₦airaland Forum

Ruggedniggaone:
Structure is necessary to win presidential election in Nigeria and that's where pdp and apc have advantage over labour party, only pdp and apc have ward party chairmen in every nook and cranny of Nigeria,Nigeria presidential candidate can not be everywhere but their Structure will reach every villages and towns to campaign for there candidates.go to every villages both in the south and northern part you will realise that only pdp and apc are known there.i went to one village in ondo in 2019 it located deep inside the forest but they still have pdp and apc party chairman and ward excos,Atiku and Tinubu may not these places but those ward excos will work for the victory of their party in those villages so if you don't have that how do you plan to reach those area? they have no light, no network or any road it was like 3 hours journey to the highway,do you think those people will leave pdp or apc presidential candidate to votes for someone they never heard or known his party before? the answer is No. so only structure can win you general election don't be surprised that some villages do not know obi or Labour party in the south east and they won't vote for Peter obi.

Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is among the latest modern technological devices introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the bid to enhance the integrity of the nation’s electoral system. In this report, KUNLE ODEREMI looks at the schism being expressed in certain quarters over BVAS deployment for the conduct 2023 general election.

IT is about 72 days to the general election. Come February 25, 2023, when the presidential and National Assembly elections hold, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the latest form of modern technology designed to enhance the integrity, credibility and openness of the nation’s electoral process, will undergo its first acid test in a national poll. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had deployed the system during the conduct of governorship elections in Anambra, Osun and Ekiti states, which enabled the commission to identify possible grey areas and rectify them in preparations for the 2023 elections.

But with less than three months to the crucial poll, there is a fresh round of debate over the deployment of BVAS for the conduct of the elections, with the controversy taking an upward swing in the last few weeks. The apparent fears expressed by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu on the probable functionality of the technology further escalated the eddies created by the views of the national chairman of the ruling party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu on the subject-matter.At the much-published presentation at Chatham House last Monday in United Kingdom, Tinubu had said: “We are still building confidence in our democratic and voting system. INEC is yet to assure us that electronic transmission, the technology being used for accreditation and the total vote count is reliable, dependable and assuring before we introduce a complicated element of ballot counting.”

Some critics took to various media platforms to vent their anger, almost in the manner political parties, individuals and groups rebuked Adamu on the same issue. Though, the INEC fell short of mentioning any political gladiator, the commission denounced opposition to BVAS saying it had come to stay. Whereas APC later claimed its national chairman, Adamu was misquoted on the deployment of the modern technology for the 2023 elections, the storm created by the said view has not settled. His controversial statement made when he received a pre-election delegation of the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission in Abuja was that, “First, I was privileged to serve as a senator. But our concern is how ready are we to deploy some of these technologies as regards transmission because we are taking a major step in transmitting election results in real time. To transmit results, every part of the nation – Nigeria, I’m not sure that the network covers it; I know that even in parts of Abuja, there is no network and we have from now till February when in substantial parts of the country, there is no electricity. INEC must assure us 100 per cent that as of when due in transmitting results, they are ready because they spoke about recharging batteries. But we heard in previous elections when it says it can’t recharge.”

But barely 24 hours after those controversial statements, the national publicity secretary of the ruling party, Felix Morka, announced that the national chairman was misquoted. Morka stated that much as Adamu had tasked INEC on its readiness to deploy the technology, the party remained committed to the highest level of electoral transparency. “Media reports that chairman Adamu kicked against INEC’s decision to deploy BVAS and electronic transmission of results is patently false, and constitutes an unfair misrepresentation of the National Chairman’s comments. At a meeting with the Commonwealth pre-election delegation yesterday, Wednesday, November 23, 2022, in response to a question regarding the country’s preparations for next year’s election, the National Chairman noted that, while preparations were in top gear, he tasked INEC to take effective steps to bridge any gaps that may be created by electricity and telecommunications network challenges in certain outlying voting districts in the country in order to ensure a smooth and successful deployment of BVAS and other technologies to ensure free and transparent election, ”he said.

