Nsima Ukpong Akpabio Jr. is a legal practitioner and a public affairs analyst. In a recent interview, he spoke to The Next Edition on a number of topical issues.
TNE : We are struggling to conclude the general elections in the country, which kicked started about a month ago. What is your take on the elections ? How did INEC, government and the electorate perform?
Since 1999, elections in Nigeria have been characterized by violence, rigging, ballot snatching, ballot stuffing, vote buying, ethnic-religious clashes and result manipulation. The late president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, openly admitted to the irregularities in Nigeria’s electoral process at the G8 summit.
It is my submission that the 2019 general elections fell short of the elections, which were held in 2015 due to widespread political violence which led to many states elections to be declared inconclusive by the electoral body.
However, the 2019 general elections have shown more desire by the people to elect a leader of their choice which is so evident to the fact that many political godfathers couldn’t return to political offices.
INEC as the electoral umpire in my opinion did their best in terms of voters education which is its primary functions. The Government also did its best in terms of releasing funds for the elections which is the primary functions of the executive and the legislatures.
The electorate came out in their numbers to exercise their franchise, many elections in the past we witnessed low turnout of electorate.
My assessment of the electoral body will not be 100 percent, in 2015 INEC canceled elections across the country due to irregularities and logistics problems, many expected INEC to improve in their preparations towards elections but the desire change never happened as elections were postponed. The Government has a duty to ensure that elections are free of violence and also sanitize the security agencies to imbibe good conduct during elections and also to sensitize the citizenry on the need to embrace civic culture.
It is my opinion that the failure of government to sign the electoral bill into law greatly affected the outcome of elections and I will urge the federal government to sign the bill into law without any delay for the purpose of further elections. The electorate showed great desire to elect new leaders to steer the affairs of the country. However, the violence which occurred during the elections was done by the same electorate, any citizen who desires change must do that through the ballot and not violence. It is my submission that continual voters education in the rural areas will help tremendously in that regard.
TNE : How can we do away with these negative things you listed?
Nigerians must decide if we want a true democracy or not, of course, we all want to experience what other developing countries have. Such as voters education, sanitizing the security agencies and also sensitizing the citizenry.
The legislature has a duty of making laws that will punish electoral offenders and the executive has a duty to do by implementing these laws, and the government must sign the electoral bill into law as a matter of urgency.
I strongly believe that INEC carries too much load on it shoulders during our electoral processes, we should as a nation decide if we should have different bodies that will handle the registration of parties, voters accreditation and INEC can play the role of conducting elections across the country and most importantly electronic voting will put an end to electoral violence across the country.
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TNE : What do you make of the militarisation going on in Rivers State and some other states?
If we have effective electoral laws guiding our elections, we wouldn’t be talking about inviting the military into the conduct of our elections. However, Nigeria as a constitutional democracy shouldn’t have the military playing a role in our electoral processes. There were cases of armed uniform men snatching and carting away electoral materials, it is my opinion that the invasion by military men at state collation center in Rivers state and other states in the country is a complete misuse of power.
TNE : Some states elections were declared inconclusive by INEC, do you agree with that?
In the case of some states that were declared inconclusive by INEC, I will agree with INEC’s position as to the validity of such declarations. The electoral laws guidelines stipulate that a candidate can only be declared winner only when such persons or candidates score the mandatory number of votes to put him far ahead of his opponents and the neutrality of INEC must be seen in such elections.
TNE: The election is over and President Buhari has been re-elected, how to do you see Nigeria in the next four years? Is he going to take us to the next level?
As a nation, we will only hope to attain greater heights in our economy growth in the next four years. I am looking forward to see a more development strive in the education sector. The government will also do well by taking a deeper look into finding lasting solutions to the increasing number of unemployed youths in the country and also taking proactive measures to tackle poverty and insecurity in the northern part of the country.
Every leader and every government in any constitutional democracy nation should focus more on improving the lives of its citizens, the president has shown character and the will to take Nigerians to the next level. I strongly believe that the president can achieve this only with political will to embark upon people oriented programmes and adequate attention in fighting insecurity because a nation growth depends on peace and crime free society. The president should also show commitment in engaging the youths in various skills acquisition programmes.
