By Olusegun Adeosun
Hot on the heels of the shift in the dates of the 2019 general elections, in the wee hours of Saturday, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, and his commissioners, held an emergency meetings with the critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s electoral process, and laid bare the real reasons the commission decided to jolt the nation with the postponement.
The Crest, in our characteristic style, bring to you, our loyal readers, what the chairman did not say in his formal address but which he espoused in the Question and Answer, Q&A, Session. Enjoy all of it.
Decision to postpone the election without prior notification of political parties
I will like to draw attention of political party leader to the provision of the Electoral Act. The decision INEC has taken to adjust the dates of the election is in tandem with Section 326 of the Electoral Act, which empowers the commission to postpone or adjust dates in the event of violence, natural disaster, or any other reason, provided it is cogent and verifiable. This one is cogent and verifiable.
One section of the Electoral Act also stated that one the commission take a decision (as postponement), it must pick another date. So, we have taken the decision, if we had the time, you would have been consulted to arrive at hospitable and appropriate date. But we had to take a decision to quickly communicate because polling booths are going to be opened 8: 00 in the morning today (Saturday). And we took the decision at around 2:30 today. INEC officials are servants of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I want to assure party leaders that INEC will continue to consult with you in the interest of our democracy.
On the issue of compensation for parties for mobilizing for the election:
INEC does not fund political parties. The law is also very clear also as to how parties can be supported from the national purse. There has to be an Act of the National Assembly and the National Assembly has to make the resources available for the Commission to support political parties. Since members of the National Assembly are your candidates, you hold the key to resolving that issue.
Why can’t Nigerians vote anywhere with their PVC?
It’s a very good suggestion. I think as our democracy matures more when we deploy and deepen the use of technology, (that may be achieved). But for now, the law says you only vote where you are registered. But you can transfer your votes elsewhere. So, as the law remains what it is, and the level of technology remains what it is, unfortunately, people can only vote where they are registered. The election is a process governed by law.
Assurance on measures against saboteurs.
Yes, we are taking measures. Referring to the fire incidents in the three locations, when the fire incident was about to happen, I personally called the Inspector-General of Police. I requested for greater fortification of all our assets nationwide, and I am happy to say that the Inspector-General of Police responded positively. Because since Anambra, there were two fire incidents that have been averted. One at our office in Kwali in the FCT, and another one, an attack on our office in Akwa Ibom State. In fact, the fire that started in Akwa Ibom State was actually put out by the Police. So, we have taken measures to protect our properties nationwide and this extended to the ad-hoc staff we engage on the election duty, as well as observers, candidates, voters and the media.
Ameliorate the pains of the persons with disabilities who travel with their aids to vote
It’s a good suggestion. Perhaps in the 2023 general elections, we will make some budgetary provisions but not ameliorate them, in case election is postponed and we are hoping that this is going to be the last postponement of the election.
Introduction of Braille guide on voter education
We will continue to intensify voter education on the use of Braille guide. The Braille guide was introduced by the Commission as part of our inclusive response to persons with disability during electoral process. What is a Braille guide? It is jacket written in Braille in to which visually-impaired voters can slip in their normal ballot paper and for those who can read Braille can easily identify the acronym of their parties of their choice and thumbprint in a perforated box opposite the acronym of the party.
This is part of the innovations we introduced for persons with that kind of challenge to vote unassisted. In addition, we were also approached by the Albino Foundation to say that some of their members are having difficulty to read party logos in the middle of the day. We asked the Foundation, what do we do? They said we should introduce magnifying glasses at polling units, we deployed magnifying glasses in the Anambra elections, Ekiti and Osun elections. And we will deploy magnifying glasses in the 2019 general elections. Then, the deaf also approached the Commission, they say that yes, they can see, but they cannot hear. And that there are symbols they can also see similar to the Braille guide, what can we do for them? Can we do special posters? We responded by accepting that we should do so. And we have printed voter education posters, using characters and symbols the deaf identify. I know that those on wheel chair have requested the Commission to also provide ramps at polling units. We will do whatever we can to ensure greater inclusion of persons with disabilities in our electoral process.
