“Morality is not really the doctrine of how to make ourselves happy, but of how we are to be worthy of happiness.” – Immanuel Kant, German Philosopher (1724-1804), in Critique of Practical Reason.
This year, 2014, will be
among the most politically active in Nigeria’s modern history. Expectations are
high in the Nigerian polity and beyond, justifiably so, because the year will
feature a cluster of activities leading up to the 2015 General Elections. These
elections, obviously, will be keenly contested. Ideally, the election season
should be a political celebration of sorts – a celebration of the Nigerian
democracy in the manner that Americans describe their election season as ‘a
celebration of American democracy’. But the reality we live with is a political
environment unduly charged by the desperation of partisan gladiators. This need
not be so.
It is quite possible for
the electorate to take charge of setting the tone for the political climate in
2014, and up to the 2015 elections. This, however, will require the public
being much more conscious and positively involved politically. For instance, rather
than being potential tools for fomenting political violence and abuses of the
electoral process by desperate partisans, the electorate could stand up to
demand compliance with civilised ethics of political participation from the
partisans. Really, a dispassionate and informed citizenry could hold all role
players, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to
account on what is required to make the Nigerian electoral process more
efficient and in conformity with global best practices. After all, credible
elections are not a function of what INEC alone does or fails to do; but more a
function of the commitment of all stakeholders to make positive and scrupulous
contributions to the system.
Information is essential
to the electorate’s ability to perform such oversight role; and so, it is
necessary to know what INEC itself is doing to discharge its mandate as an
election management body to satisfy the yearnings of Nigerians for free, fair
and credible elections. There is no denying the considerable cynicism presently
in the polity regarding the capacity of the Commission to do just that,
especially in view of the unfortunate challenges encountered in recent
elections it conducted. But the present leadership of INEC has always taken
such challenges as lessons necessitating additional policy measures to further
insulate the electoral system against potential breaches. The Professor
Attahiru Jega-led Commission is leaving nothing to chance in its planning to
make the 2015 elections the best in this country’s history. And the elections
really could be if other stakeholders, including the electorate, also play their
roles in making things work.
The 2015 elections will
be characterised by some innovations being introduced to fortify the system
against abuse by partisan desperadoes. But the foundations of these innovations
will be laid in 2014, and INEC needs the full cooperation of Nigerians to make
the most of these. For instance, elections henceforth will be conducted
strictly with the biometric Register of Voters. The Addendum List, which is
susceptible to abuse, is being eliminated. This list was generated for the 2011
elections from the Manual Register to accommodate persons who did come out to
register during the general exercise early that year, but whose data were lost
along the line and thus are not captured on the biometric register. INEC will
in 2014 roll out the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise nationwide,
towards updating the biometric Register of Voters. Basically, the exercise is
targeted at persons who turned 18 years since the last registration and have
thus not been biometrically captured; as well as those who, though were 18
years and above during the last exercise, did not come out to register.
But there is a third
category for whom the CVR is also important: persons whose names are on the
Addendum List. Before the exercise takes off, there will be a display of the
biometric register as presently composed at the various polling units; and it
is imperative that every registered person – even while in possession of a
Temporary Voter Card (TVC) – go out to verify that their name is on the
displayed register. (Such display was done before the Anambra State
governorship election in November 2013, but many residents, unfortunately,
didn’t take advantage of it.) Whoever can’t find his/her name when the
biometric register is displayed is required to come out during the CVR to get
their data recaptured, because such person must have voted in the 2011
elections on the Addendum List. Failure to come out to get recaptured during
the CVR will amount to self-disenfranchisement in 2015 because the Addendum
List will no longer be used for elections.
Now, a caveat: it is
strongly advised that everyone avoids multiple registration. Multiple
registration by itself is a punishable electoral offence. But also, the
Advanced Fingerprints Identification System (AFIS) software being used by INEC
for de-duplication of voters’ consolidated data automatedly retains only one
instance of an individual’s data and eliminates the extras. Some of the persons
who accused INEC of disenfranchising them because they could not find their names
in the biometric register during the Anambra election were really multiple
registrants who on Election Day happened to have gone to polling units where
the extras had been eliminated. For avoidance of doubt, a multiple registrant
who on Election Day goes to the polling unit where the extra data had been
eliminated will not find his/her name on the biometric register and will not be
able to vote. Such a person cannot legitimately accuse INEC of having disenfranchised
him/her.
