By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Abuja

Ahead of the Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections, the former Commissioner with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Barrister Mike Igini, has advised Nigerians to choose wisely the kind of person they will entrust their destinies into in the next four or eight years.

Igini, who was the immediate past Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in-charge of Akwa Ibom State, admonished Nigerians to bear in mind that there will be consequences for the choices they will be making in choosing their candidates.

In a statement titled, “A reminder on what Nigerians need to know about INEC procedures”, said that votes of the people now count more than ever before and that is why politicians are desperate to buy votes

According to him, “The votes of the people now count more than ever before and that is why politicians are desperate to buy votes. We must all bear in mind that there will be consequences for the choices that you will make in all these elections for the next four or eight years.

“You must be guided in your decision of your choice by the kind of Nigeria you want to see and leave and those who can lead the way for us collectively to achieve our desires in this country. You all must come out to vote and fix the politics in order to fix the economy”.

Continuing, he said, “In the last six months, l have as part of my continuing contribution to give meaning and purpose to the ballot as the best means of the expression of the will of people in a democracy, embarked on weekly Live public education and enlightenment on electronic platforms freely provided by the management of Arise, AIT, Channels, TVC, Silverbird television stations as well a print media on what the Nigerian people need to know about the 2022 Electoral Act and INEC’s innovations and procedures that have put voters at the centre of our electoral democracy and candidates at the periphery on Election Day.

“The grave error or mistake of decades of failure to recognize the primacy or centrality of politics and political processes both internal and external in shaping state goals and development outcomes is what has brought us to where we are today. Go out on Saturday and vote.

“The election of Saturday is a general election for the people of this country to decide the future. This is not a delegate primary election of political parties that delegates are given special dress to wear like prisoners, locked up in a hotel, not to be spoken to by anyone and driven to the venue to vote as directed.

“On Saturday, all Nigerian voters are not required to go to INEC offices nor political party offices to take directive from anyone to tell you who to vote for on that day. That is why shock and lamentation await politicians that want to rely on vote buying that will have no meaningful impact on the outcome of the 2023 election.

“Given the new re-awakening and consciousness by Nigerians as evidenced by the share number of registered voters (93.4million), many of whom are tired and fed up of a country with so much potential for greatness but largely undermined by leadership problem. what will happen on Saturday if Nigerians carry further their anger, pains, hunger and frustration to the polling units, the 2023 election will be an electoral revolution, the type of which, we have never witnessed in our recorded history.

“The outcome of the 2023 election will be determined emphatically by the youths of this country who are above seventy million (70,473,990)on the voter’s register. Similarly, the entire presiding officers/Assistant presiding officers, seven hundred thousand three hundred and eighty four (707,384) out of the total one million plus ad hoc staff that will man all polling units and conduct the Saturday election are currently serving youth corps members (NYSC) who are themselves youths that are demanding a new deal on the leadership challenge of our country.

“This Saturday election will tell how history and posterity will record the youths of Nigeria, whether they will betray or fulfill the mission and challenge of their own generation given their demographic voting strength and the fact that they are the ones to conduct the election.”

He further said, “The 2022 electoral Act, INEC’S innovations and procedures have put effective power on Election Day on voters to determine the winner of election, power has been returned to the Nigerian people, all the provisions of the Electoral Act since 2002 such as sections 49,53 and 65 (2010) that promoted and supported election rigging and manipulation for over twenty years have all been repealed.

“Accreditation with the use of the BVAS machine is mandatory and compulsory to ensure the principle of one-person-one vote. There is no more use of “incident form” because confirmation of a voter is made easy with “facial accreditation” and four other methods. There is nothing like “pre-loading” of BVAS machine that fraudulent ICT so-called experts on the streets and perhaps some unscrupulous staff of INEC have been telling politicians to make millions from them.

“The BVAS makes it impossible for election riggers to use difficult terrain whether in upland or riverine areas to produce fake votes that are not real. Under the current system, all species of fish like cat fish, tilapia etc that used to vote in previous elections must appear before the BVAS machine on Saturday and subsequent elections for accreditation.

“The Polling unit is now where elections are won and lost, the era of someone losing elections at the polling unit but suddenly becomes a winner at Ward and LGA collation centres are gone and over under the current system. Polling units are the places where Nigerians will vote on Saturday to decide the future of Nigeria. At the end of the election at each polling unit on Saturday, a new register of voters based accreditation at every polling unit will emerge irrespective of the total number of Registered voters.

Under section 51 of the 2022 Act, computation of total number of valid votes and over-voting are now based on total Accreditation number instead of Registered number of voters as was the case in the repealed Act that politicians used for two decades to subvert the will of Nigerian voters through rigging and manipulation of the outcome of election.

“The law has changed and Politicians can no longer use “total number of Registered voters” to vote on behalf those who have died, “Jappa” and un-interested citizens whose names are on the national register of voters.

“In the current system, it is only those who actually came out to be accredited that matter and that is the reason Nigerians have not been hearing of “inconclusive” elections that was almost becoming the norm sometime ago. Thus, no “bankable” votes for anyone but votes of those who actually came to the polling unit and accredited to vote on Saturday.

“Every result declared at the polling unit will be uploaded to the public election result viewing portal for the whole world to see which makes it difficult to change or alter. That is why all candidates by now should have set up their situation rooms for their party agents that will be at polling units given duplicates of election result FORM EC8A to immediately snap same and send to their respective situation rooms for collation without having to wait for INEC but they cannot make a declaration of the winner of election.

“The BVAS has eliminated the fraudulent practice/organized crime of sharing “un-used ballot papers” thumb printed and arbitrarily allocated by party agents in connivance with poll officials after the close of the poll. The effective power to lead and govern has been restored to the Nigerian people and hope is re-born in you to use this election to bring about a re-birth of a new Nigeria.”

He said that he was impressed by the current unprecedented level of awareness, the energy and determination by Nigerians, many of whom returned to the country from different parts of the world to use this forthcoming Saturday elections to make a bold statement to the empirical world that they will no longer accept the misfortune created by our elites as their fortune.

“Collectively, we all must put an end to the struggle to build individual paradises yet we live in a common hell. We must go about this election peacefully and eschew violence that has no place in a democracy. The greatest promise of democracy is peaceful transfer of power from one government to another.

“The president and Commander-in-chief of the armed forces has at different fora charged officers and men of the various Security agencies to be neutral, apolitical, firm, protect and defend this democracy. The anti-democratic activities of thugs and other extra-constitutional actors that will undermine the integrity of our elections must be contained.

“The greatest legacy that will be written down by historians for President Muhammadu Buhari and for which he will be remembered by history would be that of a free, fair and credible election that produces an outcome that reflected the will of the Nigerian people. As l have said repeatedly, my interest and votary at all times is a credible, fair process while the electorate determine outcomes.”