Discount for passengers with PVCs on commercial buses
I think, as chairman of INEC, I am incompetent to comment on that. The president of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and other unions in the road transport sector will be in the best position to assist. But if you want me to do a little bit of advocacy with the union, I can do it on behalf of persons in that category.
INEC being overburdened.
I think this is a discussion that this nation must hold after the 2019 general election. Twelve commissioners and a chairman are conducting elections in Nigeria, and managing the entire democratic process. I don’t know when last anyone of us had a decent sleep, but these are conversations we will have after the election. What is important for us at the moment is that, in spite of all the enormity of the challenges, we will continue to do what we can to deliver free, fair and credible elections in 2019.
Postponement: Is INEC financially buoyant to continue?
Let me reply you this way, we are not complaining.
Assurance that nothing untoward is going to happen to some of the PVCs
I can assure you that no electoral operative of the Commission will be compromised. Never. The integrity of the processes and systems that we use for the elections are protected. Uncollected PVCs will not be used for the elections. If you have any information that some people are in the possession of PVCs and they are trying to use it to compromise the election, please forward the information to us.
I also want to say this that, some political actors went round collecting voter- identification numbers on the PVCs of some voters, believing that, that information can be used to compromise the smart card readers on the election day. I have responded to this at several fora. How unimaginative can someone be to pay money to collect information which has already been given to you? Each political party in Nigeria has a complete national register of voters. Completed, not only with pictures, but also with Voters Identification Numbers, VIN. So, why should they collect money or pay someone to collect information that you have not only on him, but all the 84 million registered voters. But when we give you the register, we give you a full breakdown of persons registered from state distribution, local government distribution, wards distribution, polling units distributions. We are absolutely certain that the use of the VIN can never compromise our system. So, for those who think that way, please tell them that the bus has far left the station. We are far ahead of them.
Third Party verification when the (already distributed) materials are recovered before being moved to the Central Bank
That is a very good suggestion. This will be considered and in any case, by the time you take the materials again from the Central Bank, you will be called to bear witness. We will continue to deepen the integrity of the process, including making all the materials to be used for the election available for scrutiny by political parties and citizens.
On the postponement of the elections
First and foremost, we are public officers accountable to the Nigerian people and part of our responsibilities is the protection of public interest and we take that reasonability seriously. I said on behalf of the Commission, we regret what happened early this morning.
Will campaigns resume?
Campaign closed at midnight of Thursday, last week, and for the period that remains, campaigns will remain closed. All other processes provided for in the main time-table and schedule of activities will remain in force, including the collection of PVCs. We have promised to give you the complete breakdown of number of PVCs collected and warehoused uncollected PVCs in the Central Bank until after the elections when collections of the cards will resume as well as registration of the new voters. So, what remains is for us to take the six steps outlined in my written statement so that we conclude the election on Saturday.
Chairman APC: Why did the Commission have to wait until 2 a.m. in the morning to make a statement?
Until close to 2 a.m. in the morning, we were still confident that the elections would hold. For three days, since Wednesday, many of the commissioners, including myself, have virtually been sleeping at the Abuja airport. We mobilized all national assets to ensure that we deliver what remains of electoral logistics to locations and to conduct elections. But unfortunately, we couldn’t continue with the elections the way elections are to be conducted. We were there at the airport with all the people that can provide all the supports that you can imagine, including contact with private airlines, cargo airlines that can deliver logistics to locations. But as I have said, after the 2019 general elections, this nation needs a conversation on the management of elections. We will come back to it big time.
Accreditation of party agents
The law requires you to submit the names of your agents two weeks to the elections and to the electoral officers at the local level along with passport photographs of the agents, so that we can accredit them. Unfortunately, most of the parties either submitted late or didn’t submit at all. Out of 93 parties contesting in the presidential election, as at yesterday, Friday, only 36 have forwarded the names of their agents for presidential elections and this is supposed to have been done earlier.
