By Sunday Ani, Lagos
A Professor of Political Science at the Dennis Osadebay University, Asaba, Delta State, Robert O Dode, has come to the timely defence of the former Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mike Igini, who many Nigerians are blaming for the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which was deployed by the INEC for the conduct of the February 25 presidential/national assembly elections.
Wondering what else Nigerians needed to hear from Igini, Prof Dode said: “Since the completion of the February 25 presidential election, I have watched on various television stations, views expressed by guests and many Nigerians, who were disappointed over the refusal of Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC to upload only the presidential election results.
“An overwhelming number of Nigerians have continued to express appreciation to Mike lgini for his pre-election efforts at educating the public, and in the process, calling on all eligible voters to participate in the election as his battle cry; an advocacy that largely contributed to the trust and fidelity of voters in the electoral process that INEC superintended and thus, increased the public faith in the 2023 elections. Still, some sections of the public were disappointed, and rightly so, because those at INEC failed to implement the process as Igini described with electoral consequences.
“But, many forget that the advocacy and efforts Igini provided while still in service, and after the end of his tenure wherein he eloquently and convincingly advocated strongly for the benefits of the BVAS technology as a game changer, was for the public good. Many objective citizens saw the utility of his efforts which he freely provided, despite having completed his tenure. Nigerians are disappointed at the moment that the IREV that could have made a difference if it was diligently and credibly deployed, failed or was deliberately made to fail, because it was not used for the upload of the presidential election results from Polling Units as promised except for the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections respectively.
“As a result, many Nigerians are asking a very pertinent question, but wrongly directed at Igini, who out of patriotism, carried out a selfless education of Nigerians on the usefulness and intricacies of BVAS. Like other Nigerians, he is obviously surprised at what happened. Having completed his tenure at INEC, Igini must have been rudely shocked like most other Nigerians. It is also surprising that some people think that Igini should explain what happened rather than the current implementers of BVAS and IREV at INEC, who should be asked to explain why BVAS failed their expectations?”
He noted that the demand to explain what happened shouldn’t be made of Igini but of the INEC chairman and his national commissioners and RECs. “Should it be the same Igini, the lone voice that took a personal responsibility of giving massive education on the electoral process that should be made accountable for the responsibility of the current INEC leadership? He must have declined consultancy from politicians just to maintain neutrality that he will rather consult for the Nigerian people. How many Nigerians will do that for public good? This man should be acknowledged and appreciated for his commitment to credible elections that he is known for over the years,” he added.
Still questioning the rationale behind asking Igini to explain why the presidential election results were not uploaded from the polling units, he said: “Do we realize that this man’s tenure ended in August 2022, but he was only making contributions as a citizen in a very tireless manner? Is that a fair demand to make on him, while those responsible are still in office?”
On the issue of BVAS, he admitted that Igini’s proven record of integrity and consistency energized and gave so much hope to Nigerians both home and in the Diaspora, many of whom returned to vote in the February 25 election, even as he urged Nigerians to note that what failed was not the BVAS, but the refusal or deliberate omission to use it as designed to transmit presidential results real-time from polling units. “Igini, we must recall, is a patriotic Nigerian, who has, on several occasions, refused being bought over by some powerful politicians for the purpose of achieving their selfish political ambition through vote rigging,” he added.
He insisted that despite the tragedy of deliberate sabotage to upload the presidential election results from polling units, the use of the BVAS for the 2023 election would go down in history as one that a man called Igini provided the needed public awareness, and knowledge, that it was possible for Nigerian voters to realize the power of the ballot to decide who should be their leaders when there are good electoral laws that support INEC innovations, processes and procedures. “There is nothing Igini will say now that he has not said already on February 24, 2023, which he publicly declared was his last voters’ education engagement. In the course of that programme, he thanked the CEOs and management of Arise, AIT, Channels and TVC and wished the country a successful election,” he said.
The University Don reminded Nigerians what Igini said the BVAS would do in the 2023 election to include that the BVAS and the IREV would be a game changer. “And if we are true to ourselves, we saw this happen in the election. With the BVAS, we all saw how the accreditation process was sanitized, with limited inflation of voter figures. All voters had to show up and be captured; making it impossible for any single voter to vote twice, and thus, enthroned the universal principle of one-person-one vote.
“He said the statutory requirement under the 2022 Electoral Act, sections 60 and 64, and clause 38 of the Regulations & Guidelines for mandatory polling units results real-time upload must be adhered to, but if not complied with, there will be consequences once polling units results duplicates form EC8A series had been issued to candidates’ agents and perhaps captured by voters, including Form EC60E at polling units. That, indeed, is what will be used now for auditing and the inspection of election materials as ordered by the Presidential Election Appeal Tribunal. Igini said all that before the election. Is that a lie? Can’t we all see now that the dispute from all political parties and their agents is not what happened at the polling units but how the presidential polling units’ results were not uploaded and collated with evidence traceable?
“He warned us that no matter how good the laws and INEC innovations may be; they will require committed and credible people of integrity to make them work. As we can all see, the problem associated with the presidential election has been narrowed down to refusal or failure to apply good laws contained in the 2022 Electoral Act and the INEC guidelines that Prof Yakubu and his team failed to implement.
“He told Nigerians that BVAS will retire many unpopular politicians because elections will be won and lost at the polling units and that many will suffer the dinosaur experience and it is already happening. He also told Nigerians that vote buying would not have a serious impact on the outcome of the election as votes would reflect the will of the people.
“Finally, lgini told Nigerians that with BVAS, shock and lamentation await all politicians that rely on rigging because they would be swept away. Truly, BVAS is gradually making it impossible for the Senate to be a retirement chamber for serving outgoing Governors because as many as 80 percent of them failed.
“In my view, therefore, Igini has said all he needed to say, but Prof Yakubu and his team of national commissioners compromised the presidential election results by ignoring the law for reasons they should be explaining to Nigerians and not Igini,” he stated.
Prof Dode noted that just as Igini spoke about 25 percent Federal Capital Territory constitutional requirement objectively without any idea of candidates that cannot secure it, he equally presented a table on live television, state by state computation of the requirements to be declared a governor two weeks ago, precisely on February 24, and not after the February 25 presidential election as some mischievous favour seeking individuals try to portray on social media.
“Surely, BVAS won and our votes can now count because there is a clear audit trail and a digital imprint of fraudulent alterations that will nail those celebrating victory at the tribunal. Now, candidates and independent external forensic auditors anywhere in the world can confirm what truly happened at the polling units by simply comparing them with what is now being uploaded as polling units’ results after several days that elections were conducted,” he stated.
He urged Nigerians to troop out again in their numbers to vote and protect the final vote counts of their polling units on March 11. “If they do not count at INEC collation center, they will certainly count later at the tribunal,” he noted.
He also charged the justices of the Supreme Court, who will preside over the presidential election dispute, and indeed, all other election matters arising from the 2023 elections, to remember that they are being called upon to decide the future of their children and grandchildren. “It is not about the petitioners but about what a credible election should be for there to be peace in Nigeria,” he submitted.