…urge Buhari to sign Electoral Bill if…

By Henry Umoru

ABUJA – SEVENTY- Five registered political parties in the country, under the aegis of Inter- Party Advisory Council, IPAC, yesterday passed a vote of confidence in the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu following what they described as successful completion of February 23 Presidential, National Assembly and March 9 Gubernatorial, State Houses of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory, FCT Area Council elections.

From the left, Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State; Governor Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa State; Governor Mustapher Belo of Niger State; Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and other members of the Nigeruan Governor Forum during the audience the President had with members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum at the Aso Chambers, State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 27/11/2017

According to them, the 2019 general elections met the expectations of majority of Nigerians, just as they said that they were impressed with the transparency in communication and regular engagement of stakeholders at the National, State and Local Government levels which ensured that everybody was carried along in the process.

Chairmen of the parties who spoke yesterday in Abuja at a 2-day Roundtable on the evaluation of the last polls, however blamed operatives of security agencies, particularly the military and the police for whatever shortcomings that may have been witnessed in the election, just as they called on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency, sign the Electoral Ammendment bill into law when represented by the National Assembly as that would help save the country from the challenges associated with the current electoral law.

The National Roundtable with the theme: “The role and Performances of Stakeholders in the 2019 General elections, issues, challenges and prospects”, was put together by the Centre for Transparency Advocacy, CTA in collaboration with Chairmen of Nigeria Political Parties.

In a communique issued and read by the National Chairman of C4C party and the Chairman and IPAC Deputy National Chairman, Honourable Jeff Ojinika, the Chairmen said, “The Roundtable noted as worthy of commendation are some INEC permanent staff whose patriotic and professional disposition in carrying out their duties led to the successful conduct of the 2019 polls but the Roundtable must not fail to condemn activities of some adhoc staff drawn from NYSC and higher Institutions whose conducts were inimical to free, fair and transparent polls.

“The Roundtable also commended the dispatch with which all rescheduled and supplementary elections were conducted where applicable and lauded the dedication of INEC staff in their assignments.

“The Roundtable after a comprehensive review of the conduct of the 2019 general elections passes a vote of confidence on the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for the successful conduct of the election, and notes with satisfaction the transparency in communication and regular engagement of stakeholders at the National, State and Local Government levels which ensured that everybody was carried along in the process. The Roundtable indicts the security agencies for the lapses in the election due largely to their collusion with unscrupulous politicians and negligence to do their jobs.”

The event which took place at the International Conference Centre, ICC, Abuja, brought together political stakeholders, including members of the civil society organisations (CSOs), party chairmen, the academia,political stakeholders, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Tertiary Educational Institutions, Security Agencies, Diplomatic Corps, Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs) both domestic and foreign, and Foreign and Local observers that monitored the electoral process, among others, was attended by the immediate past Vice President of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Sam Sumana, and chaired by Prof. Remi Aiyede.

The Chairmen at the end of the meeting, accused some state governors of creating tension as well as generating friction and insecurity which affected the 2019 general elections, even as then urged INEC to do away with the use of ad- hoc staff for the collation of results by employing and training its permanent staff to be engaged in the electoral process, adding, “INEC should strengthen the capacity of its polling staff through training and retraining particularly on the handling of the card readers, assisting voters as well as other electoral procedures to ensure transparency and credibility during future elections.

“INEC should consider, recruiting permanent staff whose schedule should be collation of results, train them thoroughly for the assignment to save the nation the embarrassment of adhoc collation officers. Efforts must be intensified to ensure proper coordination of Inter Agency Committee on Election Security (ICES) and the non-partisan deployment of security personnel to all the polling units to ensure peaceful conduct of polls.”

The Chairmen of political parties explained that the decision to commend the INEC Chairman was anchored on his commitment to ensure that things were done in a transparent manner and urged INEC to duplicate National Collation Centres in all the thirty six states of the country and 774 local Government Areas in the country.

The statement further read, “The Roundtable further congratulated the president and leadership of the National Assembly for timeously funding the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to ensure a hitch-free execution of the 2019 General Election.

“The Roundtable Commended the National Assembly for meticulously responding to the challenging needs for an all inclusive and responsive legal framework for the conduct of the 2019 elections but regretted that non signing of the amended Electoral Act was a major setback on the quality of the electoral process.

“The Roundtable also noted with satisfaction the role played by the international and local observers that monitored the election and offered useful suggestion for the improvement of the electoral process, especially the EU Election Observation Mission and our partners, CTA.

“The Roundtable also noted the role played by the mass media in the publicity, shaping and moderating political activities and behaviours particularly private radio and television stations helped to balance and forestall electoral fraud and irregularities during the 2019 electoral era was commended.

“The Roundtable deplored the use of political thugs and security agencies particularly soldiers to disrupt, intimidate and molest INEC staff, journalists and voters during the election. The Roundtable also noted the cases of use of security operatives to discourage participation during the election, which accounted for low voter turnout after the presidential and National Assembly elections.

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“The Roundtable noted the distractive misuse of incumbency factor by some Governors to create tension, generate friction and insecurity, which affected the 2019 General Election. The Roundtable noted that the registration of more political parties prior to the election opened up the political land space, which provided alternative platforms for youth and women participation in the electoral process and doused intra-party tension amongst ruling parties and the major opposition.

“The Roundtable condemned the unpatriotic and desperate ambition of certain politicians whose overzealous supporters engaged in the destruction of bill boards of opponents and even burn down INEC offices, radio and television stations as recorded in Benue, Imo, Gombe, Plateau, Abia, Anambra, Kwara, Edo, Akwa-Ibom, etc. The Roundtable commended INEC for maintaining an open and transparent communication of her plans and programmes and her involvement of other stakeholders in expressing the stages of implementation of the 2019 electoral design.

