How many controversies shaped 2015 election

Emeka Ibemere

Obviously, all have not been heard concerning the 2015 general elections as the gladiators and their supporters continued to reel out controversies after controversies, ahead of March 28 and April 11. It’s on record that no election in recent times has generated much heated controversy than the 2015 polls.

As at last count, no fewer than five topical controversies have been raised so far as next week’s election draws near.

Contemporary controversial issues borders on postponement of the election date, PVC distributions, use of soldiers to monitor election, to the purported plan to sack Jega, the Independent National Electoral Commission, to Card Reader disagreement and other sundry controversies have dominated the elections.  

Political pundits pontificated that going into the election with controversies may results into bigger one, especially in accepting the results of the election. According to them, the parties and candidates may resort not to accept the results with all these controversies build around the election.

“The result of this election may end in a controversy and I see it as something that will end in a legal battle. The court may decide the election”, Barrister Phillips Adedeji quipped.

Chinedu Akabuogu, a civil servant said the controversies are as a result of fear of failure by candidates and their parties. He said supporters of these parties are afraid of the other and in so doing any policy meant to prevent rigging, violence and free and fair elections are seen as the other as a plan to rig them out by the other party.

“The controversies you are talking about its normal in any election because the fraudulent ones are afraid of failure, so everything is opposed”, Akabuogu stated.  It’s a lack of trust and confidence in the INEC, the incumbent president by parties and its connected to fear of unknown”

Anike Charles, National President of the Eastern Union, a social political group opined that since Nigeria’ independence in 1960, the Country has witnessed several elections which always were characterized with controversies during and after the elections. He said perhaps the most controversial, so far was the 1966 general election which its controversy resulted to first Military coup.

According to Anike, another topical controversial election in the past was the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. But he however stated that the 2015 forthcoming elections are generating same; if not much more controversies than the previous experiences and that this was due to some number of reasons- “the do or die stand of the for most of the oppositions. Anike blamed the opposition group for most of the controversies engineered by their leaders of the opposition parties. He explained that their desperate power- seeking approach is what is causing the arguments.

“They are taking the undue advantage of the gentleman- attitude of President Jonathan. Some of them even openly and publicly insult the President and often some of them use some threatening and inciting words which of course encourage some of their supporters to violence to the extent that the several times, the convoy of the Presidents have been attacked in some States”, he added.

“Another reason for controversies in the 2015 election is the kind of negative utterances of some elder-statesman. Most of them keep issuing inflammatory statements; while some has resulted to indecent actions, largely due to frustrations. The state of insecurity and fear of possible outbreak of violence have resulted in millions of people returning to their home states. Even foreigners are moving out of the Country in their large numbers”.

Anike said it was for the above reasons that his group have joined numerous voices calling on federal government to ignore the agitation of some mischief makers who are opposing the use of the Nigerian army to beef up security on the election days.

“The need for adequate security of lives and property during and after elections cannot be over emphasised. Government must realize that its primary assignment to the citizenry is to protect lives and property; therefore must not heed or succumb to those seeking opportunity to inflict pains on ordinary citizens or looking for slightest opportunity to blame the federal government”, Anike explained.

“The services of the Nigerian army are very necessary for internal security as guaranteed by the Constitution. The state of insecurity and fear of possible violence have resulted to many citizens returning to their home states and even foreigners are moving out of the Country for fear. This is why we also join numerous voices calling on the federal government to ensure adequate security of lives and property by employing the services of the army on the election days to forestall possible violence”.

It would be recalled that the introduction of permanent voter cards and the use of card reader by the Independent National Electoral Commission are generating a lot of controversy, and there is fear that if it is not handled carefully may rubbish this year’s general elections.

Mrs Onwuka Duru said controversy is part and parcel of Nigerian politicians’ life and they enjoy it as long as it lasts. She said they adopt all forms of controversy to either destabilise or discredit each other and in so doing earn sympathy of voters.

 Recently, the atmosphere has been fraught with accusations and counter-accusations on the introduction of permanent voter cards, PVCs and the use of card readers, CR, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct the elections. The ranging controversy has divided the supporters of the two major political parties with the two expressing holding different views.

The INEC said that the use of the PVCs and CR would stop multiple voting by ensuring that only owners of the PVCs could vote at designated points where their PVCs were programmed to.

