Mike Igini is the Resident Electoral
Commissioner REC) in Edo State. In this interview, Igini reviews the just
concluded general elections and suggests the need to set up a tribunal where
electoral offenders will be prosecuted. He commends President Goodluck Jonathan
for accepting defeat at the polls and expresses optimism that elections in the
country will get better in the nearest future. The REC spoke in Benin-City
penultimate week. Excerpts:
Mike Igini
Assessing the general
elections
Evaluating the elections from our
own perspective may be different from the perspective of the electorate. From
our own end, we look at the election management processes at the pre-election,
election and post-election phases. In doing this assessment, we are pre-occupied
with some
parameters, such as the goals we set to conduct an acceptable
election, the plans we devise to meet these goals using resources at our
disposal, the structures and inputs, including guiding laws, human, time and
material resources, we put in to enable the plans, the controls we use to
govern what we organize and the leadership at every level that we employ to
bring the whole of these into reality.
First the main goal for elections is
to bring about leaders who will help enable the developmental aspirations of a
people, the goal of election management as a process is to conduct an
acceptable election, that is an election which is accepted as credible by
stakeholders. In defining what makes an election credible, we examine, whether there
was equality of political participation and free competition, and
whether the mandate derived from the election is regarded as legitimately
given.
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Having met the overarching goal of
conducting acceptable elections in 2011 and 2015 to a large extent, we can say
that the Commission has succeeded in helping the consolidation of democracy in
Nigeria. Democratic process, as a mechanism for ensuring the selection of
proper representation of a jurisdiction, is the minimalist conception of
democracy. Whereas democracy, as the totality of the processes, including the
selection of leadership representation, and the derivable benefits in which
such selected leadership and the institutions they represent helps to meet the
developmental aspiration of the people, is the maximalist conception. Our role
enables the minimalist conception, whereas all of us as a nation must then join
hands to enable the maximalist level of democracy in Nigeria.
That minimalist democratic goal is
our primary remit. As to the maximalist remit of democracy which is the
enabling of a democratic representation that helps to deliver the aspirational
development of society, the remit is with the elected officials and everyone
else in nation building from 2011 up to 2015 and thereafter.
Are you saying that INEC has done
well ?
Looking at these parameters, I can
say that the Commission has covered significant ground and has done well even
though we are not yet at the zenith we aspire to be, we can still improve
many aspects of our activities. In the pre-electoral phase of planning and
organizing, we have learned from the pitfalls we experienced and the learning
informed some of the innovations that attended subsequent elections. In the
election phase, we have also witnessed areas of strengths and weaknesses, and
the principal lesson which came out of the postponement of the earlier
scheduled election date is that when materials are distributed on time, it
reduces election-day struggles.
We also learnt that relying on road
transport unions to make individual transactions through group leadership can
result in unexpected outcomes for local logistics as we experienced here in Edo
when the NURTW almost messed us up. We reviewed and changed our approach in the
April 11 elections and we attained a resounding success, with personnel
arriving at polling units as early as 6:30 in some places, while others got to
polling units at 7am before the 8am official time of opening the poll. We are
currently dealing with retrieval of materials, issuing CTC for post election dispute
resolution and full evaluation of all processes to follow for documentation.
What were the other challenges you
faced as the REC?
First, there was the issue of
technical problems with the card reader on the first polling day, that is, 28th
of March 2015, but that was a national issue. Then there was also the
widespread arbitrary refusal of the road transport workers to respect
agreements they reached with our field officers, but both issues were addressed
by the second election of 11th April. There were also places where elections
were postponed or cancelled due to irregularities, these were addressed and
elections finally conducted in the affected areas, some of these arose from
anomalous conducts on the part of some persons, the extent of culpability is
currently the subject of several administrative processes.
How many INEC staff, regular and ad
hoc, were caught in electoral offences and were they handed over to the police?
Specifically, there are the
allegations of two NYSC members who were said to have sold ballot papers, as
well as two electoral officers removed from their duty posts and
currently a subject of further inquiry. But for the lingering strike of
judicial workers, those two corps members would have been arraigned in court. Be
rest assured that these cases would be taken to court and appropriate
remedies meted out to them.
What will be the fate of their
employment, especially the regular staff if found guilty ?
If the matter borders on gross
misconduct or electoral fraud, the legal and administrative implications are
not the subject of opinion by myself or anyone else, they will be the
factual subject of extant rules and laws and they will certainly run their
course.
