THE United States of America often prides itself as the bastion of democracy in the world. A few days ago, President Joe Biden stressed the importance of the right to vote in his remarks at the 58th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” at Edmund Pettus Bridge Selma, Alabama. In his words: “The right to vote- the right to vote and to have your vote counted- is the threshold of democracy and liberty. With it, anything is possible…without that right, nothing is possible. And this fundamental right remains under assault.”

Biden, a democrat, was at Alabama to mark the anniversary of the March 7, 1965 Selma March by hundreds of demonstrators, demanding for voting rights for Black Americans who faced barriers to vote across much of the south of the United States. Although law enforcement officers brutally clamped down on the protesters, five months later, the Congress passed the “Voting Rights of 1965”, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting in the United States.

This year’s commemoration of the Selma demonstration coincided with widespread contestations over the outcome of the February 25 presidential election in Nigeria, which the Financial Times, one of the leading business news organisations in the world, described as badly flawed. Relying on testimonies of both local and international observers and its own observation of the election, the British news organisation, in an editorial, chronicled numerous irregularities that marred the election, including snatching of ballot materials, violence, voter suppression and intimidation, delay in arrival of electoral officials at the polling units and late commencement of accreditation and voting.

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In the opinion of the Financial Times, these irregularities contributed in depriving millions of Nigerians the right to vote. According to the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the body saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections in Nigeria, the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections witnessed a drop in voter turnout to 27 per cent from 35 per cent recorded in 2019.

To add salt to injury, the result could not be uploaded real time from polling units to INEC’s result viewing portal, IReV, as prescribed by the commission in its guidelines for the election. Section 148 of the Electoral Act, gives the electoral body the power to make guidelines and regulations to ensure the full effect of the law. Section 60 (5) of the Act states that the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the commission.

The prescribed manner in this case, is the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, introduced by INEC to boost the credibility of Nigerian elections. But, rather than use the BVAS to upload the results real time from the polling units as prescribed in the election guidelines, INEC resorted to manual collation for the presidential election. Amid protest by other political parties over these obvious irregularities in the election, the electoral body hurriedly declared the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the election. According to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who doubled as the returning officer for the election, Tinubu polled 8.8 million votes to defeat other top contenders, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of Labour Party, LP, who polled 6.9 million and 6.1 million respectively. Both Atiku and Obi have since approached the Court of Appeal, the court of first instance on presidential election matters, to challenge the outcome of the election.

While Tinubu was basking on the euphoria of torrents of congratulatory messages he received from world leaders, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard declared that the electoral process as a whole on February 25 failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians. Atiku Abubakar and his party, PDP, staged a protest to the headquarters of INEC in Abuja, to express their dissatisfaction with the election. Regardless, the ruling APC maintained that its candidate won the election and asked those not satisfied with the outcome of the election to go to court.

For now, all eyes are on the judiciary, as it appears there was very little that INEC could do now, having issued Tinubu with a Certificate of Return as the winner of the controversial election. Besides the irregularities that marred the election, one issue Nigerians expect the court to resolve is the argument that the winner did not meet the legal threshold in Section 134 (2) of the Constitution, for one to be declared winner of a presidential election.

As we wait for the election tribunal to decide the case one way or the order, I fear that Nigeria may have missed another golden opportunity to rediscover herself as the Giant of Africa. Recall that in 2013, Barack Obama, the first American President of African descent, described Nigeria as critical to the rest of the African continent. Obama argued that “if Nigeria does not get it right, Africa will really not make more progress”. Regrettably, Africa is today a theatre of the absurd and bizarre, including armed conflicts, insurgency, coup d’états and other forms of political instability. The continent is also plagued by economic crisis and environmental degradation.

Ironically, Nigeria, which the world expects to champion the advancement of the continent, is not spared. Instead of rule of law, lawlessness rules, even within the corridors of power. The entire political system is dogged by corruption, ethnic and religious tensions. The political gladiators are more concerned with self survival and their Machiavellian actions are driven by individual, rather than national interest.

Most worrisome is that the country lacks the capacity to conduct credible elections, hence depriving the citizens of leadership at all strata and arms of government. Indeed, can anyone quantify the consequences of these maladies on the country? In spite of the humongous oil revenue that accrued to Nigeria over the years and the numerous efforts by successive governments to address the infrastructure deficit in the country, wide gaps still exist in the country’s power, transportation, communication, aviation, health and education infrastructure.

