How postponement created doubts over Nigeria’s elections

Azuka Onwuka

There was something unsettling, destabilising and embarrassing
about the announcement by the Independent National Electoral
Commission that the long-awaited 2019 elections were postponed by
one week.

The first reason was that the postponement came just a few hours
to the commencement of voting on February 16. People had taken all
the necessary decisions concerning the elections. Those who resided
in towns or states far from their places of residence had travelled
out to vote. They had expended money, time and other resources for
the sake of the election. Those who transacted businesses on
Saturday had shelved all that because of the elections, and
therefore lost the expected revenue. And there were also petty
traders who had invested in products like drinks, water, and snacks
they would sell close to polling units – these traders saw their
hopes dashed. Most schools had closed and students in boarding
schools taken home by their parents and guardians. The airports,
seaports as well as all Nigerian borders were closed.

According to the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, Mr Muda Yusuf, the postponement of the presidential
election by INEC cost the nation about $1.2bn because of the
disruption of activities across the states.

If the postponement had occurred days before the scheduled day,
people would have adjusted to it. Even up to two days to the
elections, the Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, was still
assuring Nigerians that INEC was fully ready for the elections.

The second point was that it occurred in the dead of the night:
about 2am. People associate things done late in the night as
sinister because they are shrouded in secrecy. Nigerians woke up on
Election Day to hear that the elections had been postponed. It was
too abrupt. And for an election many were eager to have concluded,
it was a huge disappointment.

There were also those who had cancelled and shifted social
events such as weddings, burials, and the like from the original
date of the elections. They moved these events to this coming
Saturday, on the assumption that it would be free. Now they have to
shift their events with no compensation from any quarters.

There was the fear that the postponement could be a sign that
INEC would not be able to conduct a credible election. Before the
elections, many people had expressed fears that INEC did not seem
capable of conducting an election in which the electoral materials
would get to all voting areas in time, and the election would be
conducted seamlessly, results collated transparently, and final
results announced truthfully.

Even though INEC chairman blamed the weather and logistics for
the postponement, he also noted that sabotage compounded the
problem. He said inter alia: “Apart from these logistical
challenges, we also faced what may well be attempts to sabotage our
preparations. In a space of two weeks, we had to deal with serious
fire incidents in three of our offices in Isiala Ngwa South Local
Government Area of Abia State, Qu‘an Pan Local Government Area of
Plateau State and our Anambra State office at Awka.

“In all three cases, serious disruptions were occasioned by the
fire, further diverting our attention from regular preparations to
recovery from the impact of the incidents. In lsiala Ngwa South,
hundreds of PVCs were burnt, necessitating the recompiling of the
affected cards and reprinting in time to ensure that the affected
voters are not disenfranchised. I am glad that all the cards were
quickly reprinted and made available for collection by their
owners.

“ln Qu’an Pan Local Government Area, our entire office was
razed, destroying all the materials prepared for the elections;
printed register of voters, ballot boxes, voting cubicles and
several electricity generating sets. Registration Areas and over
I00 polling units were affected by the fire. We recovered quickly
and have since replaced everything destroyed. In addition, we
secured a suitable building from which to conduct the
elections.

“Perhaps, the most serious was the fire incident in our Anambra
State office at Awka, which destroyed over 4,600 Smart Card Readers
being prepared for the elections. These Card Readers take at least
six months to procure. Despite this setback, we have practically
recovered from this by mopping up every available spare SCR across
the country and within 24 hours delivered them for elections to
hold in Anambra State.”

However, while INEC was being blamed for the postponement,
allegations were peddled back and forth between the two key
political parties: the ruling All Progressives Congress and the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party. The PDP accused the APC of
trying to sabotage the elections by not allowing government
agencies like the Central Bank of Nigeria to cooperate with INEC in
the delivery and storage of electoral materials, with the hope of
forcing INEC to postpone elections in some states and making the
APC re-enact what happened in the re-scheduled governorship
election in Osun State last year. The APC accused the PDP of
orchestrating the postponement because it was not ready for the
elections, citing the six-week election postponement the PDP as the
ruling party did in 2015 with insecurity as its reason.

The consequence of this postponement is that it worsened the
image of Nigeria as a country that finds it difficult to take care
of simple and routine tasks. It shocks the world that an
oil-producing giant like Nigeria cannot refine its crude oil and
has had to depend on importation of refined petroleum products for
decades. The same issue occurs in Nigeria’s inability to generate
and transmit electricity to the nation to oil the economy, or its
inability to maintain hospitals and provide adequate healthcare for
its citizens, or maintain its schools or roads or airports and so
on.

The argument raised by many is how INEC can be trusted to solve
all the problems that stalled the elections and be ready for the
elections in one week, when it could not solve all these problems
and be ready in four years. The accusations from both parties
against INEC have not helped matters. How independent is the
Independent National Electoral Commission? Can it withstand the
pressures from both parties and be neutral in such a critical
election? And what if INEC fails to live up to expectations? What
will be the consequences?

Nigerians have waited patiently and anxiously for these
elections, especially the presidential election. They believe that
it will decide the direction of Nigeria. Most Nigerians want it to
happen and be put behind them. Therefore, the image of Yakubu is at
stake to ensure that he and his electoral team do not disappoint
Nigerians. He has been given all he asked for. Nobody will listen
to any excuses for failure.