But the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, weren’t convinced on INEC arrangement on the Card reader even as the device had been used in mock elections held on Saturday, March 7, in 12 states of the federation.

 The technology was reported to have recorded mass failure in three states including Ebonyi and Niger States. According to a statement attributed to INEC, the exercise recorded 59 percent success rate. This is why the PDP insists that 41 percent failure rate of the card reader in only 12 states was unacceptable wondering what will happen if the device is used in the 36 states plus the federal capital territory.

The PDP Governors’ Forum, which met at an interactive session with the media and civil society organisations in Lagos, on Tuesday, March 10, expressed reservations at the use of the device and overall preparedness of the INEC for the elections.

Akpabio, chairman of the PDPGF, said Lagos, was chosen in recognition of its position as the headquarters of the media and activism in Nigeria.  On the PDPGF opposition to use of the PVC and CR, the governor said.

 “The INEC appears ill-prepared for the 2015 elections. For example, at the time the polls were shifted due to security concerns, more than 23 million registered voters had yet to collect their PVCs and you know there are some countries with populations of about just three million. Twenty-three million would amount to disenfranchising more than five West African countries in their own elections. It will be recalled that even the INEC chairman (Attahiru Jega) admitted on the floor of the Senate that over one million PVCs had yet to be printed in far away China”.

“According to the INEC chairman, the postponement was a blessing in disguise. How then can Nigerians reconcile the purported readiness of INEC for the February 14, election with the testing of card readers more than a month after the postponement? More than three weeks after the elections have been shifted; they are then testing the card readers that would have been used. Given the failure rate of the card readers during the recent mock exercise, it is apparent that many Nigerians will be disenfranchised even when they are registered to vote.

“We re-assert that on no account should any registered voter be disenfranchised for non-possession of PVC even when the person has a TVC when it is not due to one’s own personal fault; even when the card reader has rejected or refused to recognise the thumbprint or the battery is dead and there is no electricity in that area to charge it.

However, the All Progressives Congress, APC, the main opposition party, on its part, said it was satisfied with the device and urged the commission to go ahead with the use of the card readers.

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and chairman, Progressives Governors’ Forum, accused the PDP of plotting to stop the conduct of the general elections on March 28 and April 11. Okorocha, who spoke through Chinedu Offor, commissioner for Information, Imo State, on Wednesday, March 11, faulted the claim by the PDPGF that the INEC was ill-prepared for the polls.

 “They (PDP members) want to do everything to stop the elections. They have come up with all manner of excuses. The PDP is on a fishing expedition. If they are not talking about card readers, they are talking about insecurity. How can they be talking of the INEC not being prepared? They know they have lost the confidence of the Nigerian electorate. They have seen the handwriting on the wall.

“The questions to ask are: Is the INEC ready? The answer is yes. Are Nigerians ready? The answer is yes. Is the APC ready? The answer is yes. Have people collected their PVCs? The answer is yes. All over the world, not all eligible voters vote in an election. The international community is ready and watching.”Okorocha stated.

Another APC governor in support of the use of the device is Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State. Fashola alleged that the decision by the PDP governors to reject the use of card readers for the next elections was antithetic to democracy.

The controversy over the use of PVC and CR is not likely going to end soon until Jega finally make up his mind before next week election. A group, which called itself the Middle Belt Concerned Youths, said it was against the use of the device because it would not guarantee free, fair and credible elections. Yusuf Amodu, leader of the group, told journalists that the mock election conducted by the INEC revealed that the card readers were prone to fraud and capable of causing problems on election days.

But the group’s feared was not accepted by another Group, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, which commended the mock accreditation in 12 States, held on Saturday, March 7. While commending the exercise, the Situation Room said it was fairly successful and passed the integrity test, which made it worthy of commendation.

In spite of the claims by the INEC, that it has recorded complete success in the distribution of the Permanent Voters cards (PVCs) in the three volatile north-eastern states in Nigeria, the case is different. The poor distribution of the PVC is still generating disagreement among party lines.

INEC’s claims that it has achieved near hundred percent in the contentious distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVC), especially

Borno and Yobe states, residents of the states are claiming otherwise

There were reports of lack of PVCs in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) as well as in Maisandari ward, which is unarguably one of the largest in Nigeria.

It could be recalled that last week, INEC said upon several protests by concerned residents, who were worried that they could be disenfranchised by not having their PVCs, extended the collection of PVC till next week.