What about the Imo election and the
arrest of several people?
Regarding the supplementary election
in Imo and my involvement, that l call a second missionary political
journey, having been there in 2011 with my other colleagues for the same
reason. The key issues are that in 23 LGAs with a substantial
number of registered voters, elections were cancelled for various reasons
all rooted in the desperation by politicians to manipulate the process, either
through compromised staff and, worse still, some ad hoc staff, like collation
officers at ward levels, disappeared with result sheets in both elections of
the 28th of March and 11th of April.
All these informed the decision of
the Commission for the supplementary election. The real battleground was Oru
East LGA, described by the people we interacted with as an electoral flashpoint
area, renowned for election irregularities and the alleged posting of humongous
invidious figures by political merchants. With 62 polling units and 24,990
voters in possession of PVCs, which was the highest for any area affected
by the supplementary election, it was considered a real battleground of
electoral contest, particularly for those who, for the first time, would be
facing real one-person-one-vote election in the area, unlike before when it was
reputed that some people, somewhere, would sit down to conduct mass
thumb-printing of ballot papers and then go ahead to allocate arbitrary
figures.
Hence, our insistence on due
process, which changed the narrative and probably the ability of voters to
determine the outcome, hence the more dignified and credible final figure which
was far less than previous moon-slide or landslide figures. The voters
had their day and were apparently pleased to be unfettered. That is how it
should be in order to sustain voters’ confidence in the electoral process. All
those arrested in Umuma and who are now in the police net, who attempted to
undermine the process, would have their day in court to explain their conduct,
otherwise, there would be no end to this unrestrained electoral impunity in our
polity. Such incidents further illustrates why we urgently need an Electoral
Offences Commission with specialized electoral crime investigating officers
adept in forensic electoral investigations and judicial officers specialized in
the electoral legislative framework who can effectively prosecute electoral
offences .
Are you disappointed that despite
the calls by some of you for the Electoral Offences Commission, we still do not
have one?
Common sense suggests and studies in
criminology have confirmed that every act that is rewarded would be repeated.
The absence of punishment for all previous cases of election rigging is the
foundation and indeed incentive for the tragedy of our situation today. Many
people secured elected offices without the votes of the people but through the
kind of things we aborted in Umuma in Oru East. We still have variants of these
violations in so many places, unchecked with the connivance of those entrusted
to supervise the process. To bring sanity and probity to the electoral
process, surely, we need to establish Electoral Offences Commission, with
special jurisdiction inaugurated in an election year to deal with cases
of voter registration, party primaries, rigging or attempt to rig
election, or making false electoral return, etc.
You consistently supported and sold
to the public the significance of the use of the card readers for the
elections. What is your assessment of its effectiveness and prospect for future
elections?
Yes, we stood for it head and heart
and still stand by the idea of the use of the card reader, because of the
tremendous value it brings to the electoral process. In evaluating the card
reader, we must always keep in mind that it only plays a singular role in
elections, authentication of voters to avoid ghost voters. Therefore, what it
does is to restrict the voting outcome to the number of authenticated voters
who actually show up to vote at elections and not about the total number of
registered voters. It does not convince the voter to vote one way or another, so
its utility is restricted to enhancing the fidelity of the voter register.
But some people have questioned the
credibility of some results from the elections despite the use of the card
reader?
In raising such doubts the statement
must be appropriately qualified, recall that the card reader was bypassed in
many instances deliberately by those opposed to it and also because of
technical problems particularly in the March 28 election. Where they were used,
no one has questioned the veracity of the polling unit results. In the April 11
election, the Commission issued a public statement that the card readers must
be used and also followed it up administratively with two different memoranda
to all states, to ensure the thorough use of card readers by electoral officers
for both the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.
At any rate, the card reader is the
only short–cut we currently have to a national identity system that can be used
for elections.
Many stakeholders, especially
politicians in Edo, election observers have noted that election results in the
state in both federal and state elections were remarkably different from other
states of the South-South and even South-East but similar to South-West. What
did you do differently?
Well, first looking at the process,
we did our best to follow the guidelines from the electoral legislative
framework-viz the constitution, The Electoral Act, INEC guideline, etc; if you
are guided by the legislative framework, the margin for error is minimal. In
terms of outcome, the outcome is completely dependent on the wishes of the
voters; from the outcome of the elections, the Edo people voted the pattern
they wanted in both federal and local elections. Why they chose to
do so is not for us to probe, that is for the political groups and analysts.
