Interview: INEC should continue to sustain public confidence, trust –RULAAC Boss

Comrade Okechukwu Nwanguma, a Human Rights Activist and Executive Director, Rule of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), in this interview with Stanley Ihedigbo, speaks on the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Security Agencies, among others.

Before I talk about my expectations in the forth coming elections, it is important to point out that there are different stakeholders that have different roles to play in ensuring that the election is free, fair, peaceful and credible as well as truly reflect the votes and wishes of the citizens. INEC is the manager of the elections and they can’t do it alone if we don’t have the atmosphere of peace that enables free exercise. The security agencies have the role of ensuring security for citizens to come out and exercise their civic responsibility, and security for the electoral personnel and materials. We have the political parties and politicians who are expected to play by the rules of the elections. The Electoral Act is very clear on the dos’ and don’ts of elections. We hope that the ‘do or die’ attitude that politicians are known to display before now wouldn’t come to play again because everybody must be guided by the rules. Voters need to feel safe to come out to vote, and those who haven’t collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) would have done so to enable them cast their votes. This is because if people don’t come out en masse to vote, they make it easy for the politicians to rig the elections. So if all the stakeholders are committed to playing their roles in accordance with the Electoral Acts and ensure that we have peaceful, fair and credible elections that will reflect the will of the people as expressed through their votes, that will guarantee a credible election. Nigerians would expect that the candidate who emerges as president will meet the expectations of Nigerians.  We need leaders who are competent, patriotic, visionary and are committed to the development and progress of the nation. Nigerians have suffered under incompetent leaders and they need a respite.

We need a leadership that will pull Nigeria out of the woods. Nigeria seems like a collapsed building under this present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and when a building collapses, before you will do anything on the site, you must clear the rubbles and probably lay a new foundation. These are the expectations of Nigerians including me: to have good governance that would create the nation state that Nigerians are dreaming of.

There are fears and concerns about the integrity of the process and the outcome of the electoral process. For me the process is as important as the outcome; and if the integrity of the process is not guaranteed, it is obvious the outcome wouldn’t be credible. We are witnessing a very sad situation where election campaigns are not issue based. All we hear is politicians calling each other names rather than presenting to Nigerians their programmes and agendas to make things different or how to recreate the country. There is also the need to address the issue of insecurity, collapsed economy, and corruption which are the major problems threatening the building of a nation. We are expecting the candidates to tell us how they will address the issues of unemployment, provision of health care, education, building infrastructure and creating the enabling environment for employment opportunities. It is unfortunate that the politicians are not telling us all these, how they plan to achieve them if elected, which is very important to Nigerians. For me, I doubt the competence and capability of some of the candidates.

Presently, the insecurity and political violence happening everywhere in the country is a great concern and very troubling, including political killings. Another challenge is the increasing attacks on INEC facilities particularly in the South East and South West regions which, to me, seems to be well coordinated attacks by politicians who want to disrupt the electoral process or discredit INEC. I know very well that all of these are clear threats to the elections and then, the role of the security agencies is to repel these attacks and provide equal protection for all the electoral stakeholders. It is easy to conduct election in one state but the 2023 election is going to hold in many states of the federation simultaneously. The question is, do the Nigeria police and other security agencies that are providing the support have enough numbers, capabilities, training and equipment? Security agencies are expected to be impartial, partisan and ensure equal protection for every stakeholder including the political party candidates, citizens and INEC officials and materials. So, all these speak to the the need for training for security agencies with special regards to elections. The attacks on INEC offices and the inability of the security agencies to repel the attacks are a disturbing situation except one case in Imo State where the police command was able to repel the criminals who wanted to attack INEC office, and I believe that the arrest of some of the attackers will help to provide clues to the sponsors behind the development. Unfortunately, in some places, we heard that those who attacked the INEC offices have been arrested but have not heard that anyone has been charged to court or prosecuted. Again, the security agencies should be well equipped to deal with political and electoral violence.

 There are many candidates contesting the forthcoming election but it seems to have been narrowed down to three people, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu of All Progressive Congress (APC), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr. Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP). What is your take on that? 

Every where in the world, particular political parties and candidates are usually dominant and prominent in elections. It is not a strange thing that out of about 18 candidates cleared by INEC, only three appear to be more popular or prominent. In my own case, it has to do with the fact that politics is still monetized in Nigeria and people tend to lean towards those who have the resources, mainly stolen money, to throw around. They are those who have stolen public funds and using them to run their campaigns. If you look at the APC Presidential candidate, Tinubu, and the PDP Candidate, Atiku, they don’t have good records in terms of managing public resources. The LP President candidate, Peter Obi, and New Nigeria Peoples’ Party, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, have been around as politicians and they are former Governors. The other presidential candidates seem not to be much politically exposed

 The difference is that the popular ones have the money to throw around and woo whoever they want to support them, as well as buy the media spaces. But one thing that keeps ringing in my mind is; if any Nigerian votes for any candidate he or she doesn’t believe in, that person doesn’t mean well for the country. I say this because, Nigerians know what they want and if they have looked at the popular presidential candidates and decide that any one of them would be the president, it is up to them. I also think that some of the so  called unpopular presidential candidates have better ideas and are more creditable, but Nigerians are still influenced by money; otherwise I don’t see the reason why they should consider only the presidential candidates whose sources of income are questionable, and are able to throw money around. Also, the fact that our politics is still ruled by money and this is the major reason, the three candidates seem popular. Again, the unfortunate thing is that some of the other presidential candidates have not had the opportunity to speak at town hall meetings or the debates that are going on in various media platforms. The less popular candidates seem to have better and progressive ideas than those so called popular ones.

