It is no longer news that controversies and disputations are dogging the outcome of the 2023 general elections. More than 500 cases at the various election petition tribunals attest to that.
Issues from Adamawa State where the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mr Hudu Yunusa Ari, usurped the powers of the Chief Returning Officer, Mele Lamido, and unilaterally announced the All Progressives Congress, APC, Governorship Candidate, Senator Aishatu Dahiru, as the winner, when collation had not been concluded, are still raising dust in the polity.
Although the National headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, acted swiftly by annulling Ari’s action, suspending him, writing the Presidency to get him sacked, and getting Mele Lamido to conclude the collation and announce Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate as winner, the matter has raised debates on how to safe Nigeria’s democratic process.
INEC National Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and the commission have come under hammer for the way the elections panned in spite of repeated assurances of credible polls with the introduction of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, e-transmission of results to the INEC Results Viewing, IReV portal realtime from the polling booths.
How partisan RECs, politicians, others hurt polls —INEC source
Defending Yakubu on the flaws in the polls, an inside source in the INEC agreed that there were glitches in the electronic transmission of presidential election results, he blamed RECs, politicians, and some stakeholders for most of the drawbacks.
Insisting that Yakubu was determined to use technology to drive credible polls via BVAS and IREV, the source said some politicians and parties worked extra hard in concert with some RECs to undermine the process.
“We saw all the attempts some politicians, even parties made to abort the use of technology for the polls. Some people even went to court about four times and there were also efforts to remove Yakubu on this premise but he stood his ground” the INEC source said, adding that was vindicated as post-election investigation showed that BVAS performance at the polls was over 88 per cent successful.
Continuing, he disclosed how the activities of some RECs impacted negatively on the outcome of the polls.
According to him, “some RECs were clearly partisan, for instance, 19 RECs were appointed close to the polls and many of them were clearly partisan and to make matters worse some were deployed to states where they had sympathy for the ruling parties. Should we also blame INEC or the Chairman for this?”
In response to the partisan conduct of some RECs, the source said the INEC had carried out disciplinary measures against erring staff to the extent of recommending to President Muhammadu Buhari the sacking of two RECs who had been found wanting in their conduct in the elections.
INEC had since resolved to write the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to probe and prosecute the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Adamawa State, Hudu Ari.
Indeed, the Adamawa saga was so bad that security agencies started questioning their men on election duty in the state.
The Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, on Tuesday, ordered the immediate replacement of the Commissioner of Police on election duty in Adamawa, Mohammed Barde, with his counterpart in Gombe State, CP Etim Equa.
As part of moves to investigate the Adamawa election saga, NSCDC Commandant-General, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, summoned its Adamawa State Commandant, Muhammad Bello, to the Corps headquarters in Abuja to explain his role in the Adamawa election.
The Adamawa Police commissioner, NSCDC commandant and Director of the Department of State Service, DSS, were with Ari, when he declared Senator Aisha Dahiru as governor-elect.
INEC should recommend sanctions for erring RECs to the President—LP
Speaking on the issue, the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Pastor Obiora Ifoh, said for as long as the president has the responsibility of appointing Resident Electoral Commissioners, the best the INEC can do is to recommend sanctions for erring RECs.
The Labour Party spokesman said: “Since the President, based on an Act of the National Assembly, remains the appointing and confirming authority for RECs, the best INEC can do with respect to serious disciplinary action is to make recommendations.
How Buhari, Senate cleared partisan RECs
In August 2022, a coalition of eight civil society organizations, CSOs kicked when President Buhari appointed some APC members as resident electoral commissioners and asked the Senate to reject the nominees
Source : Vanguard except Headline