However, with the benefit of one’s multi-disciplinary background in history,
sociology and law, one can say that Edo state, being at the boundary between
these political jurisdictions of the East and West, the potential for political
ambivalence is high. But then, if we trace back to the First Republic, you will
find that the politics of the Mid-West has always been susceptible to the
balancing of a multiplicity of influences.
But at one point during the
elections in Edo, there were reports of problems in Orhionwon LGA which led to
a re-run election of the senatorial and House of Representative
elections. What actually led to the cancelation of the election on the
28th?
To go to the point, while elections
were going on in that jurisdiction, there were several disturbing field reports
from the electorate and key leaders from the parties about non-delivery
of ballot papers at polling units at about 2pm, when accreditation
was supposed to have been completed and voting ought to be well underway. We
tried fruitlessly to reach our supervising field officers, and we had several
reports from senior members of both major parties, the PDP and the APC,
complaining about these same things. Matters got to a very disturbing point, when
it became clear that some of the NYSC ad-hoc staff may be in danger if we did
not act timeously. I reported the situation to the National Chairman who
advised that the police declare some of the field officers that could not be
reached wanted, until full information was available, and, when sufficient
irregularities were established, the national headquarters ordered a
cancellation. This is what led to the re-run election which has since been
conducted. The affected officers gave formal explanations of what led to the
situation and the matter has since been dealt with as is appropriate within the
administrative control measures of the Commission.
Do you think there was improvement
in the conduct of politicians in the 2015 elections, compared to those of 2011?
In some cases and places, there was
improvement, in others there was regression.
The improvement is in the areas of
election day logistics, the process in terms of the card reader usage,
behavioural pattern and disposition in that some politicians restrained
themselves from disorderly conduct while others were on the loose. We observed
some regression having regard to widespread violence in some places, as we have
just alluded to, and some very shocking unethical collaboration between some
field officers with politicians to subvert the process, something that we
thought we had put behind us. Again, as l said before, it is best to wait until
full evaluations have been conducted by the Commission with facts rather than
opinions. One thing I would always want us to realize is that every pitfall and
error or weakness should be seen as an opportunity for improvement because the
ill of elections can only be cured by more elections. On matters of behavior
and conduct of personnel, we cannot improve our systems if there are no
consequences for extremely unacceptable conduct of people put in position of
trust who betray same for material gains at the expense of the system.
What was the improvement you noticed
during the polls?
The most important improvement is
that the use of biometrics has forced down election results figures
within and to the confines of the voter register unlike the embarrassing
moon-slide and landslides invidious figures of pre-2011 elections. We have gone
to the level of even printing ballot papers according to the number of our
official PVC collected and not based on the total number of registered voters
and that has curbed excess ballot in the system that could be used illegally to
subvert electoral outcome. Additionally, the Commission customized the ballot
papers making it difficult to use ballot papers from one unit in another unit.
I suspect we will hear more about
that in some election petitions where some desperate people may have been
forced to use ballot papers from a different constituency, any case like that
will be dead-on-arrival for the culprits. You can see that despite the efforts
of many stakeholders who will like to turn the hands of the clock, the results
had to be within the credible number of voters with PVCs who showed up. It is a
good development on the long journey to credible elections. The next step is to
ensure accurate census and national identity systems so that deviations from
the electoral roll and consequently election results are brought down to very
minimal errors.
President Jonathan did what had
never been done before in Nigerian history by accepting the outcome of election
despite glaring short-comings and thus saved Nigeria the rigour of
post-election litigation. How do you describe this action ?
True, the president did what has
never been done in the history of presidential electoral contest in Nigeria. By
his action he has erected a democratic hall of fame and earned himself a very
respectable place in the national democratic escutcheon that emblazons that hall
in which he is the first occupant, we look forward in future for more
occupants who will earn enduring places in that citadel by their actions in
nation building.
What does this statemanly act of
President Jonathan mean to other African countries?
It is a very commendable benchmark
that the President has set, because our continent, Africa, has been so enmeshed
in the “big-chief syndrome” that, his action has helped to break the mold. We
have also witnessed such emerging leadership enlightenment in Ghana and
Senegal, where a party other than the ruling party won in a general election
and a seamless transition followed. I use the term “big-chief syndrome” because
it is not part of the African culture to remove a king or leader.