 Do you have trust in INEC to conduct credible, free and fair elections?

I have no reason to doubt INEC’s commitment to always conduct free, fair and credible elections. And I say this because the electoral reforms we have seen in the life of this administration were sponsored by INEC. Most especially, the introduction of technology to the electoral process, which has made it difficult for certain types of electoral malpractices to continue to happen during elections. For example, before this reform, ballot boxe snatching and violence were very much high but today, with the electronic transmission of election results, it makes no sense any more for anybody to attempt to snatch ballot boxes. The reforms have been spearheaded by INEC and they have helped to improve the electoral process. And it is on account of this effort that vandals destroy their offices, trying to undermine them. Also, the process goes beyond INEC alone, because if citizens remain vigilant , security agents do their beat , and the politicians don’t involve in buying votes, I don’t see the reason why the elections will not be credible, free and fair. And from what I have seen so far, INEC is doing well and working hard to deliver free, fair and credible elections in few weeks times. Of course, there are lapses, it is normal but I find that after every successive election conducted by INEC, there is always improvement on the shortfalls in the pervious ones.

 What about the security agencies which also have important roles to play in securing the people and election materials. Looking at the number of security agencies sent to one state during their election and there are going to be many states to secure during the next elections?

First and foremost, police is the leading security agency for electoral security. Other security agencies provide support, and I am aware that INEC is working with security agencies through the inter-agencies committee on election security, whose duty is to share information and coordinate security during the elections. There have been efforts to specifically train security agencies tailored towards enhancing capacity in providing security during the elections. Beyond training, what about equipment and motivation? When security agencies go on election duty, do they get their allowances paid on time? Because sometimes you find that when the allowances are not provided for the security officials, they are forced to depend on politicians for support, like feeding and that affects their neutrality. The security agencies should not get involved in partisanship or support any political party or candidate against another. By professional standards, the security agencies are to be neutral and provide equal security to every stakeholder, which includes every political party candidate, election personnel, election materials and citizens who come to cast their votes.

Also, there are specific security needs for different locations or localities, which is why it is important for the security agencies to do what we call security threat assessment. The assessment is to determine the nature of a particular area. There are areas that need more deployment of security agencies with equipment, like the riverine areas that are difficult to access. What type of security to  provide there and what equipment, manpower and other peculiar needs of the area in terms of security? This is very important and it will help the security agencies to achieve their objectives because, sometimes you will hear that some areas don’t have any security agencies deployed during the elections. Even INEC officials face attacks sometimes, kidnapped or assaulted.

People selling their vote or exchanging their vote for money to vote is a reflection of desperation by politicians and hunger in the land on the part of the citizenry. The failure of security agencies to detect and arrest those involved in such electoral crimes and prosecute them is also not helping matters. Nobody has been arrested and prosecuted even though election observation reports in every election hint on vote buying with evidences. The politicians are desperate because they don’t see political office as means of rendering service but as means for stealing public money. They will use their money to buy the votes and when they get there, they will not provide services to the people. That’s why the public can’t hold the politicians accountable because they sold their votes with the politicians. A genuine leader will not pay money to buy people’s votes.  A conscious citizenry which wants to free themselves from the bondage of criminals in government wouldn’t sell their vote because their vote is their power. It is through your vote that you decide the type or quality of leadership you want. If you collect money from thieves and vote them into power, you shouldn’t expect any good thing from them. So, Nigerians need to understand that selling their vote is selling their destiny and the security agencies need to tackle this dangerous menace because with this kind of development, Nigerians will not achieve good governance, and quality leaders who have vision or mission to serve them and provide the necessary needs of the people will never emerge. Vote buying is a crime and it undermines democracy. It undermines free choice wherein lies the power of the citizens. Any citizen who sells his or her vote is guilty of electoral crime; also the politicians who buy the vote, and security agencies who fail to address the problem are guilty. All those involved in vote trading should be prosecuted for electoral crime and others will learn from it. Nigerians shouldn’t give the desperate politicians the opportunity they are looking for to steal the common wealth.

 What is your advice to the electorate and politicians ahead of the incoming general elections?

Any Nigerian who is of voting age and who hasn’t collected his or her Permanent Voting Card (PVC) should please do that. Your vote is your power and if you don’t vote, then you leave room for the desperate politicians to seize political offices and use them to oppress you as well as steal the collective wealth of the nation. If you sell your vote, you have sold your conscience and the future of your children. Politicians must realize that politics is about service not self benefits or access to public resources. Don’t be desperate because if you really mean to serve the people you don’t need to be desperate about it. Seek for public endorsement not to buy it. Security agencies shouldn’t be partisan but professional. They should be impartial and provide equal security to everybody because good governance will also benefit security agencies. Nigeria security agencies are not been paid well because of bad governance and if they assist criminals to get into offices, their salaries will not paid as at when due and their welfare would be neglected. The security agencies need to support democracy by making sure that elections are conducted in a free and fair atmosphere that enables the electorate to exercise their civic right to vote for the candidates of their choice. My advice to INEC is to continue to sustain the public confidence and trust. They should do whatever it takes to ensure that the elections are free and fair.