FORMER national publicity secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, speaks with KUNLE ODEREMI on the claims and objections of candidates in the general election, integrity of the outcome and other issues
How would you assess the general election this time and why?
I think there has been a marked improvement in both organisation and transparency over the previous ones despite the cash crunch and fuel scarcity. And this is because the campaigns have been more orderly than past ones. There were fewer cases of violence across the nation, save in the South-East, where the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) seems to hold sway. What is more, the deployment of technology such as BVAS and electronic transmission of most of the results went a long way to improve the management practices of the elections by INEC. Only a free, fair and credible elections would make it possible for the bigwigs such as the president and the presidential candidate of the ruling party to lose their states. Many governors lost their states and even their bids for senate.
But, to what extent did the general election meet global standard in the light of reports of many local and international observer teams that scored the exercise?
As I pointed out above, only a free, fair and credible elections could bring about the results we witnessed. Those who snatch ballot papers are those who do not know that the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has rendered snatching of ballot papers and thumb printing obsolete and not useful anymore. The local and international observers’ observations may have to do with hitches encountered by INEC in its management practices. Some of the hitches observed on February 25 reduced substantially on March 18. That may account for why some other observers across reported that the elections were marked improvement over the past elections. We can, therefore, say there have been substantial improvement over previous elections and there is room for improvement.
Sadly, those ugly tendencies that characterised our elections were evident in this year’s general elections, with cases of killings, ballot box snatching, suppression of voters taking place in a number of places. How do these oddities bother you? Is it a sign that we have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing as a people and why?
Please note that the process of nation building is work in progress. That is to say, order, justice, liberty, common decency and prosperity for all,are not inevitable. These things which also affect our electoral processes are attained through ceaseless hard work by both leaders and the led. For examples, it is politicians who organise snatching of ballot boxes and cause violence. If you do some trend and cross analyses of elections in Nigeria, you would hardly avoid the conclusion that there have been marked improvement over the past elections. I am therefore sanguine that day by day we shall reach our destination. As regards low turnout for elections, it was caused largely by fuel scarcity and cash crunch which affected transportation.
What do you think is the general implication of these on the next political dispensation?
The implication of the current experiences is for INEC to know the situations are not beyond redemption given purposeful leadership and the best of every one. Also, the experiences have made the youth to know that it is possible for them to make judicious use of their democratic rights and make their votes count so the ensuing leaders would be accountable.
People have talked about the integrity of the elections and public trust and confidence in INEC because of the controversies that surround the elections that have heightened agitations by individuals and opposition parties like NNPP, PDP and the Labour Party. How would rationalise all these issues and why?
When I posted a video of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and the leaders of opposition parties against declaration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979 elections, it was meant to underscore the fact that there is nothing new in what is happening about our elections. There is no elections which have never been disputed except that of 2015 which President Jonathan conceded. Recall when President Trump claimed his victory in the elections of 2020 were stolen, his supporters believed him despite the fact that he had no evidence. Such allegations became widespread to the level of causing an insurrection. There were over 60 court cases instituted by Trump’s people, all of which were dismissed by the courts. Recall manual counting was ordered in some states like Georgia which did not reveal any irregularities that could affect the outcome of the elections substantially. I remember the Supreme Court saying in one of the cases that by saying the victory was stolen does not make it so. Till date, many republicans do not have faith in their electoral processes because former president Trump has sought to undermine the electoral processes. So, while there can be no cavil with the significance of complaints against the electoral processes, political leaders should not do so in such ways that undermine INEC and the processes.
I know INEC has tried and has its short comings in so far as managerial practices are concerned. Let us give credit to whom it is due. This is because there is no any electoral umpire that is perfect. As a result, INEC has to undergo continuous reforms at all times for improved performance. This is because building trust in our public institutions is work in progress. Most of our public institutions have challenges that can be overcome only through public support. But when people who are states men resort to undermining our democratic institutions, they help in undermining them.
Some critics claim all those issues have implications for the incoming governments at the state and federal levels. Don’t you agree with such school of thought and why?
No. If INEC has conducted elections that are improvement over the past exercises (freer, fairer and more credible) than the past elections which did not produce illegitimate governments, it is unthinking if not mischievous, for people to allege that the incoming government will be illegitimate. After all, we have election tribunals in place to which the aggrieved should approach, since democracy thrives on rule of law.
What would you consider as the major factors that played out during the campaigns and the election day proper?
The major factors which played out during the campaigns were the fact that the candidates and political parties tried to assume real responsibility for real issues of real concern to real people as against issues which promote cleavages of the nation along ethnic and religious or regional lines. The results of the elections seem to have made politics of identity superfluous I dare say.
