Since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, Nigeria’s major challenge has been having credible elections; elections that really reflect the wishes of the people .
The general elections in 1999 and 2003 were characterised by allegations of massive rigging, thuggery and other forms of electoral malpractices. The exercise in 2007 was not any better.
In fact, the 2007 general election, which some leaders of the then ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) dubbed a “ do or die affair”, was marred by gross irregularities. It was described by civil society and the international community as one the worst elections in the history of Nigeria since independence.
A former Governance adviser, United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), Nigeria Country office, Professor Samuel Egwu told Daily Sun that first three general elections in the present democratic dispensation, were not what elections should be. “ The 2007 election was the most flawed”, Egwu said in a telephone interview.
Apart from members of the opposition political parties, who roundly condemned the election, even late President Musa Yar’Adu, who was the major beneficiary of that contest was not proud of the process that brought him to office. At his inauguration as President on May 29, 2007, the late Yar’adua had admitted publicly that the election that brought him to office was flawed. He promised to improve the electoral system.
Consequently, On August 28, 2007, Yar’adua set up a 22 man committee headed by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN), Justice Muhammed Uwais to “examine the entire electoral process with a view to ensuring that we raise the quality and standard of our general elections and thereby deepen our democracy”.
After sitting for about four months, the Uwais committee completed its assignment and turned in its its report.
Although, elections in the country have improved significantly since 1999, when the military rule gave way to civil rule, electoral contests are still marred by allegations of electoral malpractices and thuggery in some cases .
Apart from incidence of under-age voting, there are allegations of security personnel and electoral officials taking sides in election. Pundits argue that the way forward is making deliberate efforts to reform the electoral process, especially in line with the Justice Uwais panel report.
Recommendations of the Uwais committee.
The Justice Uwais Electoral Reform commitment made far reaching recommendations geared at making elections in the country more credible.
The key recommendations of the committee include: The transfer of the power to appoint the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) from the president to the National Judicial Commission(NJC); the inclusion of six nominees representing Labour; Nigerian Bar Association; Media; National Youth Council; Nigerian Civil Society; and Women Organisations in the board of INEC; the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission, to try electoral related offences. All the appointments will be subject to Senate confirmation. The scrapping of state independent electoral commissions; ban of politicians convicted of violence and thuggery during elections, in addition to any other punishment, from holding public office for 10 years etc.
Yar’Adua forwarded a modified version of the Uwais report to the National Assembly in 2009. However, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rejected the recommendation that the power to appoint the INEC board should be ceded to the NJC, saying it is against the doctrine of separation of power.
Although the recommendation of Uwais committee was hailed by many as the panacea to the nation’s electoral malady, a great deal of it remains unimplemented seven years after it was submitted.
Justice Uwais attributes the non-implementation of the report to politics. Speaking at a forum organised by the Policy and Advocacy Centre in 2012 the former CJN accused the government of doing a selective implementation of the panel’s report.
He said although parts of the committee’s recommendations were included in the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, it is only a full implementation of the recommendations that would serve the objective for which the committee was set up.
“As far as the Electoral Reform Committee was concerned, the recommendations were intended to be in tandem with one another. If you want to make a good job of it, you cannot just pick and choose a few. Unfortunately, although I am not blaming the National Assembly, party interest came in,” the former CJN stated.
Like many other Nigerians, immediate past chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega believes that the implementation of the Uwais report would go a long way in enhancing the crediblity of elections in the country. Speaking at a dinner party jointly organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in his honour shortly after he completed his tenure as the INEC boss, Jega opined that future elections in the country would be better than the 2015 general elections if Justice Uwais report is fully implemented.
The immediate past INEC boss wants the National Assembly to rise to the occasion and ensure the full implementation of the report.
“… the Uwais electoral report has very good reform measures but I will plead with the National Assembly to be more decisive to see to the full implementation of the report,” he said.
