Last Chance Saloon: How INEC can salvage its battered reputation ahead of gov polls

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, put it mildly, “It is clear that the electoral process as a whole on February 25 failed to meet Nigerians’ expectations.” To remove any iota of diplomacy would be to describe the presidential elections as absolutely atrocious.

With a whopping, unprecedented budget of ₦305 billion, it is only normal for citizens to expect a thoroughly organised performance from the electoral body. Rather, they were treated to what many have opined to be one of the worst elections in Nigeria’s history.

The Osun and Ekiti elections were supposed to be a warm-up towards the big day of February 25th and the signs looked good despite the BVAS-overvoting antithesis in Osun State.

The Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) was supposed to be a technological game-changer that will put paid to rest - if not completely but largely - electoral malpractices, especially rigging. Rather, the system failed spectacularly and the commission resorted to its old ways of compiling results manually. Old habits die hard, truly. That results are still being uploaded 11 days after the election is enough story in itself.

These technological malfunctions were not the only headache voters had to contend with. Lateness and logistics challenges abound all over the country with people seen in viral videos having to provide stationeries, power generating sets and shelter for INEC’s ad hoc staff.

According to Yiaga Africa, an election monitoring group, only 44 per cent of polling units nationwide commenced accreditation and voting as of 9:30 am.

It is therefore not surprising that the election had the lowest turnout of voters in Nigeria’s political history at 27 per cent, despite being the most expensive. To explain in figures, 87.2 million Nigerians collected their PVCs but only 24.2 million people voted.

With the second leg of the general elections around the corner, the onus is on INEC again to step up and show Nigerians and the international community that it is not only capable of conducting organised, hitch-free, free and fair elections but can also justify its humongous budget and enhance the country’s democratic image.

But how can the commission achieve this? I have a few suggestions:

The essence of technology is to ensure faster and fairer processes. Then, it should show. The outright shunning of IReV in the process of the collation of results made a section of Nigerians think that the commission had been compromised. If billions of naira were earmarked for tech, then people must see the impact.

There is no need to rush the collation of results or announcements. Even if it would take time, Nigerians want to take delight in the possibility of having an effective and transparent electoral body.

INEC must ensure that accreditation and voting commence on time across the country. Given that logistics will largely be repeated for the coming exercise, measures (and sanctions) should be put in place to enforce promptness.

Moving away from the eyesore of INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu’s disregard for the IReV portal, INEC has a responsibility to uphold the electoral laws that bind it and these include consulting the online platform to ensure that there is no discrepancy. Ignoring this will only make more Melayes out of Nigerians.

It was disheartening to watch viral videos where voters were threatened on the basis of ethnic and political affiliations, and security agents stood there unbothered! Such disenfranchisement should not have occurred in the first instance. Jennifer Efidi has become the poster woman for voters’ doggedness and the electoral body must remind security agencies why they were engaged in the first place.

Corps members who were ad hoc staff identifying with aspirants on social media platforms need to be cautioned. The whole process becomes compromised if presiding officers have taken sides long before the election.

INEC will have the opportunity to make up for the unsatisfactory February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections with the March 11 governorship and House of Assembly elections.

Over to you, Yakubu and INEC, this is your last chance to show Nigerians that they can dream of a country where elections will not be marred by irregularities and incompetence.

Pulse Editor's Opinion is the viewpoint of an editor at Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the organisation, Pulse.