Implications of vote-buying for 2019 election

 

 

Since the return of Nigeria to civil rule in 1999, electoral fraud has been a huge problem for the country. This has continued to draw criticism from within and outside the country.

The situation was so bad in the April 2007 presidential election that Umaru Yar’Adua, who was elected president in that election, deplored the exercise, admitting that the nation’s electoral process was lacking in credibility and that the elections fell short of international standards. He was emphatic that the April 2007 elections were massively rigged.

“The April elections were so heavily marred by vote-rigging that European Union observers said they fell far below basic international standards and were not credible,” Yar’Adua said.

The late president had further observed that “despite the consensus by Nigerians that democracy is the best form of government, our inability to have elections that are internationally accepted and credible has left a credibility problem for our electoral process.”

Sadly, eleven years after Yar’Adua’s observation, subsequent elections appear to have grown from bad to worse, with perpetrators of electoral malpractices having a field day.

During the Saturday 14 July 2018 Ekiti gubernatorial election, politicians were said to have wantonly shared out money in such a way that suggested that they were neither afraid of anything nor anybody.

Although the Ekiti fraud attracted wide condemnation, it was repeated in Kogi during the   just concluded Lokoja/Kogi/Koton Karfe federal constituency election, fueling fears that the 2019 general election may be in jeopardy.

The Ekiti election witnessed the worst form of inducement ever known in the history of politics in the country. Politicians and their agents were captured on camera as they shared out money to voters in exchange for votes. They were brazen in the act and cared less about who saw them or what anybody could say or do.

Unlike in the Ekiti election, however, where cash was deployed to induce voters, salt, onions and maggi were freely given out to voters in Kogi. The items were said to have been packaged in customised bags with the name and picture of a particular candidate, and shared out to voters at several polling units.

This speaks volume of the level of poverty in the country and the poor state of the nation’s economy. The thinking is that, had the people been faring well (economy-wise), they would not likely to sell their conscience for a few bulbs of onions, a measure of salt and few cubes of maggi.

They would not also mortgage their future and the future of their children for sum of money as meager as N3,000 or N5,000 that were shared in Ekiti.

Observers say it is a confirmation of the recent report by Brookings Institution that Nigeria has taken over as the nation with the highest number of extremely poor people. Also, it confirms that Nigeria is the country with the highest number of out-of-school children.

If the living condition of Nigerians were up to the standard expected of a country, it is not likely that people would lower their esteem for immediate gratification

If people were properly educated, it is not likely that they would prefer to mortgage their future for inconsequential amount of money or pepper and salt. They would have been in a proper mental situation to analyse the pros and cons of such inducements in relation to their general wellbeing.

Increasingly, politicians are showing a dangerous sign what 2019 would look like. The fearful thing is that all the concerns being raised about the ugly trend are not producing any worthy outcome.

The Ekiti gubernatorial election in July witnessed heavy presence of security personnel which was roundly criticised by local and international observers. Critics had noted that it was unnecessary to have deployed 30,000 policemen and other categories of security officers to a state for one election when other parts of the country were being invaded by bandits who kill and maim at will.

Although critics have condemned the descent into a higher level of election rigging, it appears that such method of open exhibition of bribe has come to stay.

Never has this type of brazen electoral malfeasance been recorded in an election in the country. If they occurred in the past, they were done discreetly, but this time around they were done with reckless abandon.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which was supposed to check such malpractice. The police, which also ordinarily should ensure that those who carry out suspicious activities within the precinct of polling units are arrested, or those whose activities are suspected to be of negative influence on the outcome of the election are not allowed to perform their evil enterprise, are now enmeshed in the allegation of aiding and abating electoral fraud.

But what appears to be the case now is that these methods of electoral fraud have been institutionalised as neither the government in power nor the institutions established to check such frauds appear potent or willing to do their job in this regard. What this portends is that 2019 is likely to witness far more deadly episodes that may jeopardise the credibility of the election. 

Speaking on the dangers of vote-buying by politicians, Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, said that a new coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) would contend with any politician who was thinking of buying votes in 2019.

She regretted the non-enforcement of the nation’s laws, a situation that may have emboldened politicians to engage in all manner of electoral fraud. She believes that if the laws are enforced, politicians caught in the fraud of vote buying would face the music.

“What we have called for is about the core issue of leadership recruitment process. If this is broken in our political process, and we as citizens are saying that we will mobilise to fix it.

“The existing law has something about vote-buying being a felony, so it is a felony and our coalition is going to work on that and ensure that in 2019, anyone who is thinking that they are going to buy vote and then be elected into office to enjoy a political mandate that lacks legitimacy would know that they have citizens to contend with,” Ezekwesili said.

According to her, “It is important that some of those laws that are not being enforced shouldn’t be the case already that those who were caught buying vote just like in the Ekiti election should already be facing the consequences.

“So, why do you think that sometimes these things do not get done? It is because there is no group of citizens enforcing it and putting pressure for it to be done.”

Among other implications of vote-buying for 2019 polls, the development may erode the confidence of many people in the INEC.

The Commission is now being viewed as a toothless bulldog; making so much noise but having no teeth to bite. This may embolden desperate politicians and their parties to engage in more fraudulent practices.