Adamu’s perceived fear was re-echoed by the party’s national organising secretary, Suleiman Argungu, especially on the issue of power supply as it relates to the technology. “Apart from the issue of electricity that is unstable, a lot of the villages and communities are bordering other countries, for instance, my state, Kebbi was bordering two nations during the previous elections. You can’t get people easily on the network of Nigeria, Glo, MTN, Airtel. If you want to get them, you have to use the number of the other countries to reach them. So, during election, I don’t see how transmission of result will work,” he said. The clarification by APC came against the backlash of public, with the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accusing APC of plotting to reenact the inglorious era of election rigging. Its Director of Strategic Communication, PDP presidential campaign council, Dele Momodu, warned: “The world has gone digital and anything that will eliminate political thuggery, cheating and rigging; I will expect any reasonable political party to support it. It’s like sending us back 50 years into antiquity. At PDP, we will support transparent elections only.” In the same vein, spokesperson of Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, claimed that the seeming rejection of BVAS by APC and its candidate was an indication that they lacked the support of Nigerians. On its part, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) alleged that the utterances of APC chieftains on BVAS were because the ruling party planned to compromise the election. In a statement, the CUPP stated: “Technology keeps making it increasingly possible to reduce the contentious menace of electoral fraud and other forms of manipulation that has characterised our electoral system in times past. With the emergence of BVAS, which is replacing the Smart Card Readers used in previous elections, polls in Nigeria will now be better in credibility.” For the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (OYC) national president, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, “In other countries, a ruling party is expected to be in the vanguard of advancing democracy, but that is no longer the case with APC.”

Harvest of electoral fraud

The advocacy for deployment of more modern technology is based on the necessity to rid of fraud in the Nigeria electoral system and bring it to the level of global standard practice. This is because statistics on electoral malpractices during general election since 1999 appears awful and detestable. In the elections that ended a prolonged military interregnum 24 years ago, there were cases of gross subversion of the electoral process by desperate politicians colluding with agents of other bodies involved in the monitoring process and supervision of security. A similar trend subsisted in the 2003 general election, as cases relating to electoral offences are still pending before courts of competent jurisdiction. In short, the 2003 elections was characterised by large-scale irregularities and violence, with both domestic and international election observers in their various reports acknowledging that there were massive electoral malpractices perpetrated by major political actors. In some instances, other electoral misconducts were allegedly perpetrated by INEC and its unscrupulous officials, in the form of unlawful possession of ballot papers and boxes, unlawful possession of authorised/unauthorised voter cards, stuffing of ballot boxes, forgery of results, falsification of result sheets, tampering with ballot boxes, collusion with party agents to share unused ballot papers for fat financial rewards and inconsistent application of INEC’s procedures. The general election of 2007 drew more flak because of the incredulous scale of subversion of the will of the people at the poll. It necessitated the setting up of the Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee, which among others, recommendation the setting up of an electoral offences Commission to handle all breaches of the extant laws emanating from the conduct of elections.

For the 2011 polls, INEC introduced more modern technologies, among them, biometric PVC and card reader machine to verify the authenticity of the PVC and carry out a verification of the intending voter by matching the biometrics obtained from the voter on the spot with those stored on the PVC. So, the 2011 voter register, which is Nigeria’s first electronically compiled register, produced PVCs used in the 2015 general elections. Various reports noted that, unlike the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections, the 2015 elections witnessed a general reduction in election litigation. According to the reports, total number of petitions filed after the 2003 elections was 560. By 2007, the petitions increased to 1,290, with a total of 731 elections petitions filed at the various election petition tribunals after the 2011 elections. The figure dropped to 731 following the electoral reforms due to the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration. In a research article titled: Elixir of electoral fraud: The impact of digital technology on the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, the authors noted that while the deployment of biometric technologies may not entirely make the elections free and fair, they, however, accounted for their credibility. Despite challenges, especially in fingerprint verification, the card readers contributed in curbing pervasive electoral fraud, the researchers: Chikodiri Nwangwu, Vincent Chidi Onah, Otu Akanu Otu, stated.

