FORMER President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has attributed the shortcomings of political actors to the behavior of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the judiciary.
Jonathan made this observation on Tuesday in Abuja at a Reflection Conference on Democratic Elections in West Africa, organised by Yiaga Africa.
He insisted that for the review of the electoral law to be meaningful in Nigeria, it must be comprehensive enough to address all the grey areas that plagued the conduct of elections at both the national and subnational levels.
According to him, for elections to be properly conducted, the judiciary must play an important role, adding that, a corrupt environment encourages corruption.
His words: “if elections must be done properly, then the judiciary must always play their role. And I always say that every human being have the feeling to cheat even if you are born from heaven, as long as you are human, that feeling that you must exploit, you must cheat is there, but if the environment does not accept it, then you become careful.
“Just like some countries are more corrupt than others, you see that even those countries that are not corrup, most of them, if they travel out and go to those corrupt countries, they become more corrupt because of the environment.
“Like I always compare the situation to football, if you have a referee and a Video Assistant Referee (VAR), that tolerate nonsense, the players plays anyhow, but if you get the no nonsense referee that means the INEC that plays the role of the referee and the judiciary looks the other way, they the politicians must do whatever they like because they want to win by all means.
“I can remember somebody told me about a judge, when a very senior politician and tough person called him to says you must do this and and he said i will not do it, even with a gun on my head. That is the kind of people we need right now.”
Acknowledging that, some countries have conducted peaceful and credible elections in region, the former Nigeria chief executive regretted that others were marred by violence, allegations of fraud, and institutional weaknesses.
“In February 2023, Nigeria held general elections and subsequently carried out a peaceful transition from one civilian administration to another.
“However, despite the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to enhance transparency by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the process still experienced logistical issues, delayed voting in some areas, violence and technical glitches with the BVAS system.
“Sierra Leone also introduced new technology with the use of biometric voter registration ahead of its presidential, parliamentary, and local council elections in June 2023.
“However, there were allegations of irregularities including voter intimidation, ethnic tensions and controversial results which culminated in the opposition’s boycott of governance institutions.
“Late last year, Ghana conducted general elections which were indeed successful, despite the application of limited technology.
“The country, with a reputation of being one of Africa’s most stable democracies, lived up to this billing by conducting peaceful polling and smooth transfer of power.
“The Electoral Commission of Ghana and the security authorities played a crucial role in ensuring the elections were free, fair, and transparent, thereby demonstrating that Ghana’s democratic institutions and processes have continued to be resilient, even with limited technology.
“We must address these issues head-on by promoting a culture of inclusivity, tolerance, and respect for the rule of law.”
According to him, independence, impartial electoral commissions and non-partisan security operatives are the cornerstone of credible elections, insisting that the region must invest in building the capacity of institutions and safeguarding their independence from political interference.
Also speaking, former INEC Chairman, Prof. Attairu Jega, who questioned the independence of Nigeria’s electoral umpire, stressed the need to protect the professionalism and the integrity of electoral commissions.
Jega decried multifaceted challenges facing electoral management bodies (EMBs) as they strive to organise and conduct elections with integrity, which reflect the rue and genuine choices of the electorate.
“Such challenges emanate not just from desperate and reckless candidates, who try to win elections by any means necessary, but also from factors ranging from weak legal frameworks, to new technologies, pandemics and natural disasters.
“In general, and in particular in the West African countries, the modern history of representative elections is a tale of authoritarian manipulations as much as it is a saga of abuse of incumbency powers to suppress opposition and control the media.
“Unfortunately, democratization in the region has done little to tame kleptocratic politicians and their cronies.
“Some of the challenges confronting West Africa’s democratic governance/ electoral governance today, and contributing to its reversing, may not be unconnected with the growing security threats in parts of the region.
“For example, the aftermath of the civil war in Libya and the death of Muammar Gaddafi, have thrown up multiple security challenges for West Africa, especially in its Sahel region, with the proliferation od small arms and light weapons, and inspired irredentists and insurgents.
This vestige of “divide and conquer” under colonial rule still plagues democratic politics in the region, and has produced devastating outcomes in Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, among others.
“It facilitates the mobilization of voters along sectarian lines, fosters winner-take-all and non-inclusive approaches to politics and to the sharing of dividends of economic growth, and enables corruption, nepotism, and impunity, which engender feelings of exclusion and undermine faith in democratic institutions and processes.”