Introduction of card readers
Recently, INEC came up the idea card readers a means of enhancing the credibility of elections in the country. But one way or the other, the card readers have created its own problems.
During the 2015 general elections, there was several cases of the failure of the card readers. In fact, former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, tried severally before the machine could accredit them to vote in the election. In many areas, the machine failed outrightly, making INEC officials in the concerned areas to resort to manual accreditations. There were areas, where the card readers were abandoned all together.
Also, in the last governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, there were equally reports on the failure of the card readers. Like in the 2015 general election, the card reader rejected Jonathan, his wife, Patience alongside many other prospective voters.
Reacting to the development, the former president said it is a worrisome development.He told journalists in Otuoke that INEC most review the issue of the card reader and Permanent Voters Card(PVC) before the 2019 general elections.
“I am quite worried about the PVC and card reader.From my experience today, INEC must review this issue of card reader and PVC very well before we go into the 2019 election, because even during the presidential election, the machine rejected my wife and I.
“Today, because they changed my own, they changed my wife’s own, it was successful. But about five people who came with me, including my mother, my elder sister and a former commissioner in Bayelsa state, were unsuccessful. These are known people, so they cannot carry fake or cloned cards. They are known senior people from this state. So, out of five of us, only me and my wife were accredited.
“The percentage of failure is high and I am a bit uncomfortable…But I will advise that before we go into the 2019 election, the whole concept of the card reader and the technology must be properly reviewed.”
Some argue that the failure rate of the card reader is an indication that it is not a fool-proof method in the conduct of credible elections. Besides, there are those who argue that it conferred undue advantage to politicians in electoral contests. For instance, during the 2015 general elections, because of the failure rates of the card reader, several polling units across the country resorted to manual accreditation with all its imperfections.
A school of thought believe that more than anything else, that the two crucial factors necessary for the conduct of credible elections in Nigeria are the independence of the electoral body and imposition of severe sanctions on those found guilty of electoral offences. The independence of the electoral body would stem from the composition of the commission and the procedure for appointing the chairman.
Those in this school of thought argue believes that for the INEC to be truly independent, the executive arm of government must hands off the appointment of the INEC chair and other commissioners, especially against the dictum that he that pays the piper dictates the tune. There have been instances where known members of political parties or cronies of top government functionaries were appointed as either INEC chairman or National Electoral Commissioners. In such situations, such appointees owe allegiance to those who appointed them or facilitated their appointments.
Egwu, who is presently a lecturer at the department of political science, University of Jos, says the way and manner the members of the election management body is appointed is crucial to the credibility of elections.
He said it is imperative to implement the entire recommendation of the Uwais report, particularly the aspect that deals with the appointment of the chairman and members of INEC.
According to him, “it was an accident” that President Jonathan appointed somebody in the caliber Professor Jega as INEC chair. He said leaving the appointment of the members of the electoral body to whims and caprices of the executive means just any could be appointed into the commission.
President Muhammadu Buhari agrees that meting adequate sanctions to be people of electoral malpractice would serve would help to improve the electoral system. Speaking during the swearing of the new INEC chair, Mahmud Yakubu, Buhari said it is not enough for tribunals to cancel elections and order for new ones.
According to him, those guilty of subverting the electoral system must not be allowed to get away with it.
“It is not just enough for an election to be cancelled and a new one ordered. It would be much better if all whose actions or inactions led to the cancellation of such election to be investigated and if culpable prosecuted whether they are individuals as candidates or party agents, institutions such as political party, electoral body, or public officers as electoral staff or security agents.
“Similarly, perpetrators of electoral violence and thuggery should not be spared. Unless our system stops covering up all forms of electoral malpractices we can hardly get it right. No system endures with impunity,” President Buhari stated.
As the Nigerians continue to hope for the improvement elections in the country, it is incumbent on the National Assembly and the government of the day to take urgent steps to eliminate all the lapses inherent in our electoral system, so as to make the ballot box sacrosanct. For that is only way, the nation’s democracy can be consolidated.
