Reflections on presidential and NASS elections

The presidential and National Assembly elections, which took place on February 25 were framed by a number of insalubrious challenges.

Terrorism and banditry, which reached their peak in October last year, lingered. The campaigns, which preceded the conduct of the elections were suffused with mudslinging and bellicose rhetoric. At the eve of these elections, there was a nationwide cash crunch, occasioned by currency re-design embarked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Petroleum products were scarce, making election logistics an impending nightmare.

In spite of these challenges, the elections went ahead and voters, in their numbers, turned out to vote. And even though there was a marked decline in the turnout of voters, compared with previous election cycles, special tribute must be paid to them (the voters). For in spite of INEC’s inability to open the Polling Units (PUs) on time due to late arrival of officials and materials, the voters, who appreciated that this was a watershed moment, waited patiently. In some jurisdictions, voters waited for a record 48 hours in order to vote and subsequently witnessed the sorting and counting of the ballots. Never in our electoral annals have voters exuded such perseverance and resilience.

If voters demonstrated forbearance and uncommon steadfastness, two of the pillars on which the elections were erected, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the upload of PU results or the inputted Form EC8A, either came under assault or were systematically undermined.

A number of the BVAS devices were snatched by hoodlums. In some instances, the BVAS malfunctioned without the Registration Area Technical Staff (RATECHS) trouble shooting glitches in time or getting the device to be replaced outright where there was sustained malfunctioning.

The commission’s most acute failing must be the near absence of the upload of the Form EC8A on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). Besides, and in a lot of cases, the last link in its logistics chain, namely, the deployment of election materials and election officials from the 8,809 Wards/Registration Centres to the 176,846 PUs simply collapsed.

Matters were not helped by the fact that INEC was not upfront and timeous with information regarding the glitches it was experiencing with the upload of the results on the IReV or the challenges it was facing with its transporters.

Compounding these was the late opening of polls (arising from the shenanigans of INEC’s transporters). Compared with recent off cycle governorship elections in which the commission achieved more than 90 per cent opening of polls on Election Day at 8.30am, its dismal opening of polls in the last set of elections was bewildering

The immediate consequences of these failings were that doubts were harboured about the sincerity of the commission. The tardiness with which it responded to the near total non-upload of the results inevitably spawned a number of conspiracy theories and made INEC to lose control over the narrative of a project which it drives.

Though stakeholders such as civil society and the media were exasperated by the late opening of polls and the near and inexplicable non-upload of PU results on the IReV, the elections were credible to the extent that they reflected the intent of voters. The elections registered many upsets and the contests were keen.

The president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has always touted the South West as his impregnable fortress was simply demystified. His long and well-advertised vice-grip on the zone shows it at best to be tenuous. Lagos, his assumed enclave was taken over by his Labour Party opponent, Peter Obi. Osun State, with which the Asiwaju is reported to have familial connections, was taken over by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Katsina State, from which the president, Muhammadu Buhari, hails was won by the PDP. Also, two governors from the North Central Zone, Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Simon Lalong of Plateau State, were trounced by the opposition in their bids to go to the Senate. Lalong’s defeat is more humiliating and telling, given his pivotal position as the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.

The three major contestants (APC, PDP and LP) gave remarkable accounts of themselves as national parties even though their respective zones showed uncommon fealty to their respective sons.

The APC candidate, who scored the highest votes cast in the election, also surpassed the threshold of national spread as demanded by Section 134 of the Constitution. He scored at least a quarter of the votes cast in 30 states.

Going forward, and for the commission to etch itself positively in our memory, it must in advance of March 11 atone for its grave failings. It must squarely address the issues of logistics, the upload of the PU results on the IReV, improve the security around the conduct of the governorship and State House of Assembly elections, as well as upscale its crisis and strategic communications.

In respect of the above, the commission must ensure that materials and election officials depart from the RACs/Wards to the PUs as early as 5.00am for far flung PUs and difficult terrains, and at 6.00am for proximate PUs. Second, it must sort out the glitches it had with the upload of the PU results on the IReV Portal. If possible, it should improve its security provisioning for next Saturday’s elections.

Above all, it must be transparent and upfront with information about the process. That way, it earns the understanding of stakeholders and it controls the narrative concerning the elections.

Reports concerning the process, as it unfolds, should be deliberately calibrated and given out to coincide with major activities on Election Day as follows: First report on Opening of Polls to go out at 10.00am; second report on Accreditation and Voting to go out at 3.00pm; and third report on Closing of Polls and Commencement of Collation at Ward level to go out at 6.00pm.

If this regimen is adhered to strictly, it will assuage the anxiety of stakeholders and foreclose all sorts of conjectures – from the healthy to the sensational.

Godspeed, Nigeria!

Nick Dazang is former director at the Independent National Electoral Commission