The economy is in doldrums. Citizens spend donkey time on very long queues to fuel their cars and electricity generators, in order to improvise for the acute shortage of electricity from the national grid in their homes and offices. Presently, Nigeria faces a severe cash crunch, occasioned by a shoddy and “inexpertly” implemented cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which resulted in long queues of hapless citizens standing for hours at Automated Teller Machine, ATM, points and inside banking halls, searching for cash to meet their basic daily needs. Unemployment rate is almost 40 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. Although Nigeria moved up four places in the latest 2022 Corruption Perception Index, CPI, it maintained its previous score of 24 out of 100 points in the 2021 assessment, showing that nothing has changed.

The story is not different in the educational and health systems of the country. While, there is global consensus that education is the bedrock of development, about 20 million children are out of school in Nigeria, as of the last quarter of 2022, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO.

The annual budgetary allocation at the federal level for education is a far cry from the 26 per cent benchmark recommended by UNESCO for member countries. The sub-nationals are faring worse. Primary and secondary schools in Nigeria experience lack of instructional materials. They lack qualified and trained personnel. At the tertiary level, prolonged strikes by academic and non-academic staff often paralyze academic activities in our citadels of learning, impacting negatively on standards.

In the health system, brain drain deprives our health institutions of their best hands, as they leave the country on a daily basis in search of greener pastures in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The primary health system is almost nonexistent while the tertiary health institutions do not measure up to consulting clinics in even sister African countries. However, the frustration vented in this piece does not mean that all hope is lost. From the experiences of the big democracies and the upcoming ones, we can establish a correlation between democracy and development.

A credible election is the hallmark of democracy. Therefore, we must do everything to get our elections right. To get it right, we must interrogate the character of those who would be entrusted with our electoral process in future, sustain reforms in our electoral laws and allow technology to fully drive the system, to protect our elections from the machinations of desperado politicians and willing conspirators in the electoral body.


https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/03/us-nigerias-faulty-election-and-africas-progress/

US should steer clear of our politics

Hmm

Even Trump is still insisting the 2020 US presidential election was rigged

No Election is 100% perfect

We all saw what happened in Brazil after the Presidential Election.

INEC has really improve and I hope they keep on improving

Inec Chairman ought to have resigned if he has shame at all.

Nigerians and international community has already given up on INEC APC as Nigeria election is the worst in Africa

Let it be known to the whole world that Nigeria's 2023 presidential election was RIGGED, and the wrong person announced as winner.
Nigeria needs peace and unity. And for that to happen, that stolen mandate must be recovered and handed back to the rightful winner.
Progress is impossible in a clime of chicanery and lawlessness.

Let ipob be shopping for oyinbo validation

Where the EU and so called men that obi was traveling to go see?

If kanu a British citizen can be in jail tell me how these oyinbos take get your time

Everyone knows that the election was not perfect, but not greatly flawed that Obi won the election.

USA and their oversabi in what does not concern them mtcheww

Tunibu and mahmood Yakubu think they are smart

Parachoko:
Even Trump is still insisting the 2020 US presidential election is rigged

No Election is 100% perfect

We all saw what happened in Brazil after the Presidential Election.

INEC has really improve and I hope they keep on improving

He knew there was no rigging anywhere. He was only chasing shadows. That was why they resorted to manual recount. You can't recount snatched or burnt ballot papers in our case, neither can you account for doctored election results.

The Feb 25th election was far from imperfections. It was daylight fraud. How do you explain thugs seen snatching ballot boxes and setting it ablaze as seen openly, even went as far as tearing voter's face with a sharp object?

How do you explain the police openly joining those thugs in snatching ballot boxes and scattering ballot papers...those deployed to defend same and protect people?

How do you explain doctored ballot papers and swapping figured in favour of a losing candidate?

Don't mistake imperfection with fraud. They're not the same.

Imperfection is part of human, which requires work-in-progress....where electoral materials
didnt get to voters early but they still voted eventually with a special arrangement, logistical issues, moving polling units without informing voters early enough, etc...those are the examples of Imperfections Not same as electoral draud.

Eriokanmi:
He knew there was no rigging anywhere. He was only chasing shadows. That was why they resorted to manual recount. You can't recount snatched or burnt ballot papers in our case, neither can you account for doctored election results.

The Feb 25th election was far from imperfections. It was daylight fraud. How do you explain thugs seen snatching ballot boxes and setting it ablaze as seen openly, even went as far as tearing voter's face with a sharp object?

How do you explain the police openly joining those thugs in snatching ballot boxes and scattering ballot papers...those deployed to defend same and protect people?

How do you explain doctored ballot papers and swapping figured in favour of a losing candidate?

Don't mistake imperfection with fraud. They're not the same.

Imperfection is part of human, which requires work-in-progress....where electoral materials
didnt get to voters early but they still voted eventually with a special arrangement, logistical issues, moving polling units without informing voters early enough, etc...those are the examples of Imperfections Not same as electoral draud.

