In announcing what may be considered the final 2019 election arrangements, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, pointed to the enormous tasks before the commission: conducting elections for 1,558 constituencies made up of one presidential constituency, 36 governorship constituencies, 109 senatorial districts, 360 federal constituencies, 991 state Assembly constituencies, 6 Area Council chairmen as well as 62 FCT councilors.
As it were, the elections, is being contested by 91 political parties, with 73 Presidential candidates. As at yesterday, eligible voters were still collecting permanent voters card, PVC to enable them exercise their franchise. INEC has also been distributing none sensitive materials and almost all states and local Government INEC offices have taken delivery of all they need to conduct peaceful elections across the country. They have also been accrediting both local and foreign observers to independently monitor the polls. They have had several meetings with all relevant stakeholders ranging from security officials, media, civil society and the political parties themselves. INEC, therefore, deserves commendation for these arrangements so far.
Implication of the near-perfect state of readiness of INEC is the fact that officials of the commission have been on their toes since the last general elections in 2015, ensuring that its efforts and plans crystalised to successful 2019 elections. INEC has piloted and implemented systems that will be deployed in the polls. These systems have helped political parties to put their houses in order ahead of the Saturday polls. One of the new measures introduced by INEC that is worth mentioning here is the fixing of election dates into the nation’s electoral calendar. It helped to engender certainty and enabled all stakeholders to prepare adequately for elections, as is the case in many mature and developing democracies. Even when some persons had suggested shifting of election dates, INEC resisted them till date, sticking to its calendar.
For the 2019 elections INEC, has perfected plans to ensure that People Living with Disability exercise their franchise without any hindrance as they have introduced sign languages and communication techniques to aid the full participation of Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) in the 2019 general elections. INEC also ensured that political parties mainstream PLWDs into party decision-making processes and leadership.
The Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC), for the accreditation of voters, and the Smart Card Reader (SCR), for the verification of voters’ biometrics, have been largely successfully deployed since 2015 as well as the Governorship elections in Ondo, Ekiti and Osun. There are great improvements to these, such as the system that now permits simultaneous accreditation and voting, which sure to make even bigger differences in 2019 polls. With this new time-saving system, the voter now visits the polling station only once (instead of twice), gets accredited and then votes. Again, this is quite laudable.
As Nigerians go to polls on Saturday, we should ensure we eschew violence and all untoward actions that may cast aspersions on the integrity of the process. Electoral violence will not be tolerated by security operatives which are set to deal decisively with anyone who plans to perpetrate violence or electoral fraud.
Much hope is also placed in the recent introduction by INEC of an electronic collation system which picks all Polling Unit (PU) results, collates them up to the required level and takes a photograph of the same PU results signed by the Presiding Officers.
To prove the independence of INEC, it has consistently maintained that the APC in Rivers and Zamfara State failed to field candidates for the Governorship election by the deadline it fixed for conduct of primaries. This issue is being contested by the APC but the insistence of INEC on its ground is a clear demonstration of its loyalty to the constitution of Nigeria and not to the ruling party, which is highly commendable.
There is therefore, the need for Nigerians to have faith in the system as they move to have free and fair polls next Saturday and March 2, 2019. We should ensure that we all work with INEC in order for them to succeed. The success of INEC is the success of all Nigerians, so it is important we play our roles on election days and leave the rest for the umpire to decide.
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• Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State.
