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INEC’s anger over Edo, Ondo guber polls

The threat by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to discontinue with preparations for Edo and Ondo governorship elections if violence continues to characterise political party campaigns brings to fore, the worrisome effect of electoral violence in Nigeria, writes ONYEKACHI EZE

 

 

The signs are everywhere, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has every reason to worry for many reasons.

 

The violence and threat to violence in the run up to the Edo and Ondo governorship elections is a big challenge as the commission prepares for the conduct of the elections. INEC Chairman, Prof. Manhood Yakubu said in Nasarawa Local Government after a stakeholders’ meeting preparatory to the August 8 state constituency election into Nasarawa State House of Assembly that the commission is monitoring what is happening in the two states.

 

“Given the urgency of what is happening particularly in Edo State, we need to call a meeting immediately, not only of the parties and candidates but also of the campaign councils. Whatever we need to do to stem the ugly violence or threat to it, particularly in Edo State, we will do it. We will continue to speak to stakeholders to ensure that there is no violence,” he said.

 

If Prof. Yakubu is conciliatory in his statement, the Commission’s management took a hard stand after its meeting on August 5. Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and also Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, who signed a statement issued at the end of the meeting, threatened that INEC might cancel preparations for the governorship elections, if violence continues in the two states.

 

Okoye said the Commission has noted “the escalating levels of violent actions and incendiary statements by political parties, candidates and their supporters in the run up to the Edo and Ondo governorship elections. “The Commission will view gravely any disruptive actions by political actors.

 

The Commission shall not hesitate to discontinue the process should the actions of political actors lead to cogent and verifiable threat and/or breakdown of law and order before or during the elections.” INEC has been dogged by violence in recent time in the conduct of elections. It has lost a number of its personnel and ad hoc staff, as well as materials, to electoral violence. Some instances can suffice.

 

In the March 19, 2016 rerun elections in Rivers State, a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Samuel Okonta, an orphan, was killed. Again, in the March 9, 2019 governorship and House of Assembly elections, also in Rivers State, a staff of the commission, Ms Amakiri Ibisaki was killed by a stray bullet. Six other people, including a soldier, equally lost their lives during the elections.

 

Some NYSC members serving as ad hoc staff in Ward 2, Unit 8 in Ubima, the village of Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, escaped death when the polling unit was attacked by over 20 gunmen. The gunmen reportedly invaded the polling unit shooting sporadically, carting away ballot boxes, looting and robbing electoral officers.

 

Also in the same 2019 general elections, INEC withheld certificate of returns of three elected federal and state legislators for allegedly forcing the returning officers to declare them winners at gun point.

 

The affected lawmakers included former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha (Imo West senatorial district), as well as then members-elect of Otu-Opi federal constituency in Benue State and Agayi State Constituency of  Akwa Ibom State. Over 20 deaths were recorded across the country during the 2019 the Presidential and National Assembly elections. Violence was also witnessed in last year’s governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

 

The election in Kogi claimed the life of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Woman’s Leader, Mrs. Salome Abuh. Political thugs operated freely, carting away and destroying election materials. Helicopters were said to have been used to scare away voters. Chairman, board of the Electoral Institute, a training arm of INEC, Prince Adedeji Soyebi, described the violence experienced in the elections as “a new trend. “We must be honest enough to admit that the elections were marred by violence, especially in Kogi State. Anybody in Kogi will agree that Kogi was more violent than Bayelsa.

 

In fact, somebody said the number of bullets flying in Kogi State were more than ballot papers. The will of the people is supreme and this cannot be exchanged for violence…” Foreign observers, who monitored the elections, said in their report that the elections witnessed violence and intimidation. The report noted that “there are reports of fatalities and people missing, including INEC staff. Our thoughts are with all victims and their families.

 

“We encourage all stakeholders, in particular political leaders, to call    for calm and we encourage security agencies to investigate thoroughly and bring perpetrators to justice. “We are also concerned by evident vote buying and credible reports of ballot box snatching in both Bayelsa and Kogi.

 

We commend the commitment and resilience of voters in both states who came out to exercise their democratic rights.

 

“We express our sympathy for those affected by the violence, including ordinary voters; INEC officials; members of the NYSC; civil society; and the media. “All should be able to carry out their fundamental role in the democratic process free from intimidation and harassment.”

 

These are the signs INEC saw happening in the ongoing electioneering in Edo and Ondo governorship.

 

The two leading political parties, PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have engaged themselves in the battle of supremacy. The statements and actions of leaders in both parties inflame passion.

 

There were reports of skirmishes among party supporters which resulted in injuries. The clash by the two groups near Oba of Benin Palace on July 25 left many people injured.

 

Okoye observed that participating political parties and their supporters had engaged in the destruction of opponents’ campaign materials such billboards, violent campaigns and use of offensive language. He reminded the parties that there are extant laws  and regulations they must adhere to during campaigns, adding that INEC will not shirk its responsibility to enforce the rules of the game.

 

“Consequently, parties and candidates must on no account underestimate the resolve of the Commission to enforce the rules and regulations and apply appropriate sanctions against those who choose to break them.