The general elections in 1999 and 2003 were characterised by allegations of massive rigging, thuggery and other forms of electoral malpractices. The exercise in 2007 was not any better.
In fact, the 2007 general election, which some leaders of the then ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) dubbed a “ do or die affair”, was marred by gross irregularities. It was described by civil society and the international community as one the worst elections in the history of Nigeria since independence.
A former Governance adviser, United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), Nigeria Country office, Professor Samuel Egwu told Daily Sun that first three general elections in the present democratic dispensation, were not what elections should be. “ The 2007 election was the most flawed”, Egwu said in a telephone interview.
Apart from members of the opposition political parties, who roundly condemned the election, even late President Musa Yar’Adu, who was the major beneficiary of that contest was not proud of the process that brought him to office. At his inauguration as President on May 29, 2007, the late Yar’adua had admitted publicly that the election that brought him to office was flawed. He promised to improve the electoral system.
Consequently, On August 28, 2007, Yar’adua set up a 22 man committee headed by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN), Justice Muhammed Uwais to “examine the entire electoral process with a view to ensuring that we raise the quality and standard of our general elections and thereby deepen our democracy”.
After sitting for about four months, the Uwais committee completed its assignment and turned in its its report.
Although, elections in the country have improved significantly since 1999, when the military rule gave way to civil rule, electoral contests are still marred by allegations of electoral malpractices and thuggery in some cases .
Apart from incidence of under-age voting, there are allegations of security personnel and electoral officials taking sides in election. Pundits argue that the way forward is making deliberate efforts to reform the electoral process, especially in line with the Justice Uwais panel report.
Recommendations of the Uwais committee.
The Justice Uwais Electoral Reform commitment made far reaching recommendations geared at making elections in the country more credible.
The key recommendations of the committee include: The transfer of the power to appoint the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) from the president to the National Judicial Commission(NJC); the inclusion of six nominees representing Labour; Nigerian Bar Association; Media; National Youth Council; Nigerian Civil Society; and Women Organisations in the board of INEC; the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission, to try electoral related offences. All the appointments will be subject to Senate confirmation. The scrapping of state independent electoral commissions; ban of politicians convicted of violence and thuggery during elections, in addition to any other punishment, from holding public office for 10 years etc.
Yar’Adua forwarded a modified version of the Uwais report to the National Assembly in 2009. However, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rejected the recommendation that the power to appoint the INEC board should be ceded to the NJC, saying it is against the doctrine of separation of power.
Although the recommendation of Uwais committee was hailed by many as the panacea to the nation’s electoral malady, a great deal of it remains unimplemented seven years after it was submitted.
Justice Uwais attributes the non-implementation of the report to politics. Speaking at a forum organised by the Policy and Advocacy Centre in 2012 the former CJN accused the government of doing a selective implementation of the panel’s report.
He said although parts of the committee’s recommendations were included in the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, it is only a full implementation of the recommendations that would serve the objective for which the committee was set up.
“As far as the Electoral Reform Committee was concerned, the recommendations were intended to be in tandem with one another. If you want to make a good job of it, you cannot just pick and choose a few. Unfortunately, although I am not blaming the National Assembly, party interest came in,” the former CJN stated.
Like many other Nigerians, immediate past chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega believes that the implementation of the Uwais report would go a long way in enhancing the crediblity of elections in the country. Speaking at a dinner party jointly organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in his honour shortly after he completed his tenure as the INEC boss, Jega opined that future elections in the country would be better than the 2015 general elections if Justice Uwais report is fully implemented.
The immediate past INEC boss wants the National Assembly to rise to the occasion and ensure the full implementation of the report.
“… the Uwais electoral report has very good reform measures but I will plead with the National Assembly to be more decisive to see to the full implementation of the report,” he said.
Introduction of card readers
Recently, INEC came up the idea card readers a means of enhancing the credibility of elections in the country. But one way or the other, the card readers have created its own problems.