Basis for BVAS

The 2023 general election is the seventh successive general election in 23 years of unbroken civilian dispensation. There is an additional 10 million new voters to the 84 making up an estimated 95 million to vote in 176,846 polling units in 774 local government areas, with 18 political parties fielding a total of 12,163 candidates in 109 senatorial districts, 360 federal constituencies; 993 state constituencies, 28 governorship positions, and the office of the President. Two modern technologies to be deployed for the elections are BVAS and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) to tackle 10 most pervasive weaknesses in election result management process. These malfeasance include falsification of votes at polling units, falsification of number of accredited voters, collation of false results, mutilation of results and computational errors, swapping of results sheets, forging of results sheets, snatching and destruction of results sheets, obtaining declaration and return involuntarily, making declaration and return while result collation is still in progress and poor recordkeeping.

INEC has at different fora, displayed and showed how BVAS operates. BVAS was first deployed in the Isoko South Constituency 1 bye-election in Delta State on September 10, 2021 before it was used to conduct the governorship poll in Anambra State in 2021. Thereafter, it was deployed similar elections in Ekiti and Osun states. Based on the success of the technology, INEC says more than 2,000 BVAS will be deployed across 176,000 polling units in the country for the 2023 elections. INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, was even recently quoted as assuring Nigerians that the machine would be in all the polling units to help check fraud and to guarantee free and fair polls. “We will have one BVAS reserve in every Registration Area Centre (RAC) to ensure immediate intervention in case of any failure,” Okoye said. He explained that technical officers would be on standby at every RAC to attend to any technical issues that could arise in the course of the polls.

In spite of the optimism of INEC on the technology as a game changer, some stakeholders have raised questions about the use of BVAS, especially in rural communities. The matter was taken to court by a few individuals. But INEC has promised synergy with other critical agencies on the issues with the purpose of plugging all likely loopholes towards dousing doubts being expressed in certain quarters. A former INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini said that those who have gone to court over BVAS wanted to return the country to the ugly past. Igini explained that democracy would not be complete without the rule of law; adding that the best way to fight the ills of democracy was through more democracy. So, he wants the electorate to be extra vigilant during the 2023 general election and ensure compliance with the electoral law. A development practitioner, Samson Itodo also has a word of caution for the people. He says since in elections, perception is everything, “introducing the BVAS and IReV into the framework for election results management has transformed the public perception of the accuracy and credibility of election results. He described the action as “one of the most significant innovations and reforms to Nigeria’s electoral process.”

Corrinthians:
That accusation by Ekweremadu was total bullucks. Nevertheless, I sympathise with him. He was only desperate to save his daughter, stuff every father or parent hardened criminal like Thiefnubuu would do.

BOLATINUBU01:
Pepper dem

BloomingDale:
Christianity and Islam, the highest form of idolatry. The worship of wood and stone. Same coin, opposite sides. Both, the broad road that leads to hell.

inoki247:
Lol if anything happens in the East they blame Tinubu you people shuld continue till the monster knocks on ur door....


I'm sure if FG see Simon Ekpa extradict come home u people will still come online nd cry that they left Boko haram sponsor dey ar witch hunting your people....

Keep it up till u av no where to vote on election day....

If FG send more military and police to south East you people will still come online and cry that they're killing innocent people....


Your tears neva start go buy GeePee tank cos FEB no far u will cry river nd thank God for NL u will open thread tire....

kingmaster2009:
Shetima's face is like a cannibalist

I'm sure he has eaten flesh of human being.

yarimo:
Children of hate always looking for a way to misinterpret elder statesman statement in a hateful manner

Natbrowny:
When he talks n acts. The narrative will b tinubu is a placeholder for shettima. The party kuku allow the presidential candidate to do the action n talking.

