Electoral Reforms: So Much Promised, Little Delivered

Louis Achi

Speaking at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 77), held in September 2022 in New York, United States, President Muhammadu Buhari had told world leaders that, “I would leave an enduring legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible elections.”

Like a man courting a fair verdict of history, back home, he severally reaffirmed this pledge. But when the first major test of that promise came, he failed distressingly.

On February 25, 2023, his administration delivered what was arguably the worst and most questionable presidential poll since the 24-year-old Fourth Republic.

It could be recalled that on February 25, 2022, President Buhari signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2022 into law.  This birthed two key technologies expected to make elections credible. First is the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), used for digital voter accreditation and electronic transmission of results. This was seen as an antidote to election rigging. The second is the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), which would enable the public to view uploaded results from polling units, ensuring the transparency of the process.

With the Electoral Act requiring the use of BVAS and IReV technologies, confidence soared on the electoral process and many believed that President Buhari genuinely wanted to leave a legacy of free, fair, transparent, and credible elections. But the reality turned out to be a horse of a different colour.

Considering the tough journey this crucial piece of legislation went through, it raised hope in millions of Nigerians that it would reduce a number of human interferences that had always resulted in stolen elections in Nigeria. It also legally empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit results at real time from the polling units to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

In fairness to the electoral body, notwithstanding some curious delays, the processes leading to the presidential and National Assembly elections appeared transparent. But the obvious lack of sincerity on the part of the electoral umpire started when the results from the polling units were not uploaded on the IReV and political parties and election observers could not access the portal to check the uploaded results in real time.

Strangely, President Buhari himself was the first person to allegedly and openly engage in an act which many believe was an infringement on the Electoral Act. Many would readily recall that after voting in the presidential election in Daura, Katsina State, he brazenly displayed his marked ballot paper for the public to confirm that he voted for Bola Tinubu, his party’s candidate.

Clearly, that was seen as a violation of Section 50 of the Electoral Act 2022, which holds that “voting shall be by open-secret ballot.” It’s “open” because the voter drops his marked ballot paper in the box openly. It’s “secret” because a voter thumbprint his or her ballot paper in secret, and the law prohibits taking a picture of one’s marked ballot paper.

As is increasingly common there was no consequence for that blatant infringement which had a wider implication. The implication was that the President was seen campaigning for the ruling party’s presidential candidate on Election Day.

This was in violation of Section 94 of the Electoral Act, which holds that “the period of campaigning in public shall end 48 hours prior to polling day.” He abjectly failed to demonstrate the impartiality he repeatedly promised.

But not one to allow grass to grow under his feet, in a recent Sallah message, Buhari denied any interference. Hear him: “At no point did I interfere with the process in order to give unfair advantage to anyone.” The president spoke in a statement issued by his media aide, Garba Shehu.

Last November, Buhari had defended the naira redesign policy, proclaiming that, “Nigerians should vote for whoever they like from whichever party,” adding that “nobody will be allowed to mobilise resources and thugs to intimidate people in any constituency.”

But as it turned out, many Nigerians were not able to freely vote for the candidates or party of their choice. The attendant widespread voter suppression through violence, and INEC’s operational efficiency put spanners in the wheels of unhindered election.

The turnout of 27 per cent was significantly lower than in any previous election while resources were mobilised and thugs used freely to intimidate voters in the election. What transpired on February 25 did not escape the notice of election observers who were very critical, saying the election “fell short of expectations.” Significantly, both the EU election observer mission and the joint election observation mission of the US-based International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute said the failure to transmit the votes electronically and INEC’s lack of transparency over the matter severely eroded the poll’s credibility and confidence in the results announced by INEC.

It cannot be quickly forgotten that the presidential election was particularly marred by widespread violence, perpetrated by political thugs under apparent protection by the security agencies. For instance, in Lagos, viral videos showed how thugs invaded polling units and snatched or burnt ballot boxes, while security agents looked on. Videos also showed how voters were brutally suppressed. In one polling unit, a notorious political thug audaciously said: “Anyone who is not voting APC should leave now,” adding: “This is an APC zone.”

It is then little wonder that President Joe Biden has not put a call across to President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to congratulate him – a standard international practice. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent diplomatic outreach only partially disguises the needful, but missing US presidential imprimatur on Nigeria’s February 25 presidential poll.

Beyond the absurd electoral choreography, the emerging consensus is that by INEC’s declaration of Tinubu “winner” of a fundamentally flawed election, based on deeply controversial results, INEC berths a legitimacy problem and has pushed Nigeria to the edge of political instability.

But an insistent Buhari holds that the outcome of the 2023 elections was in line with his pledge to leave a legacy of free and fair elections in the country in his Sallah message to Muslims on the occasion of the Eid-el-Fitr celebration to mark the end of the 30-day Ramadan fasting season.

Buhari had noted that the outcome of the 2023 general election would go down on record as one of his administration’s biggest achievements “in addition to our neutrality in the conduct of the elections.”

He argued that “the outcome of the elections was in line with my pledge to leave a legacy of free and fair elections.”

This quirky insistence then represents President Buhari’s enduring legacy as he shortly exits office even as election petition courts are inundated with petitions against the INEC-declared results.

A legacy of free, fair, transparent, and credible elections would have offered President Buhari a better verdict of history.