Introduction
The much anticipated Nigeria’s 2011 elections which were billed to start with the elections into the National Assembly consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives, started off on a shaky note on Saturday, April 2 2011. According to the Independent Electoral Commission’s (INEC) timetable, the election was scheduled to start off by 08:00hrs with the accreditation of voters. This was to continue up till 12:00 noon, after which voting was supposed to commence. However, in some polling stations across the country, election materials arrived between 10:00 and 11:00hrs (with Result Sheets missing from the raft of materials that were delivered). In most other polling stations however, election materials never arrived even at about 13:00hrs. In those polling stations that got election materials, voting started off around 12:30hr, as a result of what INEC referred to as ‘Logistic Challenges’. The Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega announced the postponement of the election to Monday, April 4 2011.
Reactions followed the news of the postponement. For instance, in majority of the centres in Enugu, the capital of Enugu state, voters expressed disgust with INEC’s shoddy arrangement. They blamed Jega personally for his inability to prepare very well for the election. Most of the people were incensed that after Jega had been given almost 95 billion Naira for the conduct of the election, he has ‘failed’ to deliver.
Context
It is necessary to provide some context in order to understand the peoples’ frustration against Jega’s INEC. The 2011 election is the 9th election that will hold in Nigeria starting from the 1959 independence election. From that election to the last election in 2007, Nigeria’s electoral history has been marred by electoral fraud and extreme violence, with the succeeding one worse than the earlier one by both domestic and international observers. In Nigeria’s electoral history, the 2007 election was adjudged as the worst. Late President Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua acknowledged very early in his presidency the flawed nature of the election that brought him to power. He promised Nigerians of conducting credible elections in subsequent ones, and in fulfilling the promise, set up a Committee to reform the electoral laws of the country. The Committee, tagged ‘the Uwais Committee’, so named after its chairman Justice Mohammed Uwais, came up with an electoral reform report. It was against this backdrop that the current Electoral Laws that Nigeria adopted rests.
The appointment of Jega gave hope to Nigerians that the Jonathan led government was ready to hearken to the yearnings of Nigerians; a credible election. This hope and believe on Jega’s ability to deliver is not unconnected with his antecedent as a University Professor and an erstwhile president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Many perceive Jega as‘no nonsense’ and a very principled man. His appointment, therefore, could be seen as one of the reasons why Nigerians who had hitherto lost hope in the electoral process, revived that hope. Jega immediately swung into action through a massive media campaign promising Nigerians of a credible election if he and his INEC are well funded. His first and immediate task was to call for a total jettisoning of the erstwhile voters’ register which he said was not credible enough, as names like Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, Dolly Parton, and such strange names were on the register. It must be remembered that it was another Professor, Maurice Iwu who presided over the 2007 election where the register was used. Jega’s action, therefore, resonated well with the people. However, Nigerians were shocked when Jega demanded a whooping 89 billion Naira for INEC to deliver a credible election. This was of course given to him. His inadequacies or INEC’s inadequacies was however revealed when, during the initial registration period, INEC faltered. Nigerians started questioning Jega’s capability to deliver on his promises. His subsequent request for an additional 6 billion naira raised eyebrows amongst many INEC observers.
However, after the initial tottering, INEC was able to conclude the registration of voters capturing about 73 million voters, 3 million more than what INEC estimated. There have however been doubts as to the authenticity of the number of registered voters as released by INEC. It is, therefore, against this backdrop of hopes and great expectations that Nigerians marched out to vote for the National Assembly candidates on April 2 2011.
With the postponement of the election, Nigerians are once again expressing doubts as to whether INEC is ready to conduct the election in the place. Voters across the different states of the federation expressed their angst and frustration over the act. To most of them, it is a ploy to rig the election by the Jega led INEC in favour of the ruling party since it is perceived that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led government is funding INEC.
On Violence
Generally, the initial conduct of the potential voters was very orderly irrespective of the late arrival of INEC’s staff. In most polling stations for instance, the electorates organised and wrote down their names according to how they arrived. This was done in order to forestall confusion, pushing and shoving that normally characterize such activities where there is a crowd. Even with the late arrival of electoral officers and materials in some places, the electorates were not antagonistic to the officers, as they would have been. They showed understanding, possibly because most of the electoral officers were National Youth Corp members. However, with the eventual announcement of the postponement of the election, most people expressed disgust with Jega, calling for his resignation. That notwithstanding, some electorates praised Jega’s courage to take the bull by the horn in cancelling the election when he realised that the all important Result Sheet was still not available as at the time of voting, and that even the other election materials were yet to be delivered to most polling stations. Most electorates that are from private business background were concerned over the income they lost on April 2 and the anticipated loss of income on Monday 4 April resulting from the rescheduling. Civil servants were however joyous, as the postponement will afford them another opportunity of a work free day. Notwithstanding the non violent posturing of the day, there were isolated cases of reported violence in a few places in Enugu and Anambra states. However, they were not linked to the postponement of the election.
On Security
There was a good presence of security operatives at almost all the polling stations. Uniformed security agents were very visible and they acted and conducted themselves in an orderly and non-intimidating manner. They were equally courteous to the electorates. In most polling stations, the police were amongst the first to arrive. The Immigration officers and the Civil Defence Corps were equally very visible. The absence of the military was a welcomed relief to many as they expressed such to this author.
There was also an indication that the electorates were also ready to ‘defend’ their votes. Despite the confusing signals from the National Security Adviser (NSA) that voters should not hang around the polling stations after voting, many of the voters preferred to act according to INEC’s earlier advise that voters can stay around after voting until counting in order to ‘protect’ their votes.
Turnout of Voters
There is an indication that not many people who registered went out to vote as many registered for different reasons. For instance, some registered because they were of the opinion that time might come when the government will use voter’s card as a prerequisite for accessing government care. Others registered as a result of the threats by their Ecclesiastical Superiors that non registration will lead to the denial of one of the most important sacraments in the Catholic church; Holy Communion. Others also registered in order to satisfy the urging of their traditional rulers. The above notwithstanding, a large number of people came out to vote and they were very determined that they will cast their ballot. However, the effect of the postponement on this and subsequent ones is that people might be very reluctant to go out to vote again, as some potential electorates are already counting the financial cost of not working on April 2 2011.
Conclusion
Overall however, there is a yearning by Nigerians that they want a transparent electoral process and thus are ready to participate in electing the leaders. The days of voter apathy seem to be a thing of the past. Notwithstanding the above, the National Assembly elections and the subsequent ones in 2011 will determine the extent to which the electorates can trust the Nigerian government on electoral issues. Furthermore, the political class seem to have realised the importance of electorates in the electoral process. The level of campaign they engaged in subsequent to the election has never been witnessed in Nigeria. Some of them did not just use the traditional campaign model, but also made use of the media social networks and the short message service (sms) bulk message facilities offered by communication companies. That, to an extent, reduced the violence that is normally associated with campaigns. Secondly, Nigerians are becoming more aware that violence is not the way to garner votes, but by campaigns and appeal. There is, therefore, no doubt that though Nigeria’s much anticipated 2011 elections started off on a shaky note, the Jega led INEC would work hard to correct the wrong impression already sent to Nigerians by the non-conduct of April 2 2011 elections.
Okolo Ben Simon, PhD
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