Meanwhile both of them are SCUMBAGS

The Middle Belt Forum (MBF), said, yesterday, that the North Central zone of the country is committed to supporting a president of South East extraction for the purpose of fairness, equity and justice.

This is as former President, Olusegun Obasanjo; Leader of Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo; former Ambassador, Godknows Igali eulogised ex-President General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, who marked his 70th birthday, yesterday.

President of MBF, Dr. Bitrus Poga, stated, at a colloquium, held as part of the 70th birthday celebration of Nwodo, that “Peter Obi will be the first democratically elected president of Nigeria from South East extraction.”

At the event attended by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Obi, he insisted that the “rest of the country should give peace a chance by voting Obi as the next president.”

Pogu, who commended Nwodo over his role in the emergence of Obi as presidential candidate from the South East, noted that, hopefully, the LP candidate remained the choice of Middle Belt and Afenifere.

He said: “We have said it again and again that in the interest of equity, fairness and justice, the president should come from the South, particularly, the South East.”

“In the middle Belt, we are with Obi for a better Nigeria.

‘When Obi emerges, Nwodo will stand by him as one of the persons who played a major role in presenting him to us.”

Earlier, at a church service held as part of the occasion, Obasanjo said that Nwodo has contributed immensely to the growth and development of his community, Enugu State and the country at large; hence, he deserved to be celebrated.

“We have come here to celebrate and make merry for what God has done for our brother. We pray that God will keep him so he can continue to make meaningful contributions to growth of the country,” Obasanjo said.

Also, the Afenifere Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, extolled the uncommon trait of Nwodo to build bridges and friendships across the country.

Adebanjo said that Nwodo had stood out for peace and equity of all parts and ethnicity of the country, adding he had done that by words and actions.

The National President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr Bitrus Pogu, has given reasons the group is supporting the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the MBF leader noted that the historical monolithic North no longer exists.

So far, are you impressed with the way the campaigns are going?

Campaigns should be based on issues, but you see violence happening in some places, which shouldn’t be. Instead of addressing issues, you can see that the presidential candidates are attacking one another; so it is not how mature campaigns should be, and we are hoping it will get better.

Are you not worried about the violence?

Everyone should be worried. We saw how the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar campaign trail was attacked in Maiduguri. It’s unfortunate that such a thing could ever happen. If the trend continues, we may not have a smooth election, which may spell doom for our democracy, and I wouldn’t want that to happen. We pray that all parties that are involved in such things should call their members to order so that we have a rancour-free issue based campaigns that will give Nigerians the choice to elect who they feel will deliver for them good governance, having elected him in 2023.

The presidential candidates signed a peace pact to maintain peace, but in some states, the governors are not allowing the opposition parties to use their facilities and so on. What is your take on this?

It is an unfortunate development. It just means that we are gradually becoming a lawless society, if we are not one already. My prayer is that those involved in such acts should become more civil in their behaviour so that we have development in our political process.

MBF and some southern groups have adopted Peter Obi as their presidential candidate. What informed that decision?

Equity, fairness and justice: it is just those three words. Every Nigerian knows that the six political zones deserve equal treatment. The South East deserves fairness, justice. Similarly, we have had presidents from North West and South West and continue to interchange since 1999. Now, after eight years of President Buhari, it should justly go to the south, and, in the south, the South West has had former President Olusegun Obasanjo for eight years, and now Prof Yemi Osinbajo as the vice president for eight years in 2023. The South-South has had former President Goodluck Jonathan for nearly six years as president, while the South East has not produced any. So, for justice, equity and fairness, it is only proper for it to go to the South East, and, with consultation with South East leaders, Peter Obi emerged as the preferred candidate, and, therefore, he left the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and went to another platform. We are supporting him based on equity fairness and justice. That is the criterion.

Does equity, fairness and justice override competence in this instance?