Before now, the election postponement controversy was topic for political analysts. On Saturday, 7 February, 2015, the Chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega announced that the elections have been rescheduled from 14 and 28 February 2015 to 28 March and 11 April, 2015 respectively. The decision to postpone the elections was made amidst controversies arising from the slow pace in the production and distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). 

Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd), National Security Adviser to the President, kick-started the postponement when he mooted the idea after delivering a lecture on the 2015 elections and the security situation in the country at the Chatham House in London.

 Before this time, Jega had insisted that the elections would go on as planned. But after a National Council of States (NCS) meeting was called on 5 February, 2015 to review the level of preparedness for the elections.  However, the NCS meeting did not call for the postponement of the elections, it asked INEC to consult with stakeholders in order to take an appropriate decision.

It was gathered that the office of the NSA had, in a letter, informed INEC that security could not be guaranteed during the earlier proposed period of election in four North-East states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe, which are facing Boko Haram insurgency.

The NSA and all chiefs of the armed and intelligence services unanimously reiterated that the safety and security of INEC’s operations could not be guaranteed, and that the security services needed at least six weeks within which to conclude a major military operation against the insurgents.

 They also explained that during this operation, the military would be concentrating its attention on the theatre of operations such that they might not be able to provide the traditional support they render to the police and other security agencies during elections.

Eventually, during the announcement of the postponement, Jega argued that the election had to be postponed “after carefully weighing the suggestions from briefings held with different stakeholders in the electoral process.”

Since the postponement, the shift has been highly raised dusts among many Nigerians who alleged foul tactics by the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party to rig the election.

The common argument by some Nigerians was that if the security agencies have not been able to address the security challenges posed by Boko Haram in more than six years, what guarantee would they offer that they would return stability to the North-East in six weeks.

Following the postponement was the use of soldiers to conduct the election. The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Nigeria's National Assembly in which the opposition are again the majority party weighed on the role of security forces in conduct of election and rose against it.

All Progressives Congress’ (APC) caucus leader Femi Gbajabiamila argued that the use of the armed forces in the elections should be restricted under a provision of the country’s Constitution.

This action occurred just days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met with Nigeria's security agencies – including the armed forces, intelligence agency, police forces and the state security service. INEC explained that the meeting was merely a routine one, to discuss the respective agencies' risk assessment.

The planned deployment of military personnel to provide security at the 2015 polls also attracted divergent reactions from the major stakeholders in the electoral process. While the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, interprets the proposal as a ploy by the ruling People’s Democratic Party, to use the military to rig the coming polls, PDP on the other hand insists that the purpose is to ensure credible and violence-free polls.

One major concern, which has dominated political discourse in the country since the postponement of the 2015 general election by the INEC, on February 8, is the issue of the planned deployment of military personnel to man the coming elections. The opposition All Progressive Congress, APC and the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, have particularly been at loggerheads over this issue.

Those who are opposed to the idea argue that such an act amounts to an aberration. For such people, it is only the police that are constitutionally empowered to provide security at the polls. Even at that, such police personnel ought not to carry arms in discharging such a responsibility. Citing certain provisions of the Electoral Act, proponents of this course further argue that in the event that police-bearing arms are involved in the conduct of the polls, such police officers are by the Act restricted to some distances from the polling booths.

However, those who argue in favour of deploying the military on election days raise the issue of insecurity as a predisposing reason for doing so. To support their position, such proponents point to the general insecurity in the country, which expose the lives of electoral officials and party agents to grave danger during elections.

According to them, military presence at strategic locations on election days restricts rigging of the polls through ballot snatching and irregular movement of election materials by politicians

Many believes that the success of the recent gubernatorial elections in Edo, Anambra, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo States, were because of deployments of the military which was applauded by the public and said the decision by the Federal Government for the deployment helped greatly in ensuring the successes achieved during those elections.

In Edo and Osun, where the APC won the elections, the party was quick to commend the military for saving the days for them. In Ekiti State where the PDP carried the day and Ondo State where the Labour Party, LP, won the polls, as well as Anambra State where the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, was the winner, those electoral successes were credited in great parts to the presence of the military, which frustrated any forms of planned rigging in those states.

