- Affirms lapses did occur but are immaterial to the final outcome
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President-elect has promised Nigerians fair leadership amid outcries of election malpractices. He however, pledged to be a servant to the people and not a leader. He said, “I will serve you; be your servant and not your leader, I will work with you and make Nigeria a great country. “I shall be a fair leader to all Nigerians. I will be in tune with your aspirations, charge up your energies and harness your talents to deliver a nation that we can be proud of,” Asiwaju Tinubu promised as he gave his acceptance speech at the APC Presidential Campaign Council Headquarters, Abuja, shortly after being declared the winner of the presidential race on Wednesday. “We commend INEC for running a free and fair election. The lapses that did occur were relatively few in number and were immaterial to the final outcome. With each cycle of elections, we will steadily perfect this process so vital to our democratic life,” he added. But the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections have been inundated with heightening allegations of electoral malpractices. The European Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria on Monday issued its preliminary report in which it illustrated how Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections in Nigeria were bungled, and highlighted the massive failures of the umpire, INEC.
In the report, the EU election observers said, “INEC lacked efficient planning and transparency during critical stages of the electoral process, while on election day trust in INEC was seen to further reduce owing to delayed polling processes and information gaps related to the much anticipated access to results on its Results Viewing Portal (IReV). “During the early stages of collation, presidential result forms from polling units were not displayed on the IReV, while Senate and House of Representatives results were slowly published. Presidential election result forms started to be uploaded after 10 pm on election day, raising concerns and reaching only 20 per cent by noon on 26 February. Barry Andrews, Chief Observer of the Mission presented the report of its observations of Nigeria’s 2023 general election at a press conference held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. Andrews, in his address, disclosed that the mission had a total of 110 observers, including 11 core team members, 14 long-term observers, and 96 short-term observers, including delegates of the European Parliament. Later the same evening, INEC claimed the delays were due to “technical hitches.” Meanwhile, the Head of the European Parliament Delegates, Miss Evin Incir, expressed concern that less than 10 per cent of the total candidates in the elections were women, stating that “the next government and parliament should heed to the manifestos of the main political parties of Nigeria, which call for affirmative action, such as quotas.”
In another vein, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the National Peace Committee led by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) faulted the manual transmission of election results by INEC, as against the electronic transmission which it ought to be. Obasanjo, on Monday called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the INEC to quickly rectify observed gaps in the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly polls before the citizens’ pent-up anger and frustration burst forth in negative reactions. In a statement he personally signed, the outspoken ex-president called for a rescheduling of elections in areas where there were confirmed cases of malpractice for next Saturday. Similarly, Abdulsalami Abubakar asked INEC to take note of the allegations of misconduct trailing the presidential election. But in a swift response to Obasanjo’s call for cancelation of some of the polls, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, same day, advised Buhari not to allow Obasanjo lure him into staining his democratic credentials. Tinubu, in a statement by the Special Adviser, Media, Communications and Public Affairs, APC Presidential Campaign Council (APCPCC), Dele Alake, urged Nigerians to reject what he called Obasanjo’s dubious and hypocritical advice and stay strictly and firmly on the path of constitutionalism and democratic due process. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) also picked holes in the elections process.
In a statement signed by Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, President of the CBCN, the Bishops queried the delay in the electronic transmission of results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) results viewing portal, stressing that such action raises suspicion about the transparency of the entire process. The statement read in parts, “Before the general elections of 25 February 2023, Nigerians were assured both by the Federal Government and by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that enough electoral reforms and preparation had been made to ensure that the sovereign will of the people be accurately reflected in the conduct of the elections. “Hence, people trooped out in their numbers to cast votes to freely choose their next president and representatives at the Senate and Federal House of Assembly. “Unfortunately, the experiences of many voters on Election Day were a far cry from the hitch-free exercise that was repeatedly promised. In many places, the human element is alleged to have compromised the gains that were expected from the innovations of the new Electoral Act. “In addition, the delay in the electronic transmission of the results of the polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal before their announcement at the collation centres has raised suspicion in many minds about the transparency of the entire process.
