Trust Deficit, Lack of Compliance with Laws, Guidelines Almost Marred 2023 Election, Says Peace Committee

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The National Peace Committee (NPC) has said failure to fully comply with laws, policies and guidelines by institutions involved in the conduct of the 2023 General election was responsible for the level of disputation that trailed the poll.

The Peace Committee which has former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah as Co-conveners highlighted reasons why the 2023 general elections recorded low voter turnout than expected.

Speaking at the formal presentation of the NPC’s 2023 General Elections Report yesterday, in Abuja, Head of Secretarial of the NPC, Rev. Atta Barkindo, who presented the report said one of the key flaws of the election was the inability of agencies to comply with policies and guidelines and legal frameworks of the elections already put in place.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu defeated former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and a dozen other candidates to win the keenly contested election.
The 2023 presidential election recorded one of the lowest voter turnout in the country’s history.
Out of the total 93.47 million registered voters, only 24.9 million persons voted in the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.
This represented a 26.72 percent voter turnout, the lowest since the return to democracy in 1999.

Barkindo said: “There is also the issue of trust deficit, and that is why we can see those interest in voter registration. But the voter turnout was a bit low.
“And we also observe citizens limited political awareness across the country. And there are challenges with issues of technology and then how poverty and dispossession eventually impacted on credible process of the elections,” Barkindo said.
He said the peace committee has made some recommendations which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other election management bodies should take very seriously going forward.

“So all of us must be involved in the process to provide free, fair and credible elections. There should be certain responsibilities for the government in power, particularly, changing social economic conditions to make people to be committed to the electoral process.

“And for the election management body (INEC), there are issues where they have to comply with certain guidelines that have been set in place.

“And the changing political party culture of our country, where political parties are called upon to just comply with their own constitutions, their own policies and their own guidelines.”

On the issue of trust deficit, the report noted that throughout the 2023 election cycle, the increase in voter registration did not translate into voter turnout on election day.

It said this was a major setback as both the government and the election management body had promised to deliver a free, fair and credible elections.

It said, “President Muhammadu Buhari made this assurance during his speech at the second signing of the Peace Accord on 18th February 2023. The INEC Chairman assured many Nigerians of free, fair and credible elections. Security agencies were determined to comply with rules of engagement and keep citizens safe.

“But when it mattered, officials across different agencies failed to comply with laws, policies and the guidelines already put in place.

“All these, as in previous elections, combined to influence the perception of citizens who questioned the neutrality, impartiality and the objectivity of election management bodies.

“Due to trust deficit, the turnout in the just-ended 2023 presidential elections was a paltry 29 percent, down from 69 percent in 2003 and 53 percent in 2011,” the report said.