Smarting from the flawed general and off-season elections held last year, stakeholders are expectant that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would have learnt vital lessons toward the delivery of free, fair and credible elections in 2024, SODIQ OMOLAOYE reports.
 
The 2023 general elections, which ushered Asiwaju Bola Tinubu into the presidency alongside some governors and legislators have often been criticised as flawed and failed to meet expectations of Nigerians.
 
Besides, the off-season governorship elections in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states, which were held later in the year, did not show any significant improvement in Nigeria’s quest for free, fair, and credible elections.
 
However, with the by-elections to fill vacancies declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in some federal and state constituencies, coupled with the off-cycle governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, stakeholders are anxious to see a much-improved umpire at work.
 
Specifically, election monitoring groups believe that for INEC and political class to achieve desired results, effective monitoring of party primaries slated for February in Edo and Ondo states and strict compliance with the Electoral Act are the foundation for credible elections. It will also prevent a plethora of pre-election litigation as experienced during the 2023 general elections.
  
INEC had fixed September 21, 2024, for Edo state governorship election while that of Ondo state will hold on November 16. The electoral body said the dates announced were in line with Section 178 (2) of the Constitution, stipulating that election into the said offices shall be held not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the tenure of the last holder of the office.
 
Though the next general elections will hold in 2027, Nigeria has eight off-cycle governorship elections, which include Anambra, Bayelsa, Kogi, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Imo states. 
  
But before Edo and Ondo polls, scheduled to hold in September and November respectively, 44 re-runs and by-elections will hold by February 3. The by-elections resulted from the resignations or deaths of elected lawmakers and subsequent vacancies declared by the presiding officers of the National Assembly and the state houses of assemblies.
  
INEC, which released the timetable for the elections, listed the affected constituencies in the Senate as Ebonyi South Senatorial District in Ebonyi state and Yobe East Senatorial District in Yobe.  
 
In the House of Representatives, INEC declared vacancies for Akoko North East/Akoko North West Federal Constituency in Ondo State; Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency, Taraba State; Surulere 1 Federal Constituency, Lagos State; and Yauri/Shanga/Ngaski Federal Constituency, Kebbi State.
  
Also, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at a meeting with leaders of political leaders in Abuja, noted that at the end of litigation after the 2023 polls, courts ordered the commission to conduct rerun elections in 34 federal and state constituencies, made up of one in the Senate, 11 federal constituencies, and 22 state constituencies. 
  
While there are arguments that no electoral process is perfect, political pundits believe that elections that have been slated for this year are important for INEC to prove that there are hopes for credible elections in the future. To them, the outcome of the Edo and Ondo elections will have a direct impact on Anambra governorship election, which will hold in 2025, Ekiti and Osun in 2026 and next general elections in 2027. 
 
Already, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has said part of the priority legislations before the House in 2024 is the review of the Electoral Act to address some of the inherent flaws noted in the previous elections. 
 
He said the House recognised the importance of electoral reforms in strengthening democratic institutions, noting that the Electoral Act as it is today, has made Nigeria’s electoral system to be over dependent on the judiciary.
  
He said: “The outcome of elections should be decided at the polling unit and not in a courtroom. The ‘over-judicialisation’ of electoral outcomes has greatly undermined public confidence and could erode the legitimacy of political leadership if not quickly and adequately addressed. The citizens’ town hall on electoral reforms made far-reaching recommendations that would be considered in amending the Electoral Act,” he stated.
  
Chairman, Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Auwal Rafsanjani, in an interview with The Guardian, advised that the leadership of INEC should conduct an internal soul searching to ensure that they clean up whatever obstacles and corruption that are embedded in the commission. 
 
According to him, it would be a big minus for the nation’s democracy if the citizens continue to lose confidence in the ability of their electoral umpire to organise free, fair and credible elections. 
 
He said: “INEC should look at all the recommendations both local and domestic observers have put together where they noted lapses in the conduct of the last general and off-cycle elections. They should address those gaps and not allow them to be repeated in the upcoming elections in Edo and Ondo. 
 
“There are so many visible problems. INEC should rise up to ensure that those problems are addressed and make sure they restore the hope and confidence of the electorates. This is because it will be bad in a democratic system if the electorates have no confidence in the election management body.
 
“I think there is an absolute need for INEC to do internal soul searching to ensure that they clean up whatever obstacles and corruption that are embedded in INEC itself. A lot of Nigerians believe that there are so many people within INEC, who are aiding politicians to perpetrate electoral fraud. INEC must therefore rise to ensure that they are truly independent and not controlled by external forces that do not mean well for the country. INEC should within its own power ensure that there is internal cleansing to remove those elements.”
  
Rafsanjani also admonished the electoral commission to do away with contractors, who have failed in so many instances, and embrace new vendors who won’t disappoint them. 
  
Stressing the need for the commission’s officials to understand the implications of compromising electoral integrity, the activist expressed concerns over what he said was a popular notion that INEC officials, both ad hoc and permanent staff are conniving with politicians to perpetrate electoral injustice. 
   
He further stressed the need for INEC to rise up and ensure that the judiciary does not take over its roles.According to him, “once the commission ensures that it plays a transparent role and follows the law, there is no need for the judiciary to take over its role.”
 
On the review of the Electoral Act, Rafsanjani said though efforts should be made to amend areas where there are gaps, he observed that all hands must be on deck towards ensuring that political party reforms are carried out. 
 
“This is because even if you bring the best law in the world, but the politicians decide to undermine the process, we will still be where we are. I think it is important we carry out both the political and electoral reform hand in hand. Part of the political party reform is to engage politicians to begin to carry out massive civic education for their members. But presently, they have abandoned that. It is only civil society, using their meagre human and financial resources that are doing that,” he added. 
 
A political analyst, Jide Ojo advised INEC to be more assertive in exercising its administrative power to review election results. Ahead of the off-season polls and general elections in 2027, he said the 19 registered political parties must do an internal assessment of their role and performance in the 2023 elections.
 
According to him, Section 65 of the Electoral Act empowered INEC to review election results within seven days where evidence of malpractices had been established.
 
He noted that the commission exercised its power in the case of the Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency election when the returning officer said that he declared the result under duress.
 
He said: “In the case of Imo and Kogi governorship elections, there were contentious issues where the opposition claimed to have written to INEC asking for the review of those results. INEC should have used that administrative power, set up a committee to look at the uploaded results vis-à-vis the one in the BVAS and be able to make some consequential adjustments.
 
“I’d expected that INEC will continue to use that power and let the courts rule them out of order,’’ Ojo said.  He also called for deliberate effort by INEC to prosecute and sanction electoral offenders, including its permanent and ad hoc who tried to bypass the use of BVAS during election.
  
“Those who are engaged in pre-fill of election result sheets should be arrested, investigated and prosecuted. When they know that INEC will not take nonsense, they will shape up. Even when politicians try to induce them, they will refuse the inducement.
  
“But in situations where you allow it to slide, as we have seen in the case of Kogi in 2023, it will be a bad omen because similar things may be replicated in Edo and Ondo in 2024,” he said.