preliminary assessment of the electoral process at a press conference in Abuja on 27 February, saying: “Nigerians were largely accorded the right to vote.”
Addressing the journalists, President Mbeki said: “We congratulate all Nigerians for their determination, patience, and resilience displayed throughout the electoral process.”
He commended the commitment shown by voters, despite the late arrival of election officials and materials at many polling units, technical issues with biometric identification machines in some cases, and delays with the live results transmission system.
Delivering the group’s preliminary assessment, he expressed that as voting hours extended into the night due to late openings, some polling units were ill-equipped with proper lighting to facilitate voting and counting in the dark.
Considering the challenges, the President encouraged the electoral commission to conduct a thorough post-election review of the electoral process to draw lessons and consider setting up appropriate mechanisms to implement the recommendations of observers.
Elections are a central feature of democracy. For elections to express the will of the electorate, they must be ‘free and fair’.
‘Free’ means that all those entitled to vote have the right to be registered and to vote and must be free to make their choice. In Nigeria, every citizen over the age of 18 is entitled to vote. An election is considered ‘free’ when you can decide whether to vote and vote freely for the candidate or party of your choice without fear or intimidation. A ‘free’ election is also one where you are confident that whom you vote for remains your secret.
‘Fair’ means that all registered political parties have an equal right to contest the elections, campaign for voter support, and hold meetings and rallies. This gives them a fair chance to convince voters to vote for them. A fair election is also one in which all voters have an equal opportunity to register, where all votes are counted, and where the announced results reflect the actual vote totals.
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