Another activity related
to the CVR is the impending issuance of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to all
voters who have been properly captured on the biometric Register of Voters. The
distribution of these cards will commence soon at the same polling units where
people registered as voters. One ready value that these PVCs will add to the
system is that anyone who fails to get his/her card (and who had not taken
advantage of the display of the present register preceding the CVR) would
instantly know that he/she is not captured on the biometric register and, hopefully,
would do the needful before Election Day. That way, the challenge of ‘missing
names’ on Election Day will be effectively averted. But more importantly, the
use of the PVC will check the tendency by unscrupulous persons to engage in
multiple voting during elections. With the use of card readers that will also
be deployed, the PVC will allow for 100 per cent verification and
authentication of anyone showing up at the polling unit before he/she is
allowed to vote. In other words, the tendency in our electoral experience
whereby partisans buy up the voter cards of other people will no longer be of
any effect – well, other that denying those who choose to ‘sell’ their voter
cards the opportunity to vote. One point to note is: the card readers are
programmed to decline verifying anyone who presents a PVC not belonging to
him/her, thus making such a person ineligible to vote. INEC will need the
collaboration of voters at the polling units to monitor the process for
possible human attempts to override this mechanical safety catch.
Before now, the
Commission had reinforced the security features on sensitive electoral
materials like ballot papers, result sheets and ballot boxes by customising
them to polling centres. Much as cynics and partisans have been reluctant to
acknowledge the fact, this factor, coupled with the effective cover provided by
security agencies, has helped to discourage age-long tendencies in our
electoral process such as ballot stuffing and ballot box snatching. The fact
is, any ballot box snatched under the present system, for instance, is simply
eliminated from the collation equation. Now, these security features are being
further tightened towards 2015 such that attempts at infringements will all the
more be futile. Actually, many of these features will be in place for the Ekiti
and Osun state governorship elections coming up mid-year. And the challenge of
logistical hitches that accounted for late arrival of materials at some polling
units in the past is also being squarely addressed.
INEC will, in the course
of 2014, further its programme for re-delimitation of electoral constituencies,
towards enhancing equal weighting of votes. But the final authority on this matter will be
the National Assembly, which has the constitutional power to give legal effect
to new constituency boundaries that INEC will propose. However that goes, the
Commission is, this year, certain to create new polling units, with the aim of
easing the access of voters to the ballot box in 2015. But the challenge of low
voter turnout in past elections is one that must be collectively tackled by all
stakeholders in the Nigerian project. With the creation of more polling units,
INEC hopes to address one of the potential factors that may have discouraged
voter turnout on Election Day. It will help for party activists, civil society
organisations and other civic groups to also reinforce their efforts on
‘get-the-voter-out’ drive. Political partisans have the greatest responsibility
in this regard because voters will be casting the ballots for them. In any
event, they manage to mobilise huge crowds to their political rallies in the
build-up to elections; so, where are these huge numbers on Election Day?
The point must be made
that elections are being planned for all the 36 states of the federation and
the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as the Commission hopes the security
challenges presently being experienced in some North-East states will be
resolved. INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, did not foreclose elections
in these states as was reported recently in the media. At the Senate Forum
where he spoke late in 2013, Professor Jega expressed the optimism as stated
above; because it is common sense, anyway, that a state of emergency isn’t the best
circumstance under which credible elections can be conducted. INEC is
determined to make the 2015 elections and, indeed, the governorship as well as
other elections to be conducted this year showpieces of Nigeria’s conformity
with global best standards. But the Commission needs the cooperation of every
stakeholder, especially the political class, to make this aspiration a reality.
Kayode R. Idowu is the
Chief Press Secretary of INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega.
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