2 persons were also killed in Abia State with one of the person getting beheaded on the presidential election day.

Well, I never said the Election is perfect. Is still a work in progress and am glad our Election is getting better.

The 2023 Presidential Election is not perfect but is still the best in this 4th Republic.

jkpbestseries:
US should steer clear of our politics

You don't mean it,do you?

You keep defending corruption forgetting that what goes around comes around.

jkpbestseries:
US should steer clear of our politics

Whether they should steer clear of our affairs or not... The truth is simple...

The election was rigged and that's the message!

Parachoko:



2 persons were also killed in Abia State with one of the person getting beheaded on the presidential election day.

Well, I never said the Election is perfect. Is still a work in progress and am glad our Election is getting better.

The 2023 Presidential Election is not perfect but is still the best in this 4th Republic.

Let those who committed crime be made to face the wrath of the law to serve as a deterrent to others. Ado Dogowa , that Kano rep won't go unpunished, same punishment should be meted out to the man who beheaded somebody in Abia.

2023 election is the worst ever. Even international observers who used to be part of the process since 1999 didn't give it a pass mark, compared to the previous ones conducted, despite putting all the modalities in place which should have checked irregularities in our electoral process. Where in the eyes of Africa and they take after us in everything we do. Politicians shouldn't at this point still be desperate for power by taking to fraudulent means of winning elections.

Do you know the implications of what has happened? Their policies won't be fair to the masses because they knew it was their means that took them to power, not your regular votes. Cry from now till tomorrow, they'd not hear you. Those who collected 5k in Ekiti who told me openly when I didn't even ask them, would go to the hospital to deliver babies but they'd tell her madam, no equipment, no bed space.

Until that day when we shun all manner of inducement and fraud in our elections, they'd always have their way and the masses would continue to suffer. If you vote along ethnic lines instead of competence, your candidate won't do anything to favour your region. The federal character would be followed else he'd be impeached if he messes up. That's why they don't do much once they get there, to favour their region. They'd rather embezzle cos the system permits them to do that. Last night, i heard a senator who was reelected from borno on channelstv last night saying the bill to reduce the executive powers must be speedily passed into law and what does that mean? Northern caucus in the house would push for this and once they have their way, Tinubu, if eventually he's sworn in, would be like a toothless bulldog and the thieving continues.

Obasanjo ruled Nigeria for 8 years with nothing to show in Ogun state and yoruba land. Jonathan ruled for 6 years as president and 2 years as vice with nothing to show. The east-west Road is still under construction. That's the road leading to Bayelsa, phc and connects delta and SE. Until we vote credibility, status quo will be the end point with these people in power. Buhari was able to do that little because of his past record and act of discipline, which was why i also voted him. You can't compare Buhari with tinubu naw.

Enough said.

Eriokanmi:
Let those who committed crime be made to face the wrath of the law to serve as a deterrent to others. Ado Dogowa , that Kano rep won't go unpunished, same punishment should be meted out to the man who beheaded somebody in Abia.

2023 election is the worst ever. Even international observers who used to be part of the process since 1999 didn't give it a pass mark, compared to the previous ones conducted, despite putting all the modalities in place which should have checked irregularities in our electoral process. Where in the eyes of Africa and they take after us in everything we do. Politicians shouldn't at this point still be desperate for power by taking to fraudulent means of winning elections.

Do you know the implications of what has happened? Their policies won't be fair to the masses because they knew it was their means that took them to power, not your regular votes. Cry from now till tomorrow, they'd not hear you. Those who collected 5k in Ekiti who told me openly when I didn't even ask them, would go to the hospital to deliver babies but they'd tell her madam, no equipment, no bed space.

Until that day when we shun all manner of inducement and fraud in our elections, they'd always have their way and the masses would continue to suffer. If you vote along ethnic lines instead of competence, your candidate won't do anything to favour your region. The federal character would be followed else he'd be impeached if he messes up. That's why they don't do much once they get there, to favour their region. They'd rather embezzle cos the system permits them to do that.

Obasanjo ruled Nigeria for 8 years with nothing to show in Ogun state and yoruba land. Jonathan ruled for 6 years as president and 2 years as vice with nothing to show. The east-west Road is still under construction. That's the road leading to Bayelsa, phc and comments delta and SE. Until we vote credibility, status quo will be the end point with these people in power. Buhari was able to do that little because of his past record and act of discipline, which was why i also voted him. You can't compare Buhari with tinubu naw.

Enough said.

The 2023 Presidential Election is the best in this 4th Republic.

I will score INEC 90/100.

They did a good job.

Parachoko:
The 2023 Presidential Election is the best in this 4th Republic.

I will score INEC 90/100.

They did a good job.

Isorite