From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, recently entered the good and bad books of many Nigerians. He assumed the status of one man many want to hate and love since the conclusion of the controversial February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Yakubu’s recent unenviable status is clearly understandable. He may likely go down in the history of the headship of the electoral umpire as the man who promised so much but delivered so little. He may also end up as a man who heightened the expectations of many Nigerians and crashed it disappointingly.
Unfortunately, it came at the time he was struggling to use certain elections he supervised recently to eclipse the negative toga the electoral umpire boss acquired after conducting the highest number of inconclusive national elections in the country in his first tenure.
After his appointment as substantive replacement for Attahiru Jega, Yakubu had spent three years in the saddle suspending and declaring 68 elections inconclusive.
It was not only a worrisome situation that raised concerns among political pundits and Nigerians that saw the development as unprecedented in Nigeria’s political landscape, but also one that derogatorily changed INEC’s acronyms to ‘Inconclusive National Electoral Commission’.
The contentious elections, 46 inconclusive declarations and 22 suspensions, range from governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, State Assembly to Area Council polls.
The development was such a huge disappointment because Yakubu had promised to surpass the feat of his predecessor, coming from an academic background as a professor and assembling university colleagues for the polls, marred by outright rigging, vote buying, violence, militarisation and killings.
Perhaps, in desperation to eclipse and redress the negative toga of inconclusiveness, Yakubu lobbied and ensured the enactment of the Amended 2022 Electoral Act which legally permitted the commission to deploy an innovative technological-driven Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to make the elections more credible and transparent.
To convince millions of Nigerian electorate, the commission under Yakubu’s watch ensured that the technology is tested, trusted as huge reliable success in the off-season governorship elections. The electoral umpire even went further to convince Nigerians with repeated promises to repose trust on the technology for the general election.
And judging by the commendable performances of the commission in the off-season governorship elections in Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Osun, Bayelsa states, he raised the enthusiasm of people and earned the respect of many Nigerians who hoped for a bright future of elections in the country.
But, the promises failed to stand the test of time, crashing like badly arranged cards after the conduct and announcement of the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
Looking so embattled, he had announced the winner and promised to address the complaints of the aggrieved parties and at the same time urging them to seek redress in the court of law.
Curiously, ever since pronouncing the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President-elect in the unholy hours of 3am, March 1, after rebuffing appeals from opposition parties protesting against accepting doctored results from the states, the usual vibrant Yakubu has become so subdued and not his energetic usual self.
Since the announcement, Yakubu, unlike him, never boasted or bragged as he usually does in the past, especially after the off-season governorship elections that the presidential election was free, fair and credible.
In fact, in the contrary, he admitted failure during the post-election meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja, blaming the staff and every other person but himself.
“No doubt, last week’s presidential elections raised a number of issues that require immediate, medium, and long-term solutions. The planning for the election was painstakingly done. However, its implementation came with challenges, some of them unforeseen,” Yakubu confessed failure of the poll in his remarks during the meeting.
And expatiating more on the commission’s failure, the electoral umpire boss, said: “The issues of logistics, election technology, behaviour of some election personnel at different levels, attitude of some party agents and supporters added to the extremely challenging environment in which elections are usually held in Nigeria.
“We appreciate the sacrifice and doggedness of Nigerians and the dignity and maturity displayed by political leaders even in the context of divergent views about the election. A lot of lessons have been learnt,” he apologetically submitted.
Expectedly, hell has been let loose since his declaration of the APC candidate as President-elect with many calling for his outright resignation or sack, even as the ruling party, APC applauded the electoral umpire boss with resounding vote of confidence.
According to the opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) in addition to a coalition of 18 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Yakubu does not deserve to continue heading the commission, having failed the country.
PDP, reiterating its demand through the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said that: “from all indications, INEC under Yakubu was compromised to rig the election by brazenly violating the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 as well as INEC’s Regulations, Guidelines and Manual issued for the election.
“It is also obvious that the commission under Yakubu deliberately sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results directly from the PUs to give room for the criminal mutilation, alteration and switching of election results across the nation in favour of the APC as now abundantly exposed in the pictorial and video evidence of compromised results sheets in many parts of the country.
“This further explains why the INEC Chairman rushed to announce and declare manipulated results that were not transmitted directly from the PUs to INEC’s portal and ignored the objections and complaints raised during the collation of results in deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 64 (4) (a) and (b), 64 (6) (a)-(d), and 65 (1) (c) of the Electoral Act. 2022.
“By flagrantly violating these provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 as well as INEC’s Regulations, Guidelines and Manual for the election, Yakubu is not only culpable of serious electoral offence but also betrayed, thrashed and threw overboard the trust, confidence and hope Nigerians reposed in him and the electoral commission to deliver a free, fair and credible election in the country.
