Persistent Alleged Rigging Plans Of Ruling Party On The Slab
T• INEC Should Investigate Allegations — TMG • Nigerians Should Be Vigilant — CTA • APC Chairman’s Comment On BVAS Unfortunate — Ex- INEC director • INEC Obligated To Listen To Legitimate Complaints — Olurode • Wild Allegations Are Already A Sign Of Fatigue — APC
HREE months into the 2023 general elections, the persistent accusation by opposition political parties that the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC) is strategising to rig the elections has continued to raise dust in the polity.
But the ruling party has consistently denied it plans to rig next year’s polls or employ underhand tactics to continue to stay in power. Rather, the APC accused those raising the alarm of just crying wolf.
Last month, Nigeria’s opposition political parties under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political Parties ( CUPP) alleged the APC was plotting to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC), as well as tampering with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ( BVAS).
Earlier in September, CUPP also claimed that there were schemes to compromise the INEC voter register.
The body, at a press conference, in Abuja, claimed that the machinations were being perfected in 21 states where APC governors hold sway in the bid to favour the party.
Again, last Monday, CUPP claimed that the APC and its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu had concluded plans to transfer cash to voters via harvested bank accounts, stating it is a digital vote- buying method, and an alternative to circumvent the new naira design policy.
Addressing a press conference, the spokesman of CUPP, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, claimed that information available to the coalition shows that agents of the ruling party nationwide have harvested bank details of over ten million voters, using different platforms.
This plot, the coalition said, which has allegedly received approval at the highest level of the APC and its Presidential Campaign Council ( PCC) was designed in Imo State and exported to 21 other states of the federation.
According to him, the process requires the party’s agents to harvest names, account numbers, and Voters Identification Numbers, and Bank Verification Numbers of citizens for each polling unit on the understanding that money would be sent to each person by electronic means to purchase their votes.
Adding to the fears as raised by CUPP, was the statement credited to the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, when he received the Commonwealth delegation on the 2023 General Election at the party’s secretariat last Wednesday.
Adamu told his guests that he doubted if the introduction of BVAS for the transmission of election results would produce a fair outcome for the nation in the 2023 elections.
Adamu’s fear was also re- echoed by the party’s National Organising Secretary, Suleiman Argungu, who identified a stable power supply as one of the obstacles facing the innovation.
The APC national chairman disclaimed the reports, saying that he was misquoted, following the public outcry that trailed it.
As a result, the opposition parties threatened to petition the British High Commission and the United States Embassy to alert them of the alleged conspiracy, which would threaten the electoral process and regional stability. It, therefore, urged both embassies to keep vigilant eyes on the process as development partners.
While INEC has consistently told Nigerians that it was committed to conducting a free, fair, and credible poll that will usher in leaders that appeal to public sentiments, key stakeholders in the electoral system insisted that the concerns raised by CUPP and other well- meaning Nigerians cannot be dismissed.
The Chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group ( TMG), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, told The Guardian that the concerns raised by CUPP were legitimate and must be thoroughly investigated by authorities.
According to him, the country’s electoral process had gone through phases of trouble and rigging in the past, adding, “we cannot afford to go back to the old ways of doing things. “We cannot dismiss all these issues, because it is important we take the allegations very seriously and do the necessary investigation to make sure that they do not create avenues for people to undermine the elections. So, we can’t dismiss such an allegation unless it is investigated and found that it is not of any existence.
“But for now, we should take necessary action. The vote- buying allegation is not something anybody can dismiss because desperate politicians who have commercialised elections will definitely do everything possible to have their way. So instead of dismissing the alarm, we should be more proactive to prevent it from happening.”
He advised INEC to do whatever is within its capacity to protect the electoral process. He added: “For people collecting account numbers of prospective voters, there is little INEC can do about that because there are other institutions within the government that can detect that. If the government is determined to detect such transactions, it is possible to know the people who are responsible for them and the necessary actions taken against them.
“For now, based on the engagement INEC is having with critical stakeholders, we have no reason to believe that INEC is not ready for the 2023 elections. It is only when we get to the field, we will know the shortcomings. For now, we will continue to monitor, track and recommend positive suggestions.”
On his part, the Executive Director, Centre For Transparency Advocacy ( CTA), Faith Nwadishi, said that Nigerians should be vigilant to ensure that the concerns raised by the opposition do not come to pass.
She, nonetheless, said that INEC must be focused to give Nigerians free and fair elections.
Nwadishi said: “If the opposition parties have consistently raised alarm, there is a need for us to be vigilant to make sure that the concerns do not come to pass.
“It would be recalled that immediately after the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) elections, the Minister of State of the FCT asked INEC to do away with BVAS. They have seen how much progress we have had with BVAS, and desperate politicians are not happy with the development.
“So, if CUPP consistently raised fear, it is something we should worry about. Nigerians should be vigilant and ensure that the progress we have made with our electoral reforms stays.
“I call on INEC not to be distracted but to remain focused. On the issue of underage voters, this is the first time, that citizens are having unlimited access to the register and the needful has to be done with the worries raised.
“The underage voters should be removed so that we will know exactly how many people are on the voters’ register. Citizens should make objections lawfully.”
On the assemblage of account numbers for vote buying, Nwadishi said that the electoral act already criminalises vote buying.
“So, what we need to do is to get citizens whose account numbers have been collected to do a petition through a movement.
“The security agencies, especially the Department of State Security ( DSS) must be proactive. They shouldn’t wait until the citizens are calling out these politicians. They should carry out an investigation to arrest the culprits. Let them be proactive enough so that citizens will know that they are carrying out their responsibility.”
The spokesperson of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, ( NNPP), Agbo Major, said that Nigerians and INEC must not dismiss such allegations.
He also alleged that the ruling party has been perfecting plans to rig the elections because Nigerians have rejected the party.
Berating the APC national chairman for speaking against the BVAS, Major said: “You know that we are under a government that anything is possible. Nigerians have never had it this bad. This APC government has actually shown that it can do anything to frustrate our democracy. CUPP fears shouldn’t be left to CUPP to talk about it.”
He, however, expressed confidence in INEC conducting a free and fair election.