Our cultural phenomenology on that
issue is usually a very unpleasant one; when a chief or leader is removed, he
must either be expelled or killed. So there is a certain degree of cultural
expectation for resistance to such change, except it is voluntary, but like the
other anachronisms that are being reformed in our traditional settings, not
winning an election is not the same as the removal of a monarch, because a
democratic leader is only the symbolic representation of an aggregate of policy
ideas as purveyed in the political arena by a political party, hence losing at
a democratic election is not the rejection of the individual but a decision by
voters to opt for alternative policy ideas from that offered by the losing
party, of course in our context there are other confounding factors.
However, by accepting the verdict of
voters, even before the full results were declared, the president has displayed
an uncommon understanding of the pristine value of democratic praxis, in which
an election verdict is regarded as the choice of voters principally because of
the instrumental impact or potential impact of policies on their lives
and not merely a competition of personalities and congenial abilities. By
setting this standard, he has made it easier for Nigerians to identify, in future,
those who will lead the country out of the path of enlightenment by refusing to
concede to the verdict of voters. His action is even more important because in
our country it has no parallel at that level; only former Governor Kayode
Fayemi has shown such level of enlightenment in his reaction to the Ekiti State
election.
Well looking beyond the process now,
the outcome of the elections will result in governance changes with a new party
controlling the legislature and executive at several levels. What should
Nigerians expect from such changes?
The outcome of the elections is
different in many respects, and, as electoral managers, we do note the
significant parameters and their developmental implications. We must keep in
mind though, that the main goal of election is development. One of the
significant developmental milestones is the maturity and lack of rancor which
the incumbent president displayed in dissipating possible post-election dispute
as I have already stated. Everyone has acknowledged that it is the game-changer
for this elections at this level, the best global comparison with that action
is the George Bush-Al Gore election, where Al Gore accepted the outcome to
maintain the integrity of the American democratic institutions, even
though he felt he could have justifiable grounds to contest the Florida
results.
Such statesmanship raises the bar
for others who will follow and increases the leadership expectations of the
citizens that people who occupy such offices must also be able to set aside
their own personal needs for national development. The second significant
development is the resilience of the president-elect in staying on the course
of democratic contest, by contesting despite several set-backs. He has shown
that you may lose, but you can also win despite the odds. In this sense, they
have both laid a foundation for breaking the mold of our national pyche that
transition can only come through the barrel of the gun, this is important for
democratic consolidation in Nigeria.
On the expectation of Nigerians,
first psychologically, we must admit that it has been a very
competitive and adversarial election, so the first expectation must be for
efforts to be exerted to bring the nation closer through deliberate actions
that will not deepen the differences but help to heal the rifts, so that the
next election can be seen as a cementation of brotherhood instead of a
re-enforcement of differences, because as I have constantly stated the aim of
election is for the development of everyone. Then instrumentally, I can only
repeat an important goal that I have often talked about. We can find the
aggregate of the expectations of Nigerians in Chapter 2 of our constitution,
the only difference that may come from any leader is how much attention is paid
to that section, and the approach that is employed to make that attention
manifest in the lives of people.
The expectations of Nigerians are
simple and complex, it is simple because looking at section 2 it simply asks,
what can you do to enable economic progress for everyone? What can you do to
improve their welfare; housing, education, health and so on? Then it becomes
complex when you get to the “how to do it. The complexity derives from the fact
that, to do it well, you have to do it for about 170 million people. And
how to do it, raises the question of how much time you need, as well as the
resources you need to do it. If you were going to do it for just 1 to 5 million
people, with our resources, maybe it will be easy, but given our population,
our experience has shown that you can’t do it well and quick enough, if you try
to meet all these expectations from Abuja alone, this is why there has been a
consistent advocacy for improving what is being done from the local
governments.
The answer is therefore improved
participation, the only change that will therefore meet the expectations of
Nigerians is the change that increases participation down to the grass-roots by
empowering governance from Local governments, if you examine the works of
Rondinelli on decentralization, as well as the different theories and practices
of developmental participation by Arnstein and other theorists, you will find
that whatever expectations anyone has, will only affect the largest number of
Nigerians in a short time, if it is devolved to operate from Local governments,
therefore the expectation that should be pre-eminent should be to take
development closer to the people by making development decisions more often
from the local government or down to the local government level, with emphasis
on a bottom-up as against top-down approach.
What is your opinion on the death of
the Kano REC?
I have no specific opinion except
that it is a very regrettable and sad incident that we lost one of our
colleagues while in the service of the nation. One nice guy, well spoken, very
unassuming and respectful. Sad indeed and very unfortunate.
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