इलेक्टोरल फ्रौड़ इन NIGERIA

In the past few months, elections of some state governors in Nigeria have been nullified by various Courts of Appeal across the country and the courts have ordered for re-run elections, some of which have been conducted. Elections of legislators at various levels have also been nullified and in some cases rerun were ordered.

Nullification of election results means that something was wrong with the elections. By the nullification of their elections the elected officers are assumed to have been punished for whatever electoral offence they committed. But is cancellation or nullification of the outcomes of elections enough punishment and deterrent to check the evil of electoral fraud in Nigeria?

What is the punishment for the staff, permanent and adhoc, of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or whatever designation Nigeria’s electoral body may answer now or in the future? INEC staff cannot be exonerated from electoral malpractices and fraud in the country. They connive with the politicians to rig elections; and for aiding and abetting electoral malpractices they should be punished for this crime against the country. Some of the electoral body staff by their actions and inactions are be fair to all and provide a free and fair platform for all political players.

biased. It may not be possible for all of them to be 100 per cent apolitical but they should
Also, there should be a mechanism in place to checkmate the victimization of electoral body staff by governments in power, when they do the right things during elections, and such actions may not meet the political yearnings of the politicians.

It is not fair to punish students, schools, teachers and their head teachers who are accused of aiding and abetting examination malpractices while electoral personnel go home free. There should be sanctions for electoral officers who preside over flawed elections. Sanctions may serve as a deterrent and a check to electoral malpractice. It may not be a cure-all remedy but it can reduce the level of electoral malpractice.

A malpractice is a malpractice, whether examination or electoral and should be punished in this era of rule of law. If our political leaders are involved in electoral malpractice they have no moral right to scold school children who engage in examination malpractice. Parents who are supposed to show good example to the wards aid and abet examination malpractice as well as get involved in electoral malpractice. There is an Akwa Ibom proverb that a baby goat follows the footstep of her mother. The school children are the leaders of tomorrow and they are following the footsteps of their parents in practicing malpractice and the path to graduating into electoral fraudsters.

The electoral reforms should include sanctions for INEC staff and any of its adhoc staff during elections. Also those to be used as adhoc staff in future elections should be civil servants so that they can be punished when they err during elections. It has been observed that during elections most of the adhoc staff are card carrying members of political parties; especially the ruling parties and they cannot be impartial during the elections. They would do everything to favour their parties. The use of unemployed or party loyalists as adhoc staff should be discouraged. Rather, serving civil servants should be used as adhoc staff during elections so that if they compromise during elections they could be disciplined administratively through suspension, dismissal or any other appropriate punitive measures.

Also, political parties should be penalised for electoral fraud. In cases where a party has a problem deciding its actual candidate, such party should not be allowed to take part in the elections. Such parties should be fined for such conduct. A case in point is the Uyo Senatorial District in Akwa Ibom where the Party (PDP) is claiming that the sitting Senator Effiong Bob was not the Party candidate for the April 2007 elections, yet he is currently representing the area in Upper House. What manner of Party is this?

Rerun elections and campaigns preceding these elections cost money and in most cases this money is from the public purse whether the politicians would accept it or not. Such funds could have been used to provide desirable facilities and infrastructures. So in a way, this amounts to waste of public funds. Unnecessary litigations that follow elections are uncalled for if due processes where followed by electoral body and parties in their selections of candidates for elections and also during and after the conduct of elections.

Where does INEC loyalty lie during the conduct of elections? Does its loyalty lie with the government in power that appointed the commission’s top hierarchy? Is the body loyal to the Nigerian people and constitution? Should government be responsible for appointing members into the commission? Should each political party appoint a representative into INEC board? With a motley crowd of 50 parties it may not be possible for each party to have a representative. But if I have my way, besides the civil servants in INEC, the federal commissioners should come from all the parties while Nigerians should evolved a way of isolating the commission staff from political influence.

This crowd of 50 parties does not augur well for Nigerian democracy because a politician who is dissatisfied in one party would just jump to another or form his own party. Our politicians have no ideological leanings, they just go into politics because of what they can get and not because they have something to offer. This brings us to the issue of a two party system. A two party system may not be the best but at least if you don’t belong to the left you would be in the right. You cannot be neutral.

For this democracy to stabilize we need a transparent electoral process and system. Both the parties and the electoral body must follow due process in all their dealings. And sanctions must be impose on those who violate our electoral process.