- By Kamil Opeyemi
INEC’s performance and controversies over these results mean that the electoral reforms and lessons declared to have been learned were not fully applied and, as an electoral body, it was significantly less prepared than it claimed.
United Kingdom’s Chatham House, also known as The Royal Institute of International Affairs, has condemned the conduct of the National Assembly and presidential elections which held in Nigeria on February 25, 2023.
Chatham House is an independent policy institute with its headquarter in London. Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had assured the institute when he visited on January 17 this year saying that the election would be conducted with highest form of integrity.
INEC had declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Ahmed winner of the election defeating other leading contestants like the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigerian Peoples Party and others.
Chatham House, in its report, said on Tuesday, “The INEC’s performance and controversies over these results mean that the electoral reforms and lessons declared to have been learned were not fully applied and, as an electoral body, it was significantly less prepared than it claimed.
“The logistical failures of INEC and widespread delayed opening of polling units meant that voters who showed up at the polls early were frustrated and many voters and INEC staff were not able to locate their polling units for several hours.” Chatham House described INEC’s deployments as “patchy” saying, “It failed to adhere to its own statements and guidelines, which derive from its laws, that election results would be uploaded to its portal using the BVAS directly from the polling unit in real-time for the public’s viewing.”
In its report headlined “Nigeria’s election results put disenfranchisement in the spotlight”, Chatham House noted that the election witnessed the lowest turnout so far in the recent history of electoral conduct in the country. ” Less than half of eligible voters could participate in the elections despite the Commission’s N305 billion-naira budgetary allocation. While Nigeria’s youth seemed energized leading up to the elections, it seems their ability to turn out is still being hugely constrained by how difficult and potentially dangerous it is to cast a vote in Nigeria. At just 25.7 per cent, the elections have the lowest recorded turnout of any election since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, despite being the most expensive. These dwindling numbers highlight how Nigeria’s politics and state institutions continue to exclude rather than include.” The institute said INEC’s “sub-optimal performance” must be taken seriously because Nigeria’s path to recovery and stability must follow the way of accountability and electoral integrity.