Analyst Wants Separate Dates for Presidential, N’ Assembly Elections
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
A public affairs analyst and Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, Azubuike Ihemeje has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fix the presidential election on a separate date from that of National Assembly.
Ihemeje, who spoke yesterday, as guest at a political roundtable, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, argued that fixing the presidential election on a different date will enhance transparency of the electoral process.
He said the decision of the electoral umpire to fix the Presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections on the same day, has encouraged and promoted the menace of vote-buying by major political parties in Nigeria.
He further argued that the decision has made it virtually impossible for ordinary Nigerians to freely vote for a president of their choice, devoid of political party interests.
“There are practical ways it works in our local communities in Nigeria: the National Assembly seats are 469 combined. It consists of a Senate with 109 members and a 360-member House of Representatives. The two major parties in Nigeria already have the financial war chest to struggle for these 469 slots, meaning a total of 936 powerful candidates from the two main parties will be contesting the federal legislative elections.
“All of them have Police and Military officers attached to them, plus a litany of other hangers-on and paramilitary groups around them. That is what they call structure.
“So, because the presidential and these powerful 936 legislative elections are usually fixed on same day, there is always that personal evil tasks of delivering their own various political parties on that same day, hence, the evil job of vote-buying has been officially distributed to these 936 strong aspirants.”
According to him, manpower from both INEC and security agencies who are already overstretched cannot be able to effectively monitor or stop 5percent of the electoral violators on the election day.
“Remember, the 936 strong aspirants will be fighting for their own personal political survival, while buying votes for their parties. Even when these 936 aspirants are really not interested in their party presidential candidate to win, they will simply be motivated by their own personal interests on the ballots that very day.
“If the presidential election is fixed on a separate when no vested interests of the 936 powerful men are at stake, chances are that, 90 per cent of them will never engage in vote buying for their parties, on a day their personal political interests are not at stake.
“Chances are that majority of them will allow the masses to make their informed decisions and choose their president. Chances are that most of these 936 aspirants are even tired of these perennial worst presidential candidates in their parties, who got their tickets via buying of Delegates,” he said.
Ihemeje stressed that INEC, police and Economic and Financial Crime Commission cannot be everywhere on election day and called on the commission to separate the presidential election date from the National Assembly election date as is done in most countries of the world.