During the 2015 general elections, there was several cases of the failure of the card readers. In fact, former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, tried severally before the machine could accredit them to vote in the election. In many areas, the machine failed outrightly, making INEC officials in the concerned areas to resort to manual accreditations. There were areas, where the card readers were abandoned all together.
Also, in the last governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, there were equally reports on the failure of the card readers. Like in the 2015 general election, the card reader rejected Jonathan, his wife, Patience alongside many other prospective voters.
Reacting to the development, the former president said it is a worrisome development.He told journalists in Otuoke that INEC most review the issue of the card reader and Permanent Voters Card(PVC) before the 2019 general elections.
“I am quite worried about the PVC and card reader.From my experience today, INEC must review this issue of card reader and PVC very well before we go into the 2019 election, because even during the presidential election, the machine rejected my wife and I.
“Today, because they changed my own, they changed my wife’s own, it was successful. But about five people who came with me, including my mother, my elder sister and a former commissioner in Bayelsa state, were unsuccessful. These are known people, so they cannot carry fake or cloned cards. They are known senior people from this state. So, out of five of us, only me and my wife were accredited.
“The percentage of failure is high and I am a bit uncomfortable…But I will advise that before we go into the 2019 election, the whole concept of the card reader and the technology must be properly reviewed.”
Some argue that the failure rate of the card reader is an indication that it is not a fool-proof method in the conduct of credible elections. Besides, there are those who argue that it conferred undue advantage to politicians in electoral contests. For instance, during the 2015 general elections, because of the failure rates of the card reader, several polling units across the country resorted to manual accreditation with all its imperfections.
A school of thought believe that more than anything else, that the two crucial factors necessary for the conduct of credible elections in Nigeria are the independence of the electoral body and imposition of severe sanctions on those found guilty of electoral offences. The independence of the electoral body would stem from the composition of the commission and the procedure for appointing the chairman.
Those in this school of thought argue believes that for the INEC to be truly independent, the executive arm of government must hands off the appointment of the INEC chair and other commissioners, especially against the dictum that he that pays the piper dictates the tune. There have been instances where known members of political parties or cronies of top government functionaries were appointed as either INEC chairman or National Electoral Commissioners. In such situations, such appointees owe allegiance to those who appointed them or facilitated their appointments.
Egwu, who is presently a lecturer at the department of political science, University of Jos, says the way and manner the members of the election management body is appointed is crucial to the credibility of elections.
He said it is imperative to implement the entire recommendation of the Uwais report, particularly the aspect that deals with the appointment of the chairman and members of INEC.
According to him, “it was an accident” that President Jonathan appointed somebody in the caliber Professor Jega as INEC chair. He said leaving the appointment of the members of the electoral body to whims and caprices of the executive means just any could be appointed into the commission.
President Muhammadu Buhari agrees that meting adequate sanctions to be people of electoral malpractice would serve would help to improve the electoral system. Speaking during the swearing of the new INEC chair, Mahmud Yakubu, Buhari said it is not enough for tribunals to cancel elections and order for new ones.
According to him, those guilty of subverting the electoral system must not be allowed to get away with it.
“It is not just enough for an election to be cancelled and a new one ordered. It would be much better if all whose actions or inactions led to the cancellation of such election to be investigated and if culpable prosecuted whether they are individuals as candidates or party agents, institutions such as political party, electoral body, or public officers as electoral staff or security agents.
“Similarly, perpetrators of electoral violence and thuggery should not be spared. Unless our system stops covering up all forms of electoral malpractices we can hardly get it right. No system endures with impunity,” President Buhari stated.
As the Nigerians continue to hope for the improvement elections in the country, it is incumbent on the National Assembly and the government of the day to take urgent steps to eliminate all the lapses inherent in our electoral system, so as to make the ballot box sacrosanct. For that is only way, the nation’s democracy can be consolidated.
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