In 2023, power must change hands in Nigeria

The Mountain of Fire and Miracles church founded by Dr. D.K Olukoya is reputed for organising a monthly prayer meeting called “power must change hands.” That essentially is at a spiritual level. However, what is certain to happen in Nigeria is that political power will change hands at 1,491 electoral constituencies on February 25 and March 11, 2023. This consists of one seat of the president, 109 senatorial seats, 360 House of Representatives positions, 28 governorship seats, and 993 state houses of assembly seats. There will also be change of power at many appointive levels such as ministers, commissioners, as well as heads of ministries, departments and agencies.

Preparatory to the forthcoming seventh general election since the return to civil rule in 1999, a lot of electoral cum political activities are ongoing. One of them is the distribution of permanent voter cards to those who have registered to vote but are yet to collect their voter cards. This last phase of distribution started on December 12, 2022 and will end on January 22, 2023. The distribution thus far is holding at the local government offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission but will be devolved to the ward level from January 6 to 15 before reverting to LGA collection point. Thus, if you know you’re concerned about the unpleasant situation of the country, you and I have another chance to democratically change our leaders by voting in the elections.

Another electoral activity ongoing is the recruitment of different cadres of poll workers ranging from supervisory presiding officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers (I, II and III), registration area managers, registration area technicians, collation and returning officers. It is said that INEC will recruit an estimated 1.5 million ad hoc staff for the successful conduct of the elections. After the recruitment comes the training of this huge number of election officials.  Also happening is the procurement of both sensitive and non-sensitive election materials followed by distribution. Of major concern to many Nigerians is the sustained attacks on INEC offices and facilities ahead of the forthcoming polls. This portends bad omen for the all-important elections.

Lest I forget, campaigns are ongoing with political gladiators trying to market themselves. Several political rallies have been held, town hall meetings organised and televised debates put together by media and civil society organisations. It’s also a season of endorsements, with former President Olusegun Obasanjo sticking out his neck on January 1, 2023, to endorse the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in his six-page letter. This endorsement, which is a boost to the Obi-Datti camp, has rankled other frontline candidates, namely Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, both of whom had lampooned the endorsement for lacking any electoral value. Incidentally, both of them have similarly paid homage to the ex-president and sought his support. Of note is also the opinion polling ahead of the next presidential poll. The ANAP Foundation, headed by Atedo Peterside, a former bank executive, has engaged NOIPolls, a foremost polling agency to conduct opinion survey of who will likely win the next presidential election. The two surveys so far held in September and December 2022 have put the Labour Party candidate ahead of the park. This again hasn’t gone down well with the other frontline candidates.

Noteworthy is the role of judiciary in elections. There is what is called Election Dispute Resolution, which gives opportunity to aggrieved aspirants, candidates and their political parties to approach the courts for redress. It is therefore the judiciary and not the electoral umpire, INEC, that has the last say on electoral matters in Nigeria. Over the years, the courts and election petition tribunals have overturned the verdict of INEC on the rightful winner of the polls. That is why elections into eight governorship seats namely – Imo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Bayelsa, Anambra, and Kogi- are not going to be held on March 11, 2023. It was the court and not the electorate, per se, that made former Governor Chibuike Ameachi of Rivers State after the 2007 election. Judiciary brought staggered election into Nigeria’s political administration.

Constitutionally speaking, the Office of the President, Court of Appeal, constitutes membership of various election petition tribunals while the Chief Justice of Nigeria swears them in. Thus, ahead of 2023 general elections, on Monday, November 7, 2022, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, inaugurated 277 election petition tribunal members to adjudicate on matters that will arise from the 2023 general elections. The CJN also declared open a three-day capacity building workshop for the members of the elections tribunal and justices of the Court of Appeal. It is quite unfortunate that barely 50 days to the general elections, there is still an avalanche of pre-election matters at the various Federal High Courts or appellate courts seeking to know the rightful candidates of some of the political parties. This happened because of the mishandling of the party primaries and nomination process of some of the parties.

If power will change hands for the better in 2023, whose responsibilities will that be? It will be that of 93.5 million Nigerians who have registered to vote. However, giving the lackadaisical attitude of some Nigerians who may not come out to collect their permanent voter cards or are unwilling to vote at elections, these are the real betrayers of the Nigerian project and they have no right to complain of bad leadership because we as Nigerians have a golden opportunity to effect change in leadership this year. My appeal, therefore, is to those uncommitted registrants to please come out en masse to exercise their voting franchise. As a self-acclaimed political evangelist, I have been involved in capacity building of female candidates, and a couple of weeks ago, I was engaged by a youth group, Frontline Youth Creativity Initiative, to speak to youths to go and collect their PVCs and vote on election days. We were in Kabusa, Gwagwalada, and Jikwoyi – three communities in the Federal Capital Territory- for the assignment. Similarly, I have been doing media rounds on several television and radio programmes trying to mobilise Nigerians on the imperative of participating in the forthcoming elections.

Let me use this opportunity again to recap some of my advocacy nuggets. First is the need to collect your PVC and not sell it. Two persons have already been arrested and convicted for buying PVC in Sokoto and Kano. Nasiru Idris was found with 101 PVCs in Sokoto State, and another (name not mentioned) was caught with 367 PVCs in Kano State. This offence is in contravention of sections 117 and 145 of the Electoral Act, 2022. Don’t engage in electoral violence. In order to ascertain where you will vote at the next election (polling unit), log on to INEC’s Voter Status Verification System portal and fill a short form or call   0700-CALL-INEC and 0700-2255-4632. Go to your earlier identified polling unit on election days between 8:30am and 2:30pm to cast your ballot after having been duly accredited. And lastly, don’t sell your vote, but vote wisely for all the five political offices that will be contested at the general elections.