Not many Nigerians can vouch for the integrity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free, fair, and credible elections due to its poor track record in the past. However, the commission has another chance to prove naysayers wrong, SEYE OLUMIDE reports.

One of the major concerns of most Nigerians as time ticks for the Edo governorship election is the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to perform better and meet expectations of the electorates by conducting free, fair and credible election on Saturday.

Their fears are hinged on several unfulfilled promises by the electoral umpire to conduct credible elections, where votes will count and the winner will be the choice of the majority.

The concern is the relevance, or otherwise, of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and Results Viewing Portal (IReV), which cost the country about N105.25 billion to procure, apart from early arrival of sensitive and non-sensitive materials at the polling units.

Since 2023 general elections when INEC disappointed many Nigerians, other off-cycle governorship elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa States were not better despite assurances from the commission’s chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu.

Also, tongues are still wagging about the commission’s perform at the bye-elections in Imo North Senatorial District on June 11, 2024; Jigawa State House of Assembly held on June 17, 2023; Kaduna State House of Assembly on June 24, 2023; Adamawa State House of Assembly held on July 1, 2023; Ondo State House of Assembly on July 8, 2023; Cross River State House of Assembly July 15, 2023 and the Lagos State House of Assembly bye-election, which took place on July 22, 2023.

For instance there were allegations that over 500,000 votes were declared for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 2023 governorship election in Imo State, while about 300,000 electorates were duly accredited as evidenced in the commission’s server. This means that the number of votes cast outnumbered accredited voters. It was also reported that results were uploaded at the polling units where elections did not hold in the state.

Also, BVAS machines were allegedly abandoned at many polling units, just as it was alleged that INEC failed to ensure strict compliance with the upload of authentic result sheets from the polling units on IReV to enhance transparency of the results management process.

The commission was also accused of failure to adhere strictly to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and guidelines on results collation.

The electoral body also flawed in the Kogi and Bayelsa States off-cycle polls where it was reported that a substantial percentage of polling units did not begin voting until 10.00 a.m. as against 8.30 a.m. commencement time. This delay affected 65 per cent of observed polling units in Bayelsa, 80 per cent in Imo, and 40 per cent in Kogi. It is uncertain if these challenges have been fixed ahead of the coming elections.

The commission’s flip-flop performance is not only raising concerns about the Saturday’s election in Edo State but stakeholders in the Ondo governorship election holding next month are appealing to INEC to get its acts right.

The chairman of the Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship campaign, Dr Eddy Olafeso, said all eyes are on the commission to correct the shortcomings witnessed in the previous polls and conduct flawless election in the state.

Clearing doubts as to whether the umpire would get Edo and Ondo gubernatorial elections right, the chief press secretary/media adviser to the Chairman of INEC, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, told The Guardian that the commission is prepared and ready. “But we urge other stakeholders to play their part,” he said .

According to him, “Organising an election requires the active participation and full cooperation of all critical stakeholders, from the political parties, voters, to the security agencies, civil society, observers and the media.

“In terms of preparations, the commission is fully prepared. We released the timetable and schedule of activities one year ahead of schedule in September last year in which 13 activities were listed. We have implemented every activity faithfully.

“We have deployed all the non-sensitive materials needed. Our officials have been trained and are being re-trained. We have signed an agreement with the transport unions – the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MAWUN) to ensure that we get our logistics right. In conjunction with the security agencies, we have trained security personnel that would be involved in election duty. We have accredited observers, the media and party agents. We have made Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) available for collection across all the 192 Wards and 18 local government areas in Edo State.”

Oyekanmi also disclosed that “all the sensitive materials are already in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). We will invite party agents, the media and other stakeholders to witness the movement of these materials from the CBN to designated places at the appropriate time.”

Also, the chairman of the commission on September 12 while addressing stakeholders in Edo, gave assurance that BVAS and IReV would not disappoint the electorates, disclosing that the machines worked perfectly at the mock election conducted in 12 polling units across six Local Government Areas in the three Senatorial Districts of the State.