 

“The Commission remains determined to conduct peaceful elections in the two states and in the outstanding National and state Assembly bye-elections. “Political parties must realise that Edo and Ondo governorship elections are taking place at a time of a global pandemic and the commission is working assiduously to observe and comply with all health and safety protocols issued by the commission and health authorities.

 

“With the pandemic taking its toll on the citizenry, the people of Edo and Ondo states must be saved from the added burden of violent and raucous elections. “Political parties must remember that Edo and Ondo governorship elections have strict constitutional and statutory timelines and threats of violence or actual violence can disrupt those timelines and create a constitutional crisis,” Okoye warned.

 

Pundits had predicted violence in the Edo and Ondo governorship elections, given the pre-primary crisis especially in APC. INEC said action and inaction of actors outside its control were responsible for the increasing electoral violence in the country. That is why the commission is advocating for special court to try offenders.

 

Unfortunately, the violence has continued because the perpetrators have not been brought to justice. Mike Igini, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) said the problem was not that the Commission lacks the political will to handle election violations but because, the judiciary had not lived up to expectation.

 

“lmpunity has become the bane of our elections. The best antidote to impunity is the enforcement of sanctions under our laws without fear and favour. Where offenders are not punished, bad behaviour is encouraged,” he added. Igini said that the judiciary delayed cases that were brought before the courts and most times used technicalities to strike them out.

 

Prof. Yakubu had noted that elections, especially into executive positions, have been characterised by acts of impunity. His worry is that those arrested for electoral violence were often left out of the hook, and accused state attorneys-general of using nolleprosequi to free election offenders.

 

“At the moment, INEC is saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders. We have drawn public attention to our constraint in this regard. We have no capacity to arrest offenders and conduct investigation without which successful prosecution is impossible.

 

“Some of the cases were dismissed for want of diligent prosecution while in some states the Attorneys-General entered nolle prosequi to get the alleged offenders off the hook.

 

“That is why we believe that the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal will dispense justice dispassionately and speedily in the same way that the Electoral Court deals with violators in other countries such as South Africa,” the INEC Chairman said. According to him, INEC has received a total of 149 case files, including 16 cases arising from the 2019 general elections.

 

The cases are prosecuted in the states where the alleged offences were committed. “Unlike pre-election and post-election cases, there is no timeframe for the prosecution of electoral offenders.

 

A case may go on for several years,” he noted. In 2016, INEC recorded conviction of 40 election offenders as a result of crisis in Minjibir State Assembly bye-election in Kano State, but Prof. Yakubu wondered how many of the convicts sentenced to prison with the option of fine actually spent time in jail.

 

“The fine was paid presumably by their sponsors,” he stated. Rather than cancelling preparations for the Edo and Ondo governorship poll, PDP said the electoral umpire should invoke the relevant sectons in the Electoral Act and punish those found to have been perpetrating violence.

 

“Our electoral law provides for punishment for electoral malfeasance and we believe in the People Democratic Party that we are the victims of the attack of APC. “INEC must go after those who are committing electoral crimes

 

. They brought guns they brought cutlasses, they caused mayhem at the Oba’s palace. “INEC knows those who are responsible for violence in elections. They know those who burnt people alive in Kogi State. They also know those who went after people in Ife and other parts of Osun State, to cause mayhem and to change results.

 

They should go after them,” PDP advised. Meanwhile, Dr. Asukwo Mendie Archibong, the National Chairman, Nigeria For Democracy (NFD), has warned that statements from both APC and PDP in the buildup to the elections in Edo State   indicate that they are making it a do-ordie affair.

 

He said the statements are inflammatory and serve no meaningful political purpose and warned all parties to cease and desist from making such statements going forward. He said the recent removal of the roof of the building of an arm of the government on the pretense of renovation was the poor excuse offered.

 

“Apart from this excuse being a lie, the people of Edo State, having borne the brunt of the looting of the state treasury over the years, now have to bear the cost of repairs of the roof. This is grossly unfair,” he said but failed to acknowledge that Oshiomhole did a similar thing some years ago.

 

Archibong added that “this violence and threats of violence is troubling to the extent that everyone involved shared the same party at one time or the other. It means that these men are all the same, violent and corrupt.

 

“The decent and fair thing for Edo citizens and indeed Nigerians, would be for any one running for a political office in Edo State to lay out their plans for the state and not their plans of violence. Let this serve as a warning to all the parties involved in Edo State elections, violence in that state or any state in Nigeria will no longer be tolerated by Nigerians.

 

This warning is specific to both APC and PDP and any other party involved in the planning of violence in the upcoming Edo State elections,” he said. INEC does not have powers to arrest. The only power given to the commission is to suspend election where there are threats to violence.

 

This happened in Rivers State in 2016. The commission also delayed to announce results of the 2019 governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state until the situation was favourable for it to do so. The Edo case is taking the same direction. One only hopes that political actors in the state will moderate their statements and actions before September 19 so as to allow peaceful election.

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