… says electoral body owes Nigerians credible gubernatorial polls

By Fortune Eromosele, Abuja

The Founder and Chief Responsibility Officer of the Centre for Ability, Rehabilitation and Empowerment, C.A.R.E Nigeria, Dr. Chike Okogwu, has faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over its conduct in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls, saying that they have left a sour taste on the international community and Nigerians. 

Okogwu in a statement in Abuja obtained by Vanguard on Tuesday, said the process that led to the declaration of APC’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-elect, has been flawed by all.

According to him, “The 2023 General Elections have finally come with the Presidential and National Assembly Elections held on the 25th February 2023.

“That INEC dropped the ball by not giving us a truly free, fair and credible election with her not responding well and properly in managing the BVAS technology and logistics is no more news. 

“What is burdensome and newsworthy is the sour taste it left in the perception of the international community and sour taste in the mouth of more Nigerians (when you add up the votes to see the 63% voted for other parties as against 37% that voted the winner declared, H.E. Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu). This singular act has robbed the President-Elect of any credibility as the process that declared him winner is judged flawed by all.

“The sour taste in the mouths of Nigerians is even more with widespread accusations of voter suppression, manipulation of results and outright impunity disregard for the INEC set down procedures in her guidelines released for the elections. 

“Once again ‘Judocracy’ – as espoused by the erudite legal luminary Chief Mike Ozekhome meaning that the Judiciary will again affirm a victor in a few days’ time as against democracy which the people practiced through the ballot boxes on February 25th 2023 making this day another watershed in our checkered history.”

He, therefore, urged INEC to deliver to Nigerians credible gubernatorial polls ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections.

Okogwu said, “INEC must first realise that the two-pronged issues of dropping the ball namely logistics and BVAs are both technical challenges that needs technical solutions. The use of adaptive operators to handle pure technical challenges bungled up logistics the last time. 

“So, INEC this time should engage the Services of Paramilitary agencies like Immigration, Federal Road Safety Commission, Correctional Services, Nigerian Customs Service, Civil Defense Corps and private logistics firms like God is Good Motors, GUO Transport, ABC Transport etc to provide vehicles to handle delivery and collection of sensitive materials to requisite areas and polling units. 

“This will reduce costs and improve efficiency because timing is the key component of logistics and these guys are well-trained in the business of logistics. This will also reduce the direct and indirect costs of engaging untrained private sector road transport operators.

“These new set of guys have all been trained in precision timing and security too. INEC should go further to engage the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport for consultations on how to coordinate this process.

“On BVAS, INEC should up their game however they need to in order to ensure the BVAs machines upload the results as promised in the guidelines and Nigerians can see the results real-time and online. This will improve the transparency of the process and safety of her personnel and materials.

“Another Technical challenge impeded by adaptive approaches at the last Presidential elections. The security agencies should be more professional in responding faster to clear and present dangers in noted black spots. The response times at the last Presidential elections were below par and fell short of expectations of bloody noses as promised. Only the EFCC met the people’s expectations on vote buying.”

On how the electorate can participate differently from what they did during the presidential election, he explained that, “They have to be more circumspect in their adaptive approach and be very civil in not allowing any presiding Officer to leave the polling units without uploading the results to the INEC server and confirmation by the electorate who have smartphones to check the portals. No violence please should be the watchword. On ballot snatching and suppression, the military should first show presence and the hoodlums will run. This is not new.

“Our fears are that with the anger in the land, INEC may with their own failures if again, inadvertently put the lives of their Officers at risk.

“We plead and admonish the electorate to come out enmasse to vote peacefully as ‘citizens’ as they have always done and believe that they can finally finish off the ‘counterfeit leadership lions’ of tribalism and clannishness as they have recently been hit with bad blows in their heart regions. Long Live Nigeria as we see a truly free, fair and credible elections.”