Role of Academics in Electoral Frauds

With the widespread electoral malpractices that characterise elections in Nigeria, the recruitment of academics from universities as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and election officers has come under scrutiny, Davidson Iriekpen reports

One of the strategies introduced by military regimes was the appointment of academics from the Nigerian universities as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the years. When the country returned to democracy in 1999, this practice was sustained.

When Professor Attahiru Jega was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan, he expanded this practice to include the deployment of university academics as election officials in the 2015 general election as part of the efforts to ensure the credibility and integrity of the electoral process.

Under the arrangement, vice-chancellors functioned as Returning Officers at the federal and state levels, while lecturers and other academics played roles at the local government areas levels. 

 To Jega, academics are intellectuals with embodiment of honour and integrity and would be less susceptible to inducements by unscrupulous politicians who would try to seduce them to subvert the will of the electorate. 

Jega was also of the view that lecturers knew that their honour and integrity, as elite members of the society, were at stake, and that they would not soil their reputation and career by aiding electoral malpractices.

While justifying his decision, Jega said: “We were looking for people with integrity, and we have no doubt that there are many people with integrity in the Nigerian university system. So, it is like a ready-made constituency to get the kind of people we need for the job to be done. That is not to say that only in the universities can you find people of integrity. We know that anybody who has risen in the system to become a vice-chancellor will not for anything damage his or her reputation by pandering to the wishes of politicians.”

Since then, the commission has continued to sustain the policy because of what it feels is its salutary effects on the electoral process. 

However, from the experience gathered from several elections, Nigerians have realised that the aim of using academics in the electoral process has been defeated. 

It is now obvious that academics, like other professionals, are human beings and therefore corruptible.

Professors and other lecturers have been aiding electoral malpractices since the return to democracy in 1999.

With the results of Nigerian elections being increasingly tainted by all kinds of  manipulations, many Nigerians believe that if academics, entrusted with such sensitive assignments because of their professional calling could aid such fraudulent practices, then the aim of hiring them has been defeated.

Ironically, while reacting to the 2019 general election, Jega had expressed disappointment with university lecturers for “allegedly conniving with politicians to undermine the integrity and outcome of this year’s general elections.” 

He made the observation at an event at Bayero University where he was once a vice chancellor and currently a lecturer.

It would be recalled that in 2021, a High Court sitting in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, convicted and sentenced a returning officer, Prof. Peter Ogban, to 36 months imprisonment for election fraud.

Ogban of the Department of Soil Science, University of Uyo, acted as the Collation/Returning Officer in the 2019 National Assembly elections. He was accused of manipulating and falsifying the scores of election results in Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo Local Government Areas.

While Ogban was convicted, the charges filed against Professor Ignatius Uduak, have suffered repeated adjournments. 

Uduak was alleged to have made efforts to rig the 2019 Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District election.

With these cases and many others, it is obvious that not all academics are men of honour and character. Those who act as the commission’s returning officers at federal, state and local government levels connive with politicians and their political parties to alter and write results in their favour.

Even those with mathematics, engineering, business administration and accountancy background are known to have embarrassed themselves during collation of election results by failing to reconcile the figures, having connived with politicians to falsify the results.

It is a known fact that the Nigerian politicians have compromised some academics the same way they compromised the judiciary. 

Many Nigerians are no longer surprised that academics involved in election management allegedly danced to the tune of these politicians, who have unhindered access to the state treasury and idle cash running into billions.

Consistently, INEC has been facing criticism. It became worse after the last general election, particularly over the failure of the IReV platform during the presidential election, which it blamed on a technical glitch. 

The platform was central to post-election litigation, but the petitions challenging the results of most of these elections were dismissed by the tribunals and the courts.

The electoral umpire also faced criticism over the conduct of its officials during the Kogi, Imo and Edo states’ off-cycle governorship elections.

 Concerns have also been raised about the appointment of partisan individuals, card-carrying members of political parties and known allies of politicians into leadership roles within commission.

Perhaps this is why former President Olusegun Obasanjo last week said INEC needed institutional reforms. He therefore called for the sack of its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, and other officials.

In a paper he presented at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, Yale University, in the United States, the former president described the 2023 general election and others as a “travesty”, adding that the reform of the electoral system is a key agenda for the country. He also called for shorter tenures for INEC officials and a more rigorous vetting process to prevent the appointment of partisan individuals.

It, therefore, behoves on INEC to hinge the appointment of election officials on character and integrity. As the commission prepares for the next general election in 2027, the time to start headhunting credible individuals to conduct the elections as officials is now. It should appoint men of integrity from all professions to conduct elections. 

It is ridiculous and condescending for academics to promise the Resident Electoral Commissioners of their willingness to do anything they want with election results.

 Academics should remember that their reputation is at stake. Integrity counts and this is the time for those with integrity to stand tall in the determination to build a just society.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the National Assembly should do everything possible to provide a legal framework for the implementation of a wide range of Reforms for the electoral body.