What is however causing the heightened concerns over the proposed deployment of the military in the March and April polls appears to be the recent revelation and the alleged release of a tape, purporting to contain details of the plot by the military and some bigwigs of the PDP on how the Ekiti State gubernatorial election was allegedly rigged with the collaboration of the military.

The APC has been consistent and unequivocal in opposing the plans by the Federal Government to deploy the military on election days across the country. The party maintains that far from the reason of ensuring violence free polls as is being mounted by the PDP, the ruling party has other sinister purposes for the military.

APC to press down their argument, sent a letter dated February 16, 2015 to the INEC Chairman, Professor Atahiru Jega, formally stating its opposition to the matter. APC also backed the letter up with accompanying legal authorities from both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.

The letter, which was written by the Director, Legal Services of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Chukwuma- Machukwu Ume (SAN), was addressed to Jega, copies of which were also made available to President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Security Adviser, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff and the National Chairmen of the APC and the PDP.

APC in the letter called the attention of the Federal Government to a judgment delivered on January 29, 2015 by Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court Sokoto and another by the Court of Appeal, Abuja, on February 16, 2015 which overruled the use of military in elections.

The letter read in parts, “I am sure all well-meaning Nigerians share your deep seated concern on the militarisation of our elections. It is therefore imperative your good office and commission ensure, henceforth, and until there is an enabling Act of the National Assembly, the court orders are obeyed and armed forces personnel are never again deployed in any form of security supervision of our elections.”

Justice Aikawa of the Federal High Court in his judgment on the suit marked: FHC/S/CS/29/2014 among others, restrained the President and Commandeering- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and INEC “from engaging the service of the Nigerian armed forces in the security supervision of elections in any manner whatsoever in any part of Nigeria, without the Act of the National Assembly.”

On its part, PDP continued to maintain that the planned deployment of military personnel on election days across the country is simply to ensure that there is no form of electoral violence, such that were witnessed in the country in 2011, particularly in the north, which claimed the lives of many innocent Nigerians and the destruction of properties.

According to the party, the reason that the APC and its leaders do not want soldiers deployed is to be able to intimidate voters and unleash violence on the polity once they lose the elections.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh in a statement said the position of PDP clear on the issue. He also called on INEC to collaborate the necessity of the security in view of its past experiences in conducting elections in the country.

 “We want adequate security measures to be put in place for the polls. The deployment of security is for the INEC to decide. The PDP is not a security agency or the electoral umpire. Whatever INEC and the security agencies decide on we are going to abide by it,” Metuh said.

PDPPCO Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, stated that “The attempt by the APC to discredit the use of soldiers by promoting some misleading audio footage of the so-called rigging during the Ekiti governorship election, in which one Captain Sagir Koli was the dramatis personae, is childish and absurd.”

According to Fani-Kayode, “The Federal Government deployed soldiers in the Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections and all those elections were devoid of violence. Remarkably, the APC won in Edo and Osun; APGA won in Anambra; LP won in Ondo while PDP won only in Ekiti State.”

He said, “The basis on which the APC is agitating for the exclusion of soldiers from the election, by sponsoring court cases, is patently dubious and untenable. The reason that the APC and its leaders do not want soldiers deployed is to be able to intimidate voters and unleash violence on the polity once they lose the elections. They know that it would be far more difficult for them to do that when soldiers are on the streets.”

Some groups and individuals are already expressing opposition to the involvement of the military in the coming polls. This is apparently in such peoples’ suspicion that President Goodluck Jonathan hopes to use the military to aid his re-election attempt. Those who are opposed to military deployment plan appeared to be ignorant of the fact that the country is sitting on a keg of gun powder.

Political analysts said that there was no known law that excludes the military from being involved in civil rule; rather, the Nigerian constitution empowers the military to carryout responsibilities in aid of civil authorities, in addition to its primary duty of protecting the country from external aggression.

The Nigerian Army and Air Force have made it clear that they are ready for the elections. Both the land and air troops are ready to provide a conducive environment for the electorates to vote on the election days. The military has also assured of safe movement of sensitive electoral materials as well as electoral officers. The military has never said that it would supervise elections as it is never its duty, rather the Nigerian Army through its then Director of Army Public Relations, DAPR, Brig-Gen. Olajide Laleye, said they would provide support for the polls.

“Equally, the Nigerian Army seizes this opportunity to reassure Nigerians of its preparedness to support relevant agencies in the successful conduct of the 2015 general election”.