Peter Obi was selected based on competence. In every geo-political zone, there are so many competent people, and among the lot of competent people who are in consideration from the South East, he stood out as the one we feel that, at this point in time, can help us in bringing the new Nigeria we are all aspiring to have. Competence, youthfulness, being energetic and not sickly, he has them all. He is the type of president that Nigeria needs now that can do the job without fainting, without going to the hospital every time, and he has the brains; he is an entrepreneur, a good trader and a good manager we believe can manage the affairs of this country, and he has a track record, which cannot be faulted. So what other competence do you want?

Some would argue that the North East has also not produced the presidency since 1999

The movement we have had since 1999 was between the north and the south. The North East could not capture the president after Obasanjo, it went to the North West, with the late Umaru Yar’Adua, and then it went to Jonathan of South-South, and it went back to the north, and as the North East didn’t grab it, was it the fault of the South that the North West grabbed it? Would you consider Buhari to only be North West, because, maternally, he is North East and paternally, North West? You can only blame the people in the north for not micro zoning it to the North East. Now, since it is going to the south after a northern president, if fairness is being applied appropriately, and our partners in the South said , ‘yes’, for fairness, equity, justice, it should go to the South East. It is nobody’s fault, let the people of the north now decide why when it came back to the North, it wasn’t given to the North East.

When do we put a halt to ethnicity, religion as considerations to winning elections?

It was when Nigeria became a nation, but, today we have nation states, and not a nation. We have tribal nations; we don’t have a nationhood created out of the Nigerian space with geographical states, which we accept as our country. We still have these forces pulling everybody, and before we could get there, we have to be able to address issues of tribal cleavages, religious cleavages. For example, when we were maturing and there was tranquillity in the land, a South West candidate, the late M. K. O. Abiola, chose Alhaji Kingibe as his running mate, no Christian even from the North raised an eyebrow to question the Muslim-Muslim ticket, but, today, we have a different situation. Boko Haram, they say they are Islamic group fighting; whether true or false, it is up to them to decide. We have ISWAP, an Islamic group fighting to carry out a jihad, which nobody understands. Then we have herdsmen militia, all having Islamic roots, and the Christians from the North, particularly the Middle Belt are threatened. So, that issue of same faith ticket cannot be tenable now, because even in this government, we have seen a lot of nepotism; people from the same religion, the same part of the country have been planted in strategic positions as if the others are not part of the country. From this, we have not developed into a nation; we are still states of nation within the space called Nigeria. By the time we are able to be a nation where Nigeria comes before religion, where Nigeria comes before tribe, and then we can do away with these things. In fact, when you talk to somebody at that time they will tell you, forget about this primordial sentiment, but, today, the realities are staring us in the face, and we have to face it squarely.

In the past, Chief Awolowo and Dr Azikiwe picked South-Eastern and Northern Christians as running mates, and no one raised any issues. When did it become an issue?

It was when religion and ethnicity started to stare us in the face. We didn’t have any Boko Haram before killing people for no reason; we didn’t have ISWAP before killing people for no reason; we didn’t have Fulani herdsmen militia before, but now, we have them, and everybody is complaining. Even in the North, people are complaining that nepotism has carried the day instead of inclusiveness and consideration for our diversity. These issues started to stare everybody in the face. You look, somebody is being killed by somebody who ‘pretends’ to be fighting a religious battle. Why should I support a system where both of them belong to the same religion, because I felt threatened that way, and that was why some APC leaders came out clearly to say, ‘We are APC, we believe in this political party, but we cannot accept Muslim-Muslim ticket’. It is because these things are realities today; it is happening because of what is going on today. In the past, when such things didn’t exist, nobody cared; nobody mentioned anything about it.

