POLITICS-NIGERIA: Cautious Optimism As Nigerians Prepare For The Polls

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Apr 8 2003 (IPS) - -Sixty-two million eligible voters in Nigeria will this week be issued with voters’ cards as the first in a series of elections this year gets underway this weekend.

Nigerians will Saturday go to the polls to elect members to the House of Representatives and the Senate while on April 12 they will vote in a President and State Governors for the next four year term of office. The elections for the members to the House of Assembly will be held on May 3.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body responsible for holding the elections, said it had decided to conduct the process in three stages as it lacked the capacity to conduct all the polls all in one day.

Many Nigerians are, however, apprehensive about the success of this year’s elections based on the past failed attempts to transit from civilian to civilian rule in the country particularly given the increase in violence and politically-motivated assassinations over the last few months. Two previous attempts to transit, in 1965 and 1983, were marred by violence leading to the incursion of the military into politics in the country.

Many of the people IPS interviewed on the streets of Lagos expressed hopelessness and helplessness in Nigeria’s political system. Some vowed not to vote while some believe it is time to use their votes wisely but want voters to be vigilant at the polling centres to check rigging.

”I am not going to waste my time voting because even if you vote, the politicians have decided who will win or not. It is just a waste of time going out to vote. The exercise is cosmetic because the old brigade politicians are still out there and they know who they want to put there. Are we going to vote for people who will rule us or people who are going to serve their selfish interest?” asks Tayo Ogunde.

But another respondent, who gave her name simply as Iyabo, advised registered voters to go out and cast their votes but warned them to be very vigilant. ”We should all go out and vote. This is the last chance for us to put the right people in office. If we vote and votes are counted at the polling centres, all we need do is to be very vigilant and monitor the counting. If any figures other than the ones recorded at the centres are recorded, we can protest. We must not allow any rigging this time,” she said.

Others have said they will vote to ensure their rights to social amenities such as free health and education.

Recently some politicians called for the postponement of the elections citing ill-preparedness of INEC for the elections and the timing of the polls – which falls on the week ending the Christian fast and the holy week of Easter – as reasons for their opposition to the scheduled dates.

However, INEC says it is more than ready for the polls and will begin issuing voters’ cards to eligible voters aged 18 years and above from Tuesday. About five million names were rejected for multiple registration during the compilation of the voter’s register which was computerised for the first time in the history of voters’ registration in Nigeria.

According to INEC officials the issuing of the voters’ cards, which will end on Thursday, is to forestall any possible illegal printing of the cards by unscrupulous politicians for rigging purposes. Police in Lagos late last year apprehended a printer with fake voter’s cards which, during the course of the investigation, was traced to a politician in eastern Nigeria.

Seventy-year-old Abel Guobadia, chairperson of INEC, said however, that with the computerisation of the voters’ register multiple registration which politicians used to rig elections in the past had been eradicated.

”The process of registration has already started to eliminate incidents of multiple registration. From that source, the temptation for people to deliberately pump in ballot papers into the box would have been minimised,” he said.

Also, in a bid to avoid the manipulation of the electoral process through the offer of bribes to gullible electoral officers, the commission said it has recruited and trained persons of high standing in society as presiding and returning officers. Five thousand Nigerians have been recruited and trained as poll workers

”We want people with status who can no longer be frightened and people who will not because of the exchange of a few naira notes sell their consciences,” Guobadia told the media.

According to Guobadia, a maximum of 500 registration cards and papers would be issued to each polling unit. The papers and cards must be accounted for within the polling centre by the presiding officer. ”The voters cards must tally with the number of people that voted at each centre”.

”The tradition in Nigeria has always been to count the votes right there at the polling station. At the close of polls, we count the votes and announce the result. The presiding officer will then enter the result and a copy of the result will be given to all the political parties present there. They will also sign but the fact that a political party refuses to sign does not invalidate the count. Copies are given to them and a copy is also given to the police.”

To forestall the use of INEC officials for rigging during the elections, the electoral body last week reassigned the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners in charge of its affairs in the 36 states and the federal capital territory.

The move according to the officials, is part of the commission’s strategy for ensuring free and fair polls in the coming elections and to strengthen them against corrupt tendencies and undue influences from state governments.

But while the commission is busy trying to seal all loopholes and ensure free and fair elections, the problem of violence has become a worrisome issue which political analysts here fear could have a negative impact on the polls.

Last week President Olusegun Obasanjo directed the Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, to identify and arrest all potential troublemakers who plan to unleash violence on the nation during the elections.

”Such unscrupulous elements in our society whose unpatriotic actions may derail the nation’s democracy should be rounded up and kept away in detention before, during and after the general elections,” Obasanjo said, adding: ”there will be no sacred cow as anybody who causes trouble no matter how highly placed would be dealt with. I have told the police to arrest even my children or any relative who perpetrates violence, we would not compromise on the effort to keep this democracy,” he added.

Nigeria presently has a 200,000 strong police force but the Inspector-General has announced that paramilitary forces, such as men of the customs and immigration and other uniformed personnel, may be drafted to complement the efforts of the police force to maintain peace and order during the elections.

Obasanjo also warned against any rigging. ”Anybody that wins should win honestly, it is God that chooses a leader and not by force. If Sani Abacha knew that I would be President five years ago, he would have killed me, but see what God has done for us.”

As a way to check violence in highly volatile states of Ogun in the Southwest and Edo in the Niger Delta, political leaders in the two states have signed undertakings with the police to prevail on their followers to eschew all forms of violence on election dates.

At separate meetings between political leaders and the state police commissioners, it was agreed that no party member or agent would carry dangerous weapons such as guns, explosives to rallies, meetings or against opponents. The parties also signed similar undertakings at local government and ward levels.

On his, part, Israel Ajao, Police commissioner for Ogun, threatened to deal ruthlessly with anybody or group of bodies found to be fomenting troubles capable of disrupting the smooth conduct of the elections. (ENDS/IPS/AF/WA/IP/TO/SM/03)

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