There is, therefore, palpable tension in the air and agitations not just by some political parties but by a cross-section of the Nigerian population. “We, therefore, urge the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to promptly take adequate steps to address the issues of concern to diffuse the tension in the interest of the common good. “No matter how long it takes, INEC has to ensure that it does the right thing now to ensure that the sanctity of the collective will of the electorate is not violated to restore the confidence of the citizenry in our government and its institutions. As the saying goes, running is useless when one is on the wrong road. “Finally, we appeal to all Nigerians to remain calm, law-abiding, and fervent in prayers. In particular, we urge the leaders of political parties to exercise restraint while we all give INEC the time to prove that it is still worthy of our trust. “At this time, when the nation is standing at the edge of a dangerous precipice, INEC must live above board to avoid plunging the nation into an avoidable crisis.” The Bishops however urged leaders of political parties to exercise restraint while INEC is given time to prove that it is still worthy of the trust of Nigerians. Caritas Nigeria expressed “regret and total disappointment” at the processes of the 2023 presidential elections.
Briefing journalists on the findings of the over 6000 election observers deployed across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina, Executive Secretary of Caritas Nigeria and the National Director, Church and Society Department of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, expressed disappointment at INEC and its officials for malpractices in the general elections. Fr. Obodoechina said, “It is with deep regret that we announce our total disappointment with the snail-pace deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials in more than 50% of the 176,606 polling units across the country. It is not only disheartening to imagine that after the declaration of curfew before the election and the accompanying empty roads and streets, INEC officials and security personnel were unable to reach more than 60% of the Polling Units nationwide before 12pm. Continuing, he stated, “While this happened, excuses from the INEC have been puerile and unjustified, with paucity of proactiveness on the part of the National Commissioners responsible for logistics and voter education. As we noted in our earlier press briefing, there are reports signaling sabotage and crass complicity as some state officials made the arrival of materials difficult in order to gain political advantage for their parties,” he said. Caritas Nigeria summed the conduct of public officials in some states as “sabotage of the highest proportion designed to derail the electoral process” and in some states, what happened amounts to “a crime of some sort.”
Fr. Obodoechina further charged INEC of incompetence and inefficiency. “In some cases, voting materials were delayed even for such short distances of 5 Kilometres. “The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) in itself is good … indeed it is a very good innovation, and its introduction to our voter authentication is great. However, the unprecedented and evil manipulation of the system in more than 30% of the Polling Units indicates a systematic ploy by INEC to compromise the precedents set by well-meaning Nigerians.” Caritas Nigeria queried “deployment of one BIVAS machine in polling units having more than 2000 voters who had waited for more than 5 hours in long queues without the sight of INEC officials.” According to the institution, presiding officers were sometimes given wrong codes, and uncharged batteries for the BIVAS machines in most rural areas. However, Fr. Obodoechina commended Nigerians for their patriotism and resilience and for conducting themselves peacefully, notwithstanding that INEC has not lived up to expectations. He urged them to continue maintaining the peace and patiently wait for the announcement of full results. Caritas Nigeria posited, “This is not the path we have desired, having risen from the shattering wreckages done by the Military ruler ship before 1999. Arising from this, therefore, we recommend, with immediate effect, that ballot audit, fresh conduct of elections in areas where overwhelming violence took the day, and the seamless overhauling of most of the Commissioners of the INEC must happen to avert civil disobedience.
We urge our fellow Nigerians not to be discouraged but wait patiently for the full results of the poll and go out for the next round of the elections come 11th March, 2023.” Prior to the declaration of the presidential elections, three political parties, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Labour Party, LP, and African Democratic Congress, ADC had demanded a fresh election, saying the February 25 presidential election has been “irretrievably compromised.” They posited that the refusal of the INEC Chairman to upload the results electronically as stipulated by Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022 is unacceptable; stressing that the manual transmission of results compromised the integrity of the election process. Julius Abure, LP National Chairman; Iyorchia Ayu, PDP National Chairman; and Ralph Nwosu, their ADC counterpart, took this position on the presidential election at a joint media conference in Abuja on Tuesday. The three political parties collectively alleged that the Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections were manipulated by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the polling units by their failure to upload results electronically on the commission’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV). They further alleged that the result released so far by INEC showed “monumental disparities” between what the party agents signed and what INEC officials announced in Abuja.
