By Emeka Alex Duru
Barely five days away, Nigerians will file out for the much awaited February 16 Presidential and National Assembly Elections. That will also mark the commencement of the schedules of the elections, in keeping with the timetable for the exercise, which was released on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The release had slated Presidential and National Assembly elections for February16, 2019 while governorship and State Assembly elections will be conducted on Saturday, March, 2, 2019.
It had also directed the conduct of party primaries, including the resolution of disputes arising from primaries for national and state elections to be held between August 18 and October 7.
By the same token, the commencement of campaign by political parties was scheduled to be from November 18 for presidential and National Assembly elections, while that for governorship and State Assembly elections, was to take off from December 1.
Armed with the directives, 91 registered political parties in the country had been expected to file out for the election. But by the last count, 56 appeared to be set for the election. Of these, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are the most prominent. Others political parties as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Young Progressive Party (YPP), have shown some presence. But the Saturday encounter is undoubtedly, a straight fight between the Presidential candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari and his counterpart in PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
None of the candidates is a stranger to the exercise. Buhari as a President comes on board with the so-called incumbency factor. He also has some achievements of his administration to flaunt. He seeks continuation and consolidation of those achievements. Atiku on his own, pledges change. He faults the Buhari administration on key issues of job creation, security and unity among the component parts of the country. He thus presents himself as a credible alternative. Both have done quite well in marketing their agenda to their supporters and other Nigerians. On the surface therefore, the country is set to go on Saturday. Observers however warn on certain trends that if not properly managed, may work against the exercise. Prominent among these, is the issue of violence.
Going by incidences of violence at rallies in some states, the fear on what happens at the election proper, becomes potent. In Abeokuta, Ogun State, for instance, violence broke out at an APC rally over choice of the party’s governorship candidate. In Lagos, earlier similar incident was recorded among supporters of the party. In both instances, there were records of injuries.
Aside the records of violence over choice of candidates, there have also been attacks on INEC facilities in Abia and Plateau. On Saturday, February 9, 2019, the INEC office in Qua’an Pan Local Government of Plateau state was destroyed by fire. A week earlier, its office in Isiala Ngwa South local government of Abia State was also burnt down.
The electoral body has given assurance that the incidents would not affect the conduct of elections in the affected areas. According to INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, elections will go on in the affected local governments and the materials destroyed in the fire will be replaced immediately.
He added that the commission has notified the Inspector General of Police of this new trend and requested that additional security measures be provided to enhance security around INEC Offices and other critical structures of the Commission. Despite the assurances, fears still loom large of the ugly incidents assuming wider dimension in course of the elections, if adequate measures are not taken.
Closely related to this, is the doubt on the neutrality of the INEC in the election. Critics of the commission note, for instance, that if recent experiences on governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun are issues to go by, the Saturday election and subsequent ones, may not give Nigerians much to cheer about. Eze Onyekpere, a lawyer and civil rights activist, is among those who reason along this line. In his remarks on the Osun election, he wrote, “In Osun, there was a betrayal of trust. Taxpayers were taken for granted by an obviously partial electoral umpire who conjured an impasse where there was none and the security agencies ensured that the re-run ended in favour of the federal anointed candidate through various documented infractions which were condemned by the local and international observers”. Ekiti was not spared of the alleged compromise by the commission. The recent transfer of security agents, particularly the police commissioners, has also been raising concerns in some quarters.
Onyekpere, thus advises Nigerians to be vigilant. “Suffice it to note that we shall vote but we must watch and protect our votes. Voters must not be indolent; the handwriting on the wall is very clear. There is an attempt to deny our right to elect leaders. There have been various attempts at intimidating the voters and the institutions that are the bulwarks of the protection of fundamental liberties, especially the judiciary and the media”.
Other issues abound. But INEC has repeatedly pledged its readiness for the poll. The Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has assured Nigerians that the upcoming general elections will be free, fair and credible. Nigerians will hold him and the commission by his words.
