Dr. Olusegun Odekunle is the chairman, Forum of Electoral Officers, Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) and Electoral Officer for Ibadan North-East Local Government. He speaks with ABIODUN AWOLAJA on the outcome of the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls in Oyo State and sundry issues. Excerpts;
AS the chairman, Forum of Electoral Officers, Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), what is your assessment of the March 18 governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Oyo State, particularly against the backdrop of fears over violence?
We appreciate God for the success of the last election. Before the election, a lot of tension and apprehension had been created in Ibadan. During a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rally led by Honourable Abass Adigun on Thursday, March 9, it was reported that four people were killed and that even the honourable himself was assaulted. This created apprehension. People were saying: “This March 18 election will be bloody.” Then you had the cash crunch. This created apathy: the voter turnout was not as expected. But to the surprise of the people that came out to vote, the election turned out to be peaceful. There were no pockets of violence at all. I am using this opportunity to congratulate all the candidates who took part in the election. I congratulate Mr. Seyi Makinde on his victory. Election is serious business, all the parties tried their best, but there can be only one winner.
We also congratulate the electorate. The March 18 election is a true reflection of people’s choice. Nowadays, power has returned to the people. The electoral officers in Oyo State are appreciative of the electorate. They came out to exercise their franchise; some had to travel down to their various polling units, sleeping over in order to perform their civic responsibilities. We also appreciate our sister office, INEC, for a job well done. The introduction of BVAS was a game changer in the electioneering process, especially the voting and the results. We can see the difference. Indeed, we can say at OYSIEC that this March 18 election was fair, true, credible and transparent.
How were you able to achieve that in Oyo State, given that the presidential election was marred by late arrival of materials, violence and the failure of INEC to upload results in real time, among others?
Following the different criticisms that came up after the February 25 election, INEC sat down and did a re-think, and there were a lot of stakeholders that came in. The introduction of electronic voting was to bring about fair, truthful, and credible elections. People complained and INEC tried to find out what went wrong. We understand that we have some saboteurs even within some INEC offices who are not allowing the vision of Professor Mahmood Yakubu for elections to come to reality. There were a lot of changes that took place.
Also, we want to appreciate the ruling of the court of law granting a one-week extension that made it possible for INEC to reconfigure the BVAS machines. Again, the strategy for mobilization of logistics was also changed; poll clerks and the materials needed for certain areas arrived before election day in order to aid disbursement. In the March 18 election, we had few complaints of late arrival of election materials. The electorate also did well by insisting that “We have cast our votes, votes have been counted, and results must be uploaded immediately.”
If you look at the total number of registered voters and the actual votes, you see that there is still a massive difference. How do you think we can solve that problem?
This has been a problem for a long time. Voter apathy is influenced by fear and tension. But in future elections, we can use the March 18 election as a case study. Definitely, the government is ready to give us a conducive environment for election to take place, therefore, the electorate should come out and exercise their civic duties. We can also do more on voter education. Apart from conducting elections into local government areas, we are also into voter education, sensitisation and mobilisation. Even our feedback assists INEC a lot because we are closer to the grass roots and we are able to know what is going on in our respective local governments. At OYSIEC, considering the elections coming up next year, there will be more of voter education, sensitisation, dialoguing with our people. Power has returned to the people.
What are the things that OYSIEC needs to do a better job in Oyo State and how are you relating with the government on those needs?
OYSIEC needs a lot of things presently in terms of allowances, encouragement, logistics. We have a bill at the state House of Assembly and we still need to do some town hall hearings. OYSIEC needs an enabling environment in terms of motivation of human capital, especially the electoral officers; those who are on the field. The current government led by Governor Abiodun Oluseyi Makinde is putting a positive touch on various sectors in Oyo State, but OYSIEC also needs its attention. It must do more so that at the end of the day,
Looking at the March 18 election, what improvements would you suggest?
If you compare the local government elections held two years ago with the March 18 election, there are some things we can see. For example, the distribution of materials that used to be centralised at local government level was done differently. Let’s use Ibadan North-West where we have 12 wards as a case study. Each ward now has a place where election materials can be distributed on election day. This model can be adopted during local government elections so that election materials can get to voters early. But even though the electorate tried to defend their votes, security officers were not enough. That ought not to be. There was no violence but nevertheless, we still need more presence of security officers.
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