Head, News Desk, VICTOR EBIMOMI, examines the issues and controversies trailing the raid on the Lagos office of APC by DSS operatives.
When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that the third phase of the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) would take place between Friday, November 7, and Sunday, November 9, 2014, many eligible voters, who had registered for the temporary voter cards since 2011, heaved a sigh of relief that at last they could fully participate in the 2015 general elections. INEC said the exercise would take place in 13 states, including Adamawa, Borno, Edo, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Plateau and Rivers. It had earlier distributed the cards in 24 states.
But the first day of the exercise in most of the states was a complete flop, as INEC officials did not report at most of the designated centres. This led to apprehension and complaints. On the second day, the centres came alive with the officials attending to the voters. Even at that, it was complaint galore, as series of hiccups propped up. Some registered voters did not see their pictures on the list, and so their cards could not be traced, while many others complained that their pictures actually appeared but their cards were nowhere to be found.
And to make matters worse, after the days assigned for the PVCs registration exercise, INEC collapsed most of the centres into one for Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) as well as collection of PVCs, making it difficult for the officials to cope with the number of people who wanted to either register anew or needed to collect their PVCs. Occasional frictions thus became the order of the day, while bribery remained the short- cut to get the attention of the INEC officials in some of the centres.
Apart from Adamawa, Katsina, Niger and Plateau that are Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-controlled states, the other nine states where the exercise was taking place simultaneously were controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Perhaps, because the APC has the higher number of participating states, it raised alarm that the shoddy manner with which the exercise was being handled left much to be desired by INEC.
A non-governmental organisation at the forefront of voters’ education, Voters’ Awareness Initiative (VAI), also expressed dissatisfaction with the exercise, warning that it could lead to the disenfranchisement of many eligible voters.
“The Voters’ Awareness Initiative has observed, with great dissatisfaction, the current shoddy performance of INEC in the distribution of the Permanent Voters Card (PVC), a card that was registered for and issued four years ago. So we wonder what has kept these cards in their offices for the past four years. Obviously, it cannot be fund, because INEC is well-funded; at least it has not come out to say so as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has done, and we do not think getting the machines to produce the cards is a big deal because several organisations all over Nigeria, big and small or even one-man organisations, print identity cards, regularly. So, what is the big deal about Id card production?
“Be that as it may, Voters Awareness Initiative has observed seriously the lopsided allotment, allocation and distribution of its (INEC) men in the current exercise of PVC distribution, in all over these areas where these exercises are taking place or has taken place. It is noise or calls of not having access or not given their cards either, as a result of not seeing the officers at all or their names not in the register where they last voted, or their cards not found, or worse still not seeing the officers at all in their area or community for the period allotted for the exercise,” the President of VAI, Wale Ogunade, said in a statement.
The commission, however, promised to do everything within its reach to make amends and ensure that all registered voters get their cards before the election, just as eligible persons who did not register before or have attained the mandatory 18 years would also be adequately taken care of.
Despite the assurance, the verbal war between the major stakeholders over the matter continued to rage.
The PVC is an improvement on the temporary voter cards issued earlier, having micro-chip with the bio-data of the voter and readable card.
Enter the security agents
The furore raised by the shoddy handling of the PVCs collection exercise entered another stage when, on Saturday, November 22, men of the Department for State Security (DSS) swooped on the office of APC in Lagos and arrested 23 data agents and three security men working in the office. The security operatives also allegedly ransacked the computers in the office located on Bola Ajibola Street, Ikeja.
At each other’s jugular
Since that operation took place, the APC has been accusing the DSS operatives of playing the script of the PDP in preparation for the 2015 general elections.
The APC, through its spokesman, Lai Mohammed, likened the operation to 1972 Watergate scandal in the United States of America (U.S.) where the office of the opposition was bugged as the presidential election approached. He maintained that members of the security team were drafted from Abuja on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan to carry out the assignment.
“They came without a search warrant for the premises. Over 50 security operatives drafted from Abuja operations blocked the two major street entrances to the APC data entry centre, pulled down the gates and spent over two hours ransacking and vandalising the centre.
“More than a dozen computers were destroyed. The server was also vandalised along with other equipment in the building. Just like the Watergate scandal in the U.S., the state-sponsored security operatives, apparently acting at the behest of the ruling PDP government, turned the office upside down, and pulled out and vandalised everything in sight,” the party said.
