Many Nigerians see the Ondo poll as the last opportunity for INEC under Prof Mahmood Yakubu to redeem itself or slide further in infamy and odium.
By Emeka Alex Duru
In the lead-up to the 2003 general elections, a certain joke was attributed to the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, which ended up catching up with the political lingo of the time. Igbinedion’s son, Lucky, who was the governor of Edo state, was adjudged to have performed poorly in his first term, raising fears that he might not earn a reelection. But Esama, who had garnered extensive experience in the game, chose a hilarious path to market Lucky.
During the campaigns, the senior Igbinedion was said to have reminded the Edo voters that the punishment for any student who failed a class, was to ask him to repeat so as to learn the lessons of his failure. He therefore pleaded that Governor Lucky be reelected to correct the mistakes he made in his first term. Lucky was returned for another term, anyway. But the jury is still out on whether he atoned for the perceived errors of his first term or whether he added to the inadequacies.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), under Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has in similar manner, been offered several opportunities to learn from its mistakes and make necessary corrections. Unfortunately, with each outing, the commission keeps unraveling as the axiomatic dry fish that does not bend. In nearly all the elections conducted by the present INEC, Nigerians were left with deep pains.
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Before the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Prof Yakubu had promised a free and fair exercise. In his words, the days of election manipulation were over. He had particularly flaunted the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), as safeguards against rigging. In tow, the then President, Muhammadu Buhari pranced about, telling the world that he was working towards instituting a legacy of credible electoral democracy in the land.
But when it mattered most, neither Buhari, nor Yakubu was prepared to keep to those promises. They rather showed that they were accomplices in compromising the poll. Yakubu was nowhere to be seen in the confusion that ensued but only emerged in the wee hours of the collation process to announce Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner, against obvious incidences of manipulation. That misguided step has remained demoralizing to the citizens, especially the youths, many of who had not voted before then. Some have vowed not to participate in future elections in the country.
The November 11, 2023 governorship polls in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa offered INEC another chance to redeem its image. The thinking was that after the electoral heist of 2023, the commission would seize the window of the off-cycle elections in the three states to remedy its past. INEC was rather more perfidious in the contest.
Barely a year later, the observed errors of the polls in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa were carried over to the September 21, 2024 Edo governorship contest. The commission was more brazen in the Edo exercise in which it literally descended into the arena as an interested party. In all the instances, INEC carried itself as an extension of the presidency.
That is the fear surrounding the Ondo state governorship election, holding tomorrow, Saturday, November 16. Being a stand-alone exercise, INEC ordinarily, has no reason to falter. The problem however, is that the agency has become so adept in compromising elections for favoured candidates that even when the outcomes are predictable, it would still get involved in fixing them and juggling figures.
Many Nigerians, consequently see the Ondo poll as the last opportunity for INEC to redeem itself or slide further in infamy and odium. Yakubu the Chairman, has assured of conducting a free, fair and credible election. He has disclosed that the commission has perfected arrangements for the movement of over 17,000 ad hoc and regular officials as well as large quantities of materials to the voting and collation centres in the state.
Security agencies have equally pledged commitment to free and fair poll. The Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun has particularly assured that the Police would provide enough Armoured Personnel Carrier (APCs), trucks, patrol vehicles, buses for covert operations, ambulances, helicopters, drones and anti-riot equipment to complement the strength of the State Command. 36,637 officers were said to have been deployed to ensure order and safety across the polling units, wards, and local government areas in the state. There were also reports of 8,500 personnel from the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to augment the Police.
On their own, the 18 candidates running for the election have committed to a peace accord. The accord, supervised by Chairman of the National Peace Committee (NPC) and former head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, aims to ensure a peaceful and credible election process.
On the surface therefore, necessary arrangements seem to have been put on ground for a hitch-free poll. But as they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. The poll in Ondo is a litmus test for INEC to prove that it is truly independent. The pledge of neutrality by the INEC Chairman should be seen to be real. Nigerian do not expect anything short of a free and fair election in Ondo. The stakes are high. INEC should ensure that the votes count. Voters in Ondo must be allowed to have their way in electing who governs them.
We have severally in this space, maintained that democracy does not guarantee emergence of good leaders or governance. But it assures of the people-content by which the people have a say on how their leaders emerge, of course, through their votes. That was what Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, meant by defining democracy as the government of the people, for the people and by the people.
For Prof Yakubu, the Ondo poll is more than just a call to duty. It is a referendum on his place in history. It is good that he is a student of history, in fact, a professor in the field. He is thus, familiar with the terrain. Across the land, there is the impression that INEC under him, has reduced electoral contests to bazaar arrangements in which the highest bidders pick the prizes. For one with First Class in his subject area, that is not a good reputation, especially as he is on the last lap of his assignment. That is why transparency in Ondo poll should matter to him.