Achieving credible 2024 Edo, Ondo governorship elections

 

Periodic election is one of the cardinal principles of democracy. Nigeria started having elections over a century ago. The quality of our elections has been debatable. Winners score the election management body high while losers castigate the Independent National Electoral Commission. As an independent observer of the process since 1999, I would say that it is a work in progress. There is a popular saying that you can always better your best. In time past, particularly before the 2007 general elections, INEC often held elections in two batches. National elections viz presidential, Senate and House of Representatives were held on a particular day, while state elections, namely governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections were held on another day.

Arising from the electoral fraud of the 2003 governorship election in Anambra State and subsequent judicial pronouncement on it as well as those of Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Osun, Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi; the off-cycle governorship election has become part of our political lexicon. Thus, only 28 out of 36 states have their governorship polls held during the general elections, as we had last year. Off-cycle governorship polls are then held on different dates as appointed by INEC. Recall that on November 11, 2023, INEC conducted simultaneous governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states. This year, the commission has scheduled the Edo governorship election to hold on September 21 while that of Ondo State will hold on November 16.

There are two main actors in the electoral process. They are INEC and political parties. There are several other stakeholders ranging from candidates, accredited civil society organisations, media, judiciary, security agencies, the National Assembly, and the electorate. The credibility or otherwise of every election is dependent on these actors and stakeholders.  INEC released the timetable and schedule of activities for the Edo and Ondo off-cycle governorship elections on September 26, 2023, in compliance with the provision of section 178 (2) of the 1999 Constitution. It is instructive to note that the tenure of the governors of Edo and Ondo states will end on November 11, 2024, and February 23, 2025, respectively.

Since the release of the timetable, political parties in the two states have conducted their party primaries to nominate their candidates. The rancour and litigation arising from those party primaries are clear indications of the quality of the exercise political parties did. It is noteworthy that campaigns have commenced in Edo State from April 24 in accordance with Section 94 of the 2022 Electoral Act which says that public campaigns will hold for five months or 150 days. Public campaigns will commence in Ondo State on June 19 and end on November 14, 2024.

 

 

 

 

As part of INEC’s preparations for the two forthcoming governorship elections, the commission met with different actors and stakeholders in the course of this week. On Monday, it met with political party leaders and yesterday, May 14, 2024, it was the turn of the CSOs to meet with the commission. I was invited and did attend the very important meeting. At yesterday’s meeting which was a sequel to the earlier one held on March 20, 2024, at the commission’s headquarters, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, unveiled the plan of the commission to conduct Continuous Voter Registration exercise in the two aforementioned states as part of the preparations for the forthcoming governorship polls.

According to him, “The commission has concluded plans to resume the Continuous Voter Registration in the two states to enable eligible citizens who are not registered voters to do so. Similarly, those who are registered voters also have the opportunity to transfer their registration from other states of the federation to Edo and Ondo states or from one location to another within the states. Lost or damaged voter cards will be replaced during the exercise. The CVR will take place simultaneously in the two states from Monday, May 27, 2024, to Wednesday, June 5, 2024, between 9.00 am and 3.00 pm daily including the weekend.” He said that the CVR would only be open to new registrants and those who seek to transfer their registration. Persons registered as voters should not attempt to register again as double or multiple registration is illegal.

Yakubu went further to give more details as follows: “The commission has decided to conduct the registration at ward level and its state headquarters instead of its local government offices and a few designated centres as was the case in the past. This means that there will be 192 ward registration centres in Edo State and 203 centres in Ondo State in addition to its state offices in Benin City and Akure, making a total of 397 walk-in registration centres in the two states. There will be no online pre-registration option in the two states because of time constraints. Each centre will be managed by two officials drawn from the commission’s regular staff and the National Youth Service Corps. In the next few days, the commission will commence the training of at least 794 officials for the exercise. The locations of the registration centres as well as other relevant information have been compiled in a detailed 28-page document which is available on the commission’s website and in print.”

INEC chairman said inter alia that in addition to the registration of voters, the commission would also make available the uncollected Permanent Voter Cards for collection during the CVR. In the coming days, the list of uncollected PVCs will be published in its offices in the two states and simultaneously uploaded to its website. It is believed that doing so will make it easier for voters to collect their PVCs. However, no PVCs will be collected by proxy. Registered voters are to go in person to collect their cards. He sought the support of CSOs in encouraging voters to locate and pick up their PVCs as was done in the past.

The INEC boss went further to inform the meeting about the existence of vacancies in National and state Assemblies caused by either death or resignation of members involving three state Assembly constituencies and one federal constituency in four states across the country. He said as soon as preparations are concluded, the commission would announce the dates for bye-elections in the Khana 2 State Constituency of Rivers State, the Bagwai/Shanono State constituency of Kano State, the Zaria Kewaye State Constituency of Kaduna State and the Garki/Babura Federal Constituency of Jigawa State. A colleague and I asked about the fate of the 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly whose seats have been declared vacant. He said the case is sub judice as it is being litigated. INEC awaits the final court pronouncement before it will swing into action. As for the resignation of Edison Ehie who is now the Chief of Staff to Rivers State governor, he said INEC hadn’t received any official communication on that and that in any event, protocol demands that the resignation letter should have been sent to the Speaker of the state Assembly and for the Speaker or the bureaucracy of the Assembly to thereafter notify INEC.

It behoves the CSOs and the media to monitor the preparations of other stakeholders for the coming Edo and Ondo governorship elections. Potential voters who are yet to register have the golden opportunity to do so in the next two weeks while those who have registered but have not collected their PVCs should cash in on this exercise to go and collect their PVCs which has been made easy with the publication of the list of those who are yet to collect both at the ward level and online.