When Abiola and Kingibe ran together, nobody even asked why a Muslim from the South West picked a Muslim form the North East. It is the reality of today that informs the behaviour of today. So let’s address these things and let us not pretend and say they don’t exist. They do exist. The ordinary Christian from the North feels threatened by these attackers; in fact, the entire nation is threatened, and the Christians from the North are saying no to a Muslim candidate. The Muslim deputy is even coming from the Boko Haram enclave, so why should we support them? These are problems that are there because of the reality of today, and this reality has to be addressed so that we can move forward towards constituting a true nationhood in our conducts and in everything that we do. An American says, he is an American, and not a Christian American or a Muslim American; and a Nigerian is supposed to say he is a Nigerian and not a Muslim or a Christian from Nigeria. We have to address these things and then get out of the mess we are in.

One had expected that the Middle Belt Forum from the North would go for a candidate from the North, in the spirit of the monolithic North.

There is nothing called monolithic North. During Obasanjo’s period when some Middle Belters were appointed ministers and were given some key ministries, our brothers from the far north started saying that those appointees were not northerners. What defines a northerner? The Middle Belt struggle has been one of the oldest socio-cultural groups that existed. The struggle then was for a bit of the cake so that the bigger Northern Region would not forget the nationalities that were found in the southern north, and that led to what we have today. In the beginning, the powers that be in the North tried to carry these people along, but divisions started, and people started to say, ‘You are not true northerners’. So, who is the true northerner? So, they began to see themselves as a separate entity —the Non-Hausa Fulani and the Non-Kanuri minorities who were neither under the caliphate nor under the sultanate of Borno. When the British came, and these groups were coming together more strongly, and now they can say, ‘We have our identity’, the British kept us together for their administrative convenience and through the Indirect Rule that we have been subjugated to suppression and oppression, and it continued even after independence, and that is why the struggle continues. That monolithic North doesn’t exist today. Even the Hausa people, most of them are crying out to say that the Fulani came and deceived their forefathers, why actually they were fighting a political battle, took over our rulership.

Even some of their leaders, who were Muslims, were killed on Eid day, and their authorities taken over by the Fulani. They were Muslims before the Fulani jihad came. So, the Hausa are starting to probe into that historical episode to say, ‘These people are usurpers, and so we cannot accept it anymore.’ So, the cleavages are coming, you cannot hide history, because it will expose the truth, which people are hiding. Some of our leaders tried to stop the teaching of history. History is very important. Without history, I cannot tell my Kanuri brother that, before the colonial masters went to meet their leaders in Mongonu, they came to Chibok in 1902, and so we were also negotiated or forced into the protectorate just as you were. History tells me that my people were independent before we were all brought together. The monolithic North is now into cleavage, because history has exposed things that were hidden which are now in the open. But for Middle Belt, our struggle has been for a very long time, and we are only trying to ensure that our people are properly placed where they are supposed to be, and not to continue to play second fiddle to anybody; we are not second class citizens in our own country. By the time everybody has the right to be a Nigerian, just as everyone has just one vote, then Nigeria will be very good for everybody.

PandoraObi:
Because they are filled with the bitterness and hatred of IPOB miscreants and ESN cannibals

RockHard:
Maybe na same reason why you Zombidiot Obingos refer to every Tinubu supporter as a 'Yoruba Muslim'?

Villa12:
Chinedu

Online Dangote rambling on a platform owned by a young Yoruba lad

Villa12:
Chinedu

Why are you disguising like a female on nairaland please? Why are you impersonating like a female on nairaland? You're a male disguising like a female on nairaland. Don't you know it is a criminal offence to impersonate?

Why are you impersonating?

Moh247:




Omo yiibo

Yaradua was Obasanjo's third term ticket and he was sick and needed help



.

Moh247:
Another Omo yiibo

Are you Tinubu's doctor to know he is sick

basybasy:
Yeye people, just continue relying on online pool. The least person that will smell Aso Rock among them is Obi. Atiku or Tinubu will get there, but is going nowhere. Who will vote Igbo? Who will trust Igbos? No one will make that kind mistake. North wake up, Igbo will bring you down if Obi wins

lexylaw40:
with the way he paid you back as a governor abi

Who should be the President of Nigeria in 2023?