It described the alleged invasion as another one in the string of attacks and illegal actions of the PDP-led administration, stressing that it was unwarranted and unjustifiable.
“To attack one of the offices of the opposition party, APC, where legitimate operations of the party were being undertaken, is an act of fascism and totalitarianism. To the point of brigandage, the invasion of the APC centre is an assault on the APC and its entire membership across the country. It must not go unpunished,” APC stated.
The party threatened to sue the DSS over the action.
But the PDP and the DSS have equally countered, accusing the APC of trying to play smart to get undue advantage in the coming election. The PDP alleged that the office was being used to clone the INEC PVCs.
The party even went further to demand that APC leaders be prosecuted for the action.
PDP National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon, in a statement on Thursday, November 27, said: “In posting series of lame denials, even when caught in the act and attempting to compare their crime to the American Watergate political scandal, the APC has clearly exposed its culpability and confirmed our stand regarding their criminal tendencies and penchant for deceit and lies.
“It is to say the least despicable that instead of apologising to Nigerians for this heinous crime, the APC leaders have resorted to lies and dirty tricks in an attempt to play the victim and blame the PDP for their self-inflicted woes.
“In referring to Watergate scandal involving American President Richard Nixon and the bugging of Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters, the APC stood the truth on its head and tried to play on the intelligence of Nigerians by trying to politicise an obvious criminal act. The truth remains that the APC is now hysterical and feverish, having been caught in the act. They have been exposed, and no amount of antics by their leaders will remove their culpability that deserves the full weight of the law.
“The questions APC must answer are: is their attempt to hack into INEC’s data-base not criminal? What were the 31 ‘Ghana must go’ bags of INEC PVC specimen doing in their so-called data office in Lagos? We are indeed appalled at the extent the APC can go in its desperation for power for which they have now become notorious.
“We therefore urge our security agencies not to allow themselves to be intimidated by the APC, but hasten investigations on this crime.”
Commenting on the raid, the DSS said it did not even know that the building was an office of the APC, but that it carried out the operation based on a tip-off that some persons were using the office to hack into the system of INEC to produce PVCs. It also maintained that the operation was supported by an appropriate search warrant.
“A source sent a petition to us that they were using that office to corrupt INEC computer systems and hack into the network, so that they can replicate PVcs.
“We watched the place for two weeks and got a valid warrant from the court to search the office. When we got there, we saw over 50 computers.
“The building in question has no signboard indicating that it is APC office. We monitored the place for about two weeks after the petition before we got in. When we got in, we saw over 50 computer sets with about 18 staff.
“Other political parties have signboards and signposts indicating that it is their office. There was nothing indicating that it belonged to a political party,” Marilyn Ogar, the DSS spokesperson, said.
Nigerians speak
As the controversy rages, many political watchers have maintained that the blame game should be deeply examined beyond the surface. Opinions however differed. The questions, which concurrently propped up, however, are: Is it true that the APC was actually using the office to hack into INEC platform to clone PVC? Is the raid a ploy by the PDP to undermine the growing strength of the APC? When will there be a rancour-free election in the country? And if the 2015 election is compromised by either parties or the security agents, what is the future of democracy in the Nigeria?
For instance, Martins Onovo, former presidential candidate of Action Alliance (AA), said so far he cannot say whether the raid had political undertone, but maintained that the manner the operation was conducted left much to be asked about the professionalism in intelligence gathering by the security agents.
According to him, the defence of the DSS after the operation was somehow weak.
“It is unfortunate they did that. But they should be able to do a bit better. The way they did it was unprofessional. If you are working professionally, if you have an information, you have to verify the source, (and) the credibility of the source before you act,” he advised.
He also cautioned that the polity should not be heated up in anyway as the general elections approach.
Also, Ogunade faulted the whole scenario, stressing that it looked political.
He advised the security agents to rise against partisanship, saying that neutrality should be their watchword, as any party can assume power at any point in time.
“If they have any case against them, there is a proper way to go about it. We must learn to do things right; if not, it may come back to us,” he warned.
Others who spoke on the issue warned that as the 2015 elections approach, it should not be a do-or-die affair, adding that national interest should supersede personal or party interest.