“The Roundtable also commended the establishment of the Joint Taskforce on Security (Inter Agency Committee on Electoral Security) comprising the Army, Police, Civil Defense, Air Force, Immigration, Prisons, Customs and other Security outfits with clearly laid out plan to ensure electoral security but however condemn the role of some overzealous police officers and soldiers who compromised standards and engaged in acts contrary to their calling. Such erring officers should be identified and punished in accordance with the law.

“The Roundtable condemned the hypocrisy of the leadership of the security agencies that manifested in the partisan deployment of police and security personnel to polling station/voting point, and also condemned the unprofessional conducts of security agents. The Roundtable noted that INEC executed the election within its mandate in terms of monitoring campaigns by political parties, distribution of electoral materials, polling and counting of ballots but had pitfalls at the collation stage and announcement of results. The Roundtable noted that the low turnout of voters during election.

“The Roundtable also noted that in spite of various meetings organized by INEC to sensitize stakeholders ahead of the election on the need to avoid underage voting, vote buying, ensure transparency and secrecy of voting, party agents and voters still crowd the voting points in order to identify the candidates voted for. Cases of underage voting, vote buying and voter suppression reported different parts of the country without relevant authorities acting is gravely condemnable.”

Following their observations, the political Chairmen recommended that, “INEC should strengthen the capacity of its polling staff through training and retraining particularly on the handling of the card readers, assisting voters as well as other electoral procedures to ensure transparency and credibility during future elections.

“INEC should consider, recruiting permanent staff whose schedule should be collation of results, train them thoroughly for the assignment to save the nation the embarrassment of adhoc collation officers. Efforts must be intensified to ensure proper coordination of Inter Agency Committee on Election Security (ICES) and the non-partisan deployment of security personnel to all the polling units to ensure peaceful conduct of polls.

“The Roundtable calls on the National Assembly should immediately re-present to President Muhammadu Buhari the amended electoral and calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to do the needful to ensure that the amended Electoral Bill is signed into law.

“The Roundtable demands the establishment of electoral offenses tribunal to try electoral offenders, which should be structured to take off less than a month after election petition tribunal hearings have concluded.

“Political parties and young people should leverage on the provisions of the Not Too Young to Run Act to increase political participation in subsequent elections.

In order to address dwindling turnout of voters after the first election and increase the zeal to elect credible leaders The Roundtable recommends the conduct of the three principal elections, viz; Presidential/National Assembly election, Governorship/State Assembly elections and Chairmanship/Councillorship elections on the same day. This will save cost, ensure emergence of quality leadership, the integrity of the ballot, large voter turnout and guarantee improved security on election day.

While scheduling election time table, dates for possible run-off, re-run or inconclusive polls should be included.

“There is need for more regular interaction and engagement of stakeholders with INEC to fashion out ways of managing elections and development therefrom.

The Roundtable calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Amendment Bill into law when re-presented to him by the National Assembly to save the country from the problems associated with the extent law.

INEC is requested to replicate the National Collation Centre in all the States and Local Government Councils and same to the INEC server to minimize the collation errors and promote easy access to electoral information and results.

“Political Parties should maintain internal democracy and engage in transparent primaries to select their candidates with less rancor, and minimize defections.

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Parties are equally requested to review their manifestoes to strengthen their ideologies and loyalties and stem intra-party conflicts that bedevil the nation’s polity.

Freedom of Information Act should be given life so that media outfits and journalists would be adequately protected while carrying out their legitimate duties during elections.”

The parties which on Monday gave the INEC chairman a pat on the back included MAJA, NPN,PRP, AGA, YP, NDLP, ACD, AGAP, YPP and CAP.

Others are UPC, NDCP, NPN, PDC, HDP, ASD, ANN, NUP, NGP, BNPP, UPN and ADC, NAC, SNC, ANP, RAP, PPN, UDP, AAC, KOWA, MRDD, NNPP, GDPN, COP, NFD, AAP, LPN and ABP.

RBNP, NCP, UP, SNP, AUN, DPP, UPP, TMPP, PCP, FDP, AA, CNP, LP, DPC, YES, APGA, PT, APM, ANRP, NEPP, NPC and GPN also lauded Professor Mahmood Yakubu for a job well done just as ID, WTPN, RP, PPN, ACPN, SPN, FJP, DA, APP, PPA, C4C, ACCORD, YDP and MMN also expressed satisfaction with the outing of INEC at the 2019 polls.

Earlier in her address of welcome, the Acting Executive Director, Centre for Transparent Advocacy (CTA ), co- organisers of the event, Faith Nwadishi, stated that INEC as the umpire of the general elections proved quite independent in the way and manner it responded to the unexpected challenges thrown its way by the stakeholders in the process and other unforeseen circumstances during the last general elections.

She said, “Of note is how it bravely prevented the ruling party from fielding candidates in Zamfara in its determination to follow the rules no matter whose ox is gored. More crucially, on the ground, during election and voting day, it refused to be intimidated by threats and violence unleashed on its officials and ad-hoc staff leading to some certificates of return being withheld by INEC though this is now subject to litigations.”

Speaking further, she also urged the political class to “take internal democracy seriously.”

She said, “To the politicians and the political class, you will agree that our elections have seemingly been characterized by brazen and scandalously high level of vote buying and selling. The desperation showed by some individuals at the last elections calls for concern; I hope this roundtable and with the deliberations since yesterday will suggest ways to tackle this in future elections and eventually help to address the issues of the high incidence of violence and vote buying experienced during our elections. It is in our place to make our elections better and this calls for a synergy between all key election process stakeholders including citizens and the security agencies.”