Nigeria without Electoral commissions – By Dr. Leonard K. Shilgba

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, INEC Politics, Leonard K. Shilgba, PhD, NNP Columnists Friday, December 14th, 2012

By Dr. Leoanrd K. Shilgba | Yola, Nigeria | Dec. 14, 2012 – The Nigerian constitution makes provision for national and state “independent” electoral commissions to organize, undertake, and supervise all elections under their
specified jurisdictions, and to compile and maintain a register of voters. The
Nigerian situation is so peculiar. The electoral commissions are the main
culprits in the crime of election irregularities and fraud. For too long the
Nigerian electorate has either overlooked their grotesque culpability or
lightly regarded it.

In my state, Benue, a shameless display of impunity was staged by a professor of
criminology, Professor Phillip Ahire, who had served as secretary of the Uwais
electoral reform committee that was set up by President Yar’Adua to address the
fraudulent electoral exercises in Nigeria. On November 24, 2012, Professor
Ahire presided over the conduct of elections to local councils in the state in
which the ruling party, the PDP, scored a perfect hundred per cent result,
winning council chairman seats in all the twenty-three local councils of the
state. The opposition party, with not less than 10 members in the
twenty-nine-member state house of assembly, simply gave up in the face of this
day light coup against the people’s will. The professor thereafter went to his
church in Makurdi to “give thanks” for the “successful” conduct of elections. He
thanked the people for their “prayers” that made the elections “successful.”
The people could not hold their peace in church any longer. They shouted back,
“Liar!” It took a while to calm down the people. What audacity! What
provocation!

If the Nigerian people have had their electoral choices ignored repeatedly with impunity, it is
because the electoral commissions and their staffers have always supplied the
weapons for this coup. For a professor of criminology to be so brazenly
involved in such a crime as robbing the people of their supposed right to
choose the people they would like to lead them, it makes me wonder what sort of
things he researched on about criminology. I have learned that Professor Ahire
is a church elder. Shame on religion in Nigeria! I would not blame the
politicians; rather, I blame the referees of elections in Nigeria. The Benue
example I have given is typical of conduct of elections in Nigeria, with only a
few exceptions.

Do we need electoral commissions in the form that they exist today? Is it wrong to stage a
counter coup when you have been overthrown by a group of mutineers? If the
Nigerian people should decide to go wild one day against perceived electoral
fraud against their choices, would that be wrong? Oh, they say two wrongs don’t
make a right. I understand that dictum. But I ask, is it wrong to take steps to
defend yourself when there is no other way? Electoral commissions in Nigeria
declare whom they will as the “winner” in an election contest. The ruling
party, through its dominance in the legislature, fixes a 180 day- limitation on
electoral dispute litigations; the judiciary, as a complicit player, encourages
and permits delays until that time lapses, and justice is denied. The people
are left seething in anger. What other options do the people have other than a
violent reaction? When people have come to lose confidence in a constitutional
process, this should be seen as a harbinger of violence. When justice is
perceived to have been denied repeatedly, and the people, because they have no
hope in the courts, decide not to go to court anymore, one of two must happen.
Violence shall soon erupt or open rebellion against “authority” will happen.
Withdrawal of support from an illegal authority is certain. And there are ways
of doing this.

The people may constitute
“Enforcing Defenders” (EDs) and refuse to pay taxes.
The people may refuse call to
“cooperation”.
The people may withhold any
information, ideas, vision, and help that those forcefully and illegally
occupying positions of authority may need.
Gang groups may emerge
comprising those who feel cheated, to terrorise.

Is Nigeria genuinely ready for any of the above? Do the TIPs (Thieves In Power) truly
underestimate the possibilities in the Nigerian?

It is my strong view that Nigeria can do without her “independent” electoral commissions. Each
town, precinct, and village should have its election committees during any
election. Members of such committees shall be representatives of candidates or
political parties involved in such elections, local youth group
representatives, local women group representatives, local labour
representatives, student representatives, the disabled representatives, civil
groups and intellectual representatives, all resident in such town, precinct,
or village. The committee shall be formalized and put on oath in the respective
local government areas by the local government chief judge or magistrate. Funding
of elections shall be done through budgetary processes of the respective
legislatures.

At the local council level, the local councils shall approve funds directly to the election committees in the towns and
villages in the local government area. For state elections, the state houses of
assembly shall approve state funds for the elections, which shall be sent to
the local councils for distribution. For national elections, the national
assembly shall approve federal funds for the elections, which shall be sent to
the local election committees through the state houses of assembly. In
addition, political parties, through their local chapters, shall be free to
make donations for logistics and allowances for the committee members. Election
results shall be announced by those committees on the same day of elections without
necessity for transmission to any collation centres, and that would be final. Disputes
of election results should be made with respect to specified towns, precincts,

or villages, and the respective election committees should have the
responsibility of defending the results in a formal court of law. Where fraud
is proved, members of the committee should each get custodian sentencing of
between 10 and 15 years with no option of fine or parole or state pardon; in
addition, a bye election shall be conducted in such precinct, town, or village
by another election committee. Where an election committee is denied of funds
from sources I have specified, all legislators (from local to national levels)
within such precincts, towns, or villages shall lose their seats in the
respective legislative houses.

Election materials:

It shall be the responsibility
of each election committee to design an election process that best suits its
precinct, town, or village.
It shall be the sole
responsibility of an election committee to decide on which form of
identification to use to determine residents.
Lower age limit for voting
shall remain 18 years for the whole country.
There shall be a maximum of
three electoral materials—Electoral result sheet, which must be signed by at
least two-thirds of all members of the respective election committee to make
the result valid; electronic register of all voters who have registered to vote
at the precinct, town, or village; and ballot papers (where applicable).
The printing of ballot papers
(if such would be used rather than some electronic device) must be done locally
by the respective election committee, if feasible, or within the respective
state.
The voter register shall be
compiled by each election committee during each election, and must be completed
at most one month before election. The voter register must include exactly one of the following for each voter—Driver’s
license number, international passport number, national identification number, and
state identification number. If a voter has none of these, he or she is not
qualified to vote in Nigeria. There shall be no voter’s card. On Election Day,
the voter must present the identification card they used to register before
casting a vote.

At the end of each election process, the election committee shall render account to the
Finance committee of the respective house of assembly. If cleared, it shall
then stand dissolved after conclusion of all related litigations on electoral
disputes. A formal ceremony of dissolution and absolution shall be conducted by
the respective chief judge of the state. All unspent funds shall be paid into
the account of the state for public use.

If we don’t get to the point where the choices of voters are not excluded from governance, a
forceful overthrow of the Tips must take place in order to rescue Nigeria. This
is a grave possibility we must not ignore.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of
Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria (www.aun.edu.ng) and chairman of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org}

TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356 EMAIL: shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org.

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