“Yakubu’s continued stay in office as Chairman of INEC is therefore vexatious, injurious to the integrity of the electoral commission and an unpardonable assault to the credibility of our electoral process, the sensibility of Nigerians and the international community.
“Moreover, his stay in office is capable of paving the way for the suppression, tampering and destruction of critical evidence required to further expose the infractions and violations by the commission at the Presidential Election Tribunal,” PDP demanded.
Speaking similarly for the LP, Kenneth Okonkwo, one of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) spokespersons, also called for Yakubu’s sack.
“Mahmood INEC must go. Add your voice to this call for a sane society without insane leaders. Days after the presidential election, INEC IReV portal and server have not been fully uploaded, yet Mahmood hurriedly announced his president-elect with fabricated results. What an insanity!! Mahmood and his Lagos and Rivers State RECs must go!!” Okonkwo said.
Again, more attacks came from coalition of 18 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that recently protested at the headquarters of the commission, demanding Yakubu’s resignation and outright sack.
They displayed posters with various inscriptions like; ‘Mahmood who are you working for?’, ‘305bn yet inefficiency reigns in INEC’, Nigerians demand cancellation of INEC results now’, ‘we reject INEC’s appropriation of results to APC’, ‘Nigerians reject 2023 February election’, ‘Yakubu must go now’, ‘make our votes count’, ‘Yakubu Mahmood must resign or be sacked’, ‘for a peaceful Nigeria, Yakubu Mahmood was biased’, among others.
Head of coalition and the convener, Isiaku Nathaniel Balogun and Dada Olayinka Olabode, declared that Yakubu failed Nigerians. “It is obvious that INEC deceived Nigerians into believing it was ready for the election whereas the commission was ill prepared despite over N300 billion of taxpayers’ money the commission received to conduct the elections.
“With possible manipulation of election results at the polling units due to non-transmission in real time, it is safe therefore to conclude that INEC not only conducted the worst election so far in Nigeria’s history but blatantly took the people for a ride. INEC also flagrantly disobeyed its own rules and regulations and disregarded the provisions of the Electoral Act. So, we are calling for the resignation or sack of the chairman, Yakubu,” they demanded.
In defence of the outcome of the presidential election result, the ruling party, described it as the freest, fairest and most credible election to be conducted in the country, arguing that the performances of LP and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in winning Lagos and Kano States bore eloquent testimony to that.
Ordinarily, the upsets in almost all the states of the federation, would have authenticated their claims, but the failure of the commission to transmit polling units results real time especially the presidential election and the allegations that one of the parties compromised the commission’s IReV portal cast serious doubt on the credibility of APC’s claims.
Confirming its failure, the commission, in a statement signed by National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, and titled ‘Challenges experienced with IReV’, he admitted failure.
“The commission is aware of challenges with the IReV. Unlike in off-season elections where the portal was used, it has been relatively slow and unsteady. The commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process,” he admitted.
And explaining the reason for the failure, it noted that; “the problem is totally due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season, state elections, to one for managing nationwide general elections. It is indeed not unusual for glitches to occur and be corrected in such situations.
“Consequently, the commission wishes to assure Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems and that the IReV remains well-secured. We also wish to assure Nigerians that results from the polling units, copies of which were issued to political parties, are safe on both the BVAS and the IReV portal.
“These results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022,” the commission noted in the statement defying every attempt to hold it responsible by its words.
Since the conclusion of the controversial presidential election, the commission has received more unfavourable attacks, especially from the international community and foreign observers, casting doubts on the outcome of the election.
However, a bright opportunity. this weekend beckons on the electoral umpire boss to redeem his not-too-impressive reputation with the conduct of the governorship and State Assembly polls across the country.
Already, he has made promises and even read the riot act to the RECs and the political actors, reminding them that it is not war but just a contest.
Looking ahead of the poll, Yakubu told RECs that: “of immediate concern to the commission is how the identified challenges can be addressed as we approach the concluding phase of the general election involving the largest number of constituencies that is 28 state governorship elections and 993 State Houses of Assembly seats.”
“Unlike the last elections involving 470 constituencies, the state elections will involve 1,021 constituencies. There will also be more candidates involved and more collation centres to protect. They are also local elections involving keen contests.
“It is therefore important for parties and candidates to speak to their agents and supporters to see the elections as a contest and not war. They should refrain from acts of violence that may mar the elections or compromise the security of our personnel, observers, the media and service providers.
“I wish to express the commission’s appreciation to the security agencies and other members of ICCES for the professionalism of personnel and the generally peaceful conduct of the elections. We look forward to improved performance in the elections held this weekend,” he warned.
The die is now cast in the form of ‘now or never’ for the electoral umpire. Nigerians will remember Humphrey Nwosu with Option A4, Attahiru Jega with Smart Card Reader among other heads of the commission. So, this weekend’s election, from all indications, may define how the future will remember him.