Prof. Yakubu disclosed that the mock was successful and the result can be viewed on the IReV portal. He said, “We have sufficient machines for the election, which have been configured for voter accreditation and the upload of result distinct from those used for mock accreditation and training,” he said.

Despite the commission’s assurance that all has been done to conduct a glitch-free election on Saturday, the Deputy Chairman of the Joint Action Front (JAF) and Human Rights Activist, Achike Chude, remains pessimistic, noting that the country is in a difficult phase regarding elections and the coming Edo and Ondo gubernatorial polls, will not make any difference.

He said before the 2023 general elections, Muhammadu Buhari led-Federal Government and INEC gave Nigerians, especially the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media hope that the elections would be free and credible because of the amended Electoral Law of 2022.

He said these stakeholders believed INEC and went ahead to encourage Nigerians to fully participate in the elections, but it turned out to be one of the most controversial in the election history of Nigeria.

Chude further argued that what INEC did in the conduct of the 2022 Osun and Ekiti states gubernatorial polls had initially raised the hope of Nigerians, especially when the ruling APC lost Osun to PDP, however, the Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo off-cycles elections fell short of expectations.

According to him, “What INEC is now facing is a perception crisis, which is always difficult to correct. Unfortunately too, INEC has not at any point apologised to Nigerians for its shortcomings in the last polls. So, ahead of Edo and Ondo polls, I don’t see violence, even though PDP refused to sign the peace pact, but I still envisage that losers will cry foul as usual and the crisis will continue as usual.

“Edo may be tilting towards violence but it will not happen. INEC has put a lot of Nigerians in a sit-down-and-look situation because we can no longer put our trust in the commission.”

For Captain David Mbamara (rtd), there is no point for opposition parties to continue to contest elections in Nigeria under the present administration.

Mbamara, who contested last gubernatorial election in Imo State, said elections are constantly marred by corruption and other vices truncating the will of the people.

He said INEC remains complicit and cannot be trusted by many Nigerians to conduct free, fair and credible elections on Saturday.

He blamed the commission for destroying the electoral process in Nigeria just as he called for removal of Professor Mahmud Yakubu as INEC Chairman.

He also alleged APC of perfecting the act of rigging and it has also conscripted INEC into their game plan to subvert the will of the electorates.

He said: “I don’t see anything changing about INEC in Edo and Ondo. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn’t become a popular politician because he ruled Lagos but because he stood for democracy along with the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). But as soon as he became President, he turned 360 degrees from being a democrat. With this government in power, I don’t see INEC getting anything right in Edo and Ondo States.”

But taking a different look at Chude and Mbamara comments, another Human Rights Activist and journalist, Wale Adeoye, said: “Nigerians need to be cautious not to be subjective in their criticisms of INEC as if the umpire is solely responsible for election malpractices in the country.”

He noted that the country’s inability to get the election process right is part of the systemic problems that were designed for Nigeria in the 1999 Constitution, “which requires an overhaul.”

Adeoye said that whether Nigerians will accept or not, INEC has over the years introduced some positive changes in the election process but with the collaborations of desperate politicians and gullible electorates these innovations have failed to yield the desired results.

“INEC itself has become persistently inconsistent and this has resulted in trust deficit for the umpire. This is why nothing different will happen in Edo and Ondo as far as I am concerned,” he said.

National Chairman, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ralph Nwosu, said there is no need to have hope in INEC any longer since the whole system in itself is faulty. ­

He said if INEC didn’t get the 2023 polls right, especially the electronic transmission of results and BVAS, what we should then expect, he wondered.

He said, “The results of 2023 polls were published as well as that of the Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo off-cycle polls, and the winners are ruling as we speak, so what’s going to be the differences in Edo and Ondo? Remember that the same INEC is still going to conduct Ekiti and Osun off-cycle polls in 2026. We need to look beyond INEC but at the system.”