From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
But for the twin challenge of escalating violent protests in some parts of the country over the federal government’s harsh economic policy and the cash scarcity to conclude certain logistics for today’s presidential and National Assembly election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is practically ready to conduct a free, fair, credible and verifiable election today.
Though the commission has used every forum to assure Nigerians and the international community that today’s election will hold as planned, it has equally admitted that cash scarcity has also hampered its plan to finalise certain logistics that require the use of cash.
Enumerating the security hurdles confronting the poll, its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu had regularly admitted that: There is no doubt that violence and the threat of violence are major challenges to credible election in 2023. Violence makes deployment for elections difficult, particularly where some of the attacks are targeted at the electoral process and participants.
“However, the commission has been working with security agencies and other stakeholders to establish mechanisms to understand, track and mitigate security challenges. We are working collaboratively in the context of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
“We also have the Election Violence Mitigation and Advocacy Tool (EVMAT), which is a research and diagnostic tool for predicting and mitigating election violence prior to elections. In addition, there is the Election Risk Management Tool (ERM), which tracks and reports general risks to elections.
“In all, we feel assured by the actions we have taken and our collaboration with the security agencies. The 2023 general election will proceed as planned. There is no plan to postpone the election,” he said.
And in his latest reassurance last weekend after inspecting the training of the POs and the venue of the presidential collation centre in Abuja, Yakubu emphasised that: “The 2023 general election is here. By this time on Saturday, February 25, Nigerians will be voting in over 276,000 polling units nationwide.”
“The outcome of that process, especially for the presidential election, will be compiled at the International Conference Centre (ICC). The choice made by Nigerians for the next president of the country will also be announced at the venue. The presidential election will not be postponed,” he reassured.
There were developments indicating that the situation might not be favourable for the conduct of the election. The general insecurity in the country and the recent violent protest in some parts of the country like Delta and Ogun states, which led to the destruction of banks and attacks on INEC offices and facilities have heightened the speculations of possible postponement of the poll.
And miffed by the apparent threat, the commission had within the week convened an emergency security meeting involving the security agencies to brainstorm on the best way to mitigate the threat.
Meeting under the auspices of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), the commission charged the security agents to find a way of arresting the development and provide a peaceful atmosphere to enable it to conduct the poll in a peaceful manner.
According to INEC’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu; “Equally importantly, the commission is aware that security agencies are going to protect not only our officials and facilities, but also accredited observers, journalists, service providers, and above all the voters themselves.
“So this meeting is rarely an opportunity for us to fine-tune our operations, not only for the protection or the security of the environment, in which election will be conducted but also the security of all those involved in the process,” he charged.
But in the appraisal of the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongono, the political actors are the ones sponsoring thugs to disrupt the election with the escalating violent protests in some parts of the country.
Represented by Deputy Director in the agency, Sanusi Galadima, he said that; “we however observed with serious concern the escalation of violent electioneering campaign across the country. This is despite the peace accord endorsed by all the presidential flag-bearers.”
“This ugly trend is predicated largely on the attitude of political actors, their sponsored thugs and other unpatriotic elements through unguarded utterances. Apparently, the concerted efforts of intelligent agencies to effectively neutralise the prevailing security situation and challenges associated with the insurgency, terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, separatist agitations, and communal conflicts among others.
“It is instructive to also state that government is very much aware of the plot by domestic elements and their external collaborators to exploit the current socio-economic climate in the country occasioned by well-intended government policies to ignite unrest before, during and after the election,” he said.
Reading the riot act, the NSA said: “To this end, and keeping in with Mr. President’s commitment to ensuring a peaceful transition of political power to a democratically elected next president through a free, fair and credible election.
“Security agencies have been charged to ensure a robust deployment to deal decisively with any individual, or group, no matter how highly placed. Consequently, we emphasise that strong commitment among critical stakeholders in the electoral process, strict adherence to the rules of the game by the political actors and the security personnel exhibiting high level of professionalism are critical towards achieving a successful and credible election,” he noted.
Apart from the security and cash scarcity for the commission to conclude its logistics, the doubt trailing the exact number of collected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) has been another source of concern to political pundits.
Expressing discomfort, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) challenged the commission to update the political parties and Nigerians on the final breakdown of collected PVCs.
Leading the charge, the APC PCC Director of Election Planning and Monitoring Directorate, Raji Fasola, claimed that the final figure of the collection will aid the PCC in planning and projections.
“We are in the home stretch of the election and we think it is important now that INEC, the regulator, let us know, all the parties and the nation, to let us know how many people actually collected their PVCs. I think it is very important for the credibility of the results and the credibility of the elections.
“We have been acquainted with how many people registered, but we don’t have the numbers of how many people collected PVCs and that is a very important question to ask.
“I think I speak the minds of all the parties by demanding to know how many people collected PVCs, the breakdown of the PVCs collection per state and per local government and to every unit of electoral activity that INEC can provide that information. We think it is a very important piece of information that will help INEC reinforce the credibility of the exercise it is undertaking,” he requested.
However, despite the setbacks, the commission has continued with the arrangements for the poll. It has shown that it is not leaving anything to chance. Out of the 14 items contained in its timetable and schedule of activities, perhaps only the actual voting process still remains.
To curtail or eradicate the possibility of encountering previous challenges with malfunctioning BVAS, the commission recently conducted a mock accreditation exercise across the country. It was meant to test run and confirm the efficiency of the BVAS machines.
The commission has equally read the usual traditional riot act first to the Presiding Officers majorly comprising serving corps members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), security agents and others directly involved in the election, not to compromise their integrities.
Warning the corps members handling the BVAS machine, he urged them to resist the temptation to misbehave because they will be tracked with the inbuilt camera which will capture the image of the machine operators.
“Let me reveal to you what we have kept as top secret. I want to let you know that once you power on the BVAS machine, the inbuilt camera will capture your image as the operator and send the same to us to help monitor your activities. I advise you not to give your machine to anybody because we are going to hold you responsible for whatever manipulations we noticed,” Yakubu warned the corps members during training in Abuja recently.
The commission has equally read the same riot act to the electorate and urged them to among other things, resist the temptation of entering the voting cubicles with handsets or other gadgets with the camera as a way to discourage and mitigate vote buying.
Above all, the commission has also conducted requisite training programmes, especially for the ad-hoc staff, security agents and other election-day duty personnel. It has also concluded the deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials to states.
Therefore, from the election regulators to the major stakeholders, the rhythm and lyrics are completely in sync and they are mentally, psychologically, and practically ready for the poll today. It is now a case of let the game begins.