By Monday Eze


The February 25th presidential and national assembly elections which have become controversial due to the inglorious roles of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have revealed the true colour of INEC and reinvented Nigeria’s leadership problem which has been the bane of the Nigerian nation. In the same vein, the February 25 elections have also exposed the gullibility of Nigerians even in the face of perennial executive disappointments. The Nigerian electorate has suffered a series of electoral frauds in which their votes never counted since the history of franchise in Nigeria.

This led to general loss of confidence and interest in the electoral system which, over the years, culminated into a culture of impervious voter apathy. In the 2019 general elections which preceded the 2023 general elections, Nigeria ranked tops in voter apathy in Africa. Before 2023, one often finds Nigerians of the age of franchise engaging in pastimes on election days notwithstanding the crucial significance of voting. When confronted, a typical apathetic Nigerian voter would always retort that there was no need casting votes that would not count.

This became a great challenge for both the electoral commission and the Nigerian government. With time, conduct of credible elections became a flagship promise of several administrations, hence the periodic amendments of the electoral act aimed at giving hope of credible elections. The high point of these amendments of the electoral law in Nigeria was the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), and electronic transmission of election results directly from polling units in the 2022 Electoral Act! These two clauses were the catalysts that reawakened Nigerians’ interests in the electoral process.

Consequently, Nigerians of the age of suffrage who did not register as voters abandoned their respective engagements for days in order to register as voters. This sent the first signal to the Nigerian political elites that they were under the threat of being dislodged from their comfort zone where they have so much underperformed.

The entrance of Mr. Peter Obi into the presidential race on the platform of the Labour Party and the ripples he created in the polity with his charismatic campaigns brought the threats home to the cult of mischievous Nigerian political elites. As a result, the political elites recoiled and began the frustration of the new political system.

They found willing allies in INEC. In this column published on January 14 and entitled “INEC And The Conspiracy Against Democracy”, I had alerted Nigerians of this negative alliance in the following words: “The political re-awakening, enthusiasm and positive pressure arising from the new legal framework or electoral act do not seem to suit the Nigerian political elites who constitute the prime beneficiaries of the old defective order. Consequently, the gerontocrats that populate the Nigerian political elite club seem to have recoiled into their covens to hatch a plan to jolt the successful implementation of the revolutionary electoral act.

These politicians seem to have willing conspirators in some sensitive officers of INEC whose leadership appears to be dominated by agents of the now threatened old political brigade. “[b]Having seemingly hacked into the over-rated INEC, these enemies of the unfolding new Nigeria muted the electoral umpire in a conspiracy of silence designed to frustrate the successful conduct of the make-or-mar 2023 general elections! As a result of this novel conspiracy, INEC refused to volunteer necessary information or call attention to relevant issues that required to be solved in order to facilitate successful conduct of the 2023 general elections in line with the extant provisions of Electoral Act 2022.” The bizarre drama which characterised the conduct and collation of the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections are stubborn proofs that the conspiracy of INEC and the Nigerian political elites have succeeded in ruining what was otherwise an excellent electoral system. As usual, the conspirators who have promoted deceit to creed had no problems making the trust and confidence which Nigerians reposed both in INEC and the leadership of the country the casualties of this electoral fraud.[/b]

However, it is pertinent to state that hapless Nigerian citizens played into the hands of INEC by failing to hold INEC to follow her rules during the elections! The 2023 Electoral Act made the polling units the only political theatre for all the elections. According to it, through the use of BVAS and electronic transmission of poll results from the polling units on election days, an election could be won, lost, concluded, cancelled or rescheduled. In subsequent elections, Nigerians should insist on the right things in the right venues.

Moving open-ended elections or polls away from the polling units under any guise was an act of rigging and illegality. Results of elections not conducted with BVAS and or not transmitted through BVAS from the polling unit was null and void. Allowing INEC staff leave the polling unit without transmitting the results or formally declaring the election inconclusive or cancelled is an act of compromise on the part of the electorate of that particular polling unit.

It was this condonation of the illegality of moving ongoing elections from polling units that offered INEC and her officials the opportunity to mercilessly rig the elections like they have don make-or-mar 2023 general elections! As a result of this novel conspiracy, INEC refused to volunteer necessary information or call attention to relevant issues that required to be solved in order to facilitate successful conduct of the 2023 general elections in line with the extant provisions of Electoral Act 2022.”

The bizarre drama which characterised the conduct and collation of the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections are stubborn proofs that the conspiracy of INEC and the Nigerian political elites have succeeded in ruining what was otherwise an excellent electoral system. As usual, the conspirators who have promoted deceit to creed had no problems making the trust and confidence which Nigerians reposed both in INEC and the leadership of the country the casualties of this electoral fraud. However, it is pertinent to state that hapless Nigerian citizens played into the hands of INEC by failing to hold INEC to follow her rules during the elections! The 2023 Electoral Act made the polling units the only political theatre for all the elections.

According to it, through the use of BVAS and electronic transmission of poll results from the polling units on election days, an election could be won, lost, concluded, cancelled or rescheduled. In subsequent elections, Nigerians should insist on the right things in the right venues. Moving open-ended elections or polls away from the polling units under any guise was an act of rigging and illegality. Results of elections not conducted with BVAS and or not transmitted through BVAS from the polling unit was null and void. Allowing INEC staff leave the polling unit without transmitting the results or formally declaring the election inconclusive or cancelled is an act of compromise on the part of the electorate of that particular polling unit. It was this condonation of the illegality of moving ongoing elections from polling units that offered INEC and her officials the opportunity to mercilessly rig the elections like they have done

ijustdey:


https://www.newtelegraphng.com/polls-how-nigerians-played-into-the-hands-of-inec/