INEC is what it is on the account of support it enjoys from the citizens. The 2019 elections is going to be election of the young people, including women and girls above the age of 18. Simply because of some of the actions we have taken. For the first time, we organized a campus outreach and it was tremendous in all the six political zones.
Sanctity of the electoral materials
Yes, we deployed some of the materials. They are safe. But there are no reports that any of the materials was used for the election. We will audit and then, as I said in my speech, we will come out clean if there is any such tampering with the materials. The sanctity of the process is important, also the sanctity of the materials used for the elections. We committed to ensuring both the conduct of the election…
Concerns that we will conclude an inconclusive election.
An inconclusive election is the one in which no winner emerges on first ballot. So, it goes to the second ballot and I have never heard anyone say we have concluded an election in second round outside the provision of the law. But statistically, we conducted seven governorship election off-season, out of which only two were declared inconclusive, meaning no winner. But you will recall that of the seven elections we conducted, the two that were declared in conclusive were Kogi and Bayelsa. But the governorship elections in Edo, Ondo, Anambra, Ekiti and Osun were not that inconclusive. Majority of our elections are not inconclusive.
Problem of internal sabotage
So far, I have received no evidence of internal or external sabotage. But we are not naïve. We will keep our eyes open and we will deal with the situation as it arises.
Nigerians in the Diaspora, do their votes count?
Every legitimate vote counts. I can say that it is commendable that Nigerians leaving outside the country, in spite of the absence of diaspora voting, still come back to the country and vote. I want to say that INEC is committed to diaspora voting, but constrained by the law. The law says you vote where you are registered and you cannot be registered outside the shores of the country. But we have submitted that proposal to the national assembly to allow two categories of citizens to vote outside the country. Nigerian citizens in Foreign Service or military service overseas, or any other legitimate service outside the country. This is called OCV, Out of Country Voting. They are citizens, but resident outside the country.
Then, we have the diaspora voting, it means Nigerians resident outside the country could vote in an election. We are committed to that and I want to tell you that in not-too-distant future you will be able to vote where you are. You won’t have to come back to Nigeria to vote. We have submitted our proposals to the National Assembly and we hope that the enabling laws will be amended, having produced what we can conveniently called draft guidelines for OCV, and diaspora voting as well. We will welcome this innovation and we look to a day when Nigerians living in the diaspora will represent other Nigerians living in diaspora in our national parliament because this is what happens elsewhere; because citizens don’t only vote, they also represent other citizens in their national parliaments. We have cooperated with several countries and sub-regions which have a system of diaspora voting for their citizens within Nigeria, including making provision for some our ballot boxes and voting cubicles for their voting and we will continue to do so.
That with the postponement, the Commission has failed to organize an election in four years; what guaranty is there that the election can be organized in one week?
I am not sure there is any nation that organizes election in one week. I stand to be corrected, but I am unsure. What we are going to do in the next one week is not to organize election afresh, but to address the challenges that arose from the election. Every election is different. Every election comes with its own peculiar challenges and electoral bodies must continue to rise above these challenges. But the most important thing for me is: are we operating within the confines of the law or outside the confines of the law? So, we will continue to organize good elections. What we are going to do next week doesn’t amount to organizing or conducting an election within a week; and I hope Peter Okocha from the BBC will be here next week to cover the outcome of our 2019 general elections. The choice is in the hands of Nigeria.
Is February 23 sacrosanct?
Without any equivocation, it is, and this is our commitment to Nigerians.
Attack on INEC facilities.
This is not the first time. It has happened before. Between the 2015 general elections and some of the off-season elections we have conducted, 13 offices of the commission were burnt down as a result of arson and politically motivated violence. 13 of our 774 local government offices were actually burnt down and many other facilities and assets of the commission. So, we will continue to work with the security agencies to protect these assets and as well as the protection of the staff of the commission- whether they are regular staff or ad-hoc that we engaged for the electoral duties.
Can political parties go into election next week in silence if campaign is not allowed?
My simple answer to the person who asked this question is: as a politician, that no political actors are silent