August 18, (THEWILL) — Presídent Bola Tinubu on Sunday commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for conducting a largely successful and hitch-free by-elections across 12 States of the Federation. The President also hailed his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, for cruising to victory in most of the states where the by-elections were held.
Of course, members of the APC and supporters would welcome President Tinubu’s statement, but not those who witnessed what truly transpired at the many polling booths where voting took place across the 12 states. To these ones, the conduct of the by-elections was far from ideal. Reports indicate that contrary to expectations the by-elections were marred by violence, vote-buying and open intimidation of voters in some of the states, particularly Ogun, Kaduna and Kano.
According to the reports, in Kano no fewer than 288 thugs armed with guns, machetes, bows and arrows, as well as other dangerous weapons, were arrested at the four local government areas where the by-elections held.
In Kaduna, security operatives arrested a suspected vote-buyer found with over N25 million in cash, allegedly meant to compromise the by-election taking place in parts of the state. In Ogun, two INEC officials and a chieftain of one of the participating political parties were arrested alongside others for positioning themselves in such a way as to compromise the by-election.
It is sad that at this stage in Nigeria’s Democratic development, nothing seems to have changed. Elections still cannot be conducted peacefully without the recurrence of violence, vote-buying, thuggery, snatching of ballot boxes and more, all of which constitute a constant source of embarrassment to the country.
The question is why has it been so difficult for government to check such factors permanently? Why has it not been able to deal severely with offenders, at least to serve as a deterrent to others?
If these issues still continue to dominate every election circle 26 years after transition from military to civil rule, it is safe to project that the general elections in 2027 holds no comforting news.
These issues are part of the larger challenges plaguing the corporate existence of the country. When citizens cannot freely and fairly choose their leaders and thugs compromised electoral officials collectively electoral outcomes, governance becomes the exclusive preserve of the rich.
A government so elected cannot be called democratic but an oligarchy. We condemn this gradual descent into a condition that may proved anarchic in the long run and call on the government, elected and appointed officials and various stakeholders to put their heads together and think of a peaceful solution to this ugly development that can only lead to a decay of the Nigerian society.
