Though some world leaders have already sent congratulatory messages to the Presidentelect, there have been fears that the February 25 poll was not free and fair, that there was, indeed, irregularities in the presidential polls as per political thugs intim
LNearly everyone agreed, with the exception of the APC of course. Abdullahi’s counterpart in the APC, Felix Morka described the protest as unfortunate. The PDP, he said, “had to resort to a public disturbance instead of focusing on the court case it filed to contest the results of Saturday’s presidential election. On a general note, the PDP lost the election to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. That is why he is the president-elect. The PDP has indicated an interest in going to court to challenge the election. One will hope that they stick to following a lawful part in expressing whatever they may feel as a grievance in the outcome of the election.
“I am quite sure the PDP understands there are laws that govern public conduct in this country, hence the need to do nothing to instigate a crisis that is needless in the face of an election that was won by our candidate, now the presidentelect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.”
Chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group, Ibrahim Rafsanjani, does not feel the same way as Morka. In his view, protests marches against unfair election results are “part of the democratic culture, and as such should not be discouraged,” adding that “protests, when it is done through peaceful means, through non-violent means, is part of the democratic culture and therefore should not be discouraged if people have valid reasons to do that.”
In tandem with Rafsanjani’s views on protests in a maturing democracy, Idayat Hassan, Executive Director of Centre for Democracy and Development, noted that PDP’s “protest is a signal of a maturing democracy. There is the freedom to dissent in the Nigerian constitution and in previous elections, APC also protested. It’s telling us that democracy is maturing, and this will be a big event especially if all the serving governors show up. We only hope there will be no use of unnecessary force by the security agents to avoid the breakdown of law and order.”
Though some world leaders have already sent congratulatory messages to the President-elect, there have been fears that the February 25 poll was not free and fair, that there was, indeed, irregularities in the presidential polls as per political thugs intimidating voters and doctoring results electronically.
“It is clear that the electoral process as a whole on February 25 failed to meet Nigerians’ expectations,'' Ambassador Mary Berth Leonard of the US has written. “As I said numerous times prior to the elections, Nigeria has accomplished much in just the two-plus decades since the return to democracy, and a gradual improvement in the quality of its elections in that time constitutes one of those accomplishments.”
She is not alone. A London-based institute, Chatham House, which some of the presidential candidates were invited prior to the elections, has come out to openly criticise the polls. Writing for the think-tank about the election in Nigeria, Leena Hoffman said that “INEC’s performance and controversies over these results mean that the electoral reforms and lessons declared to have been learned were not fully applied and, as an electoral body, it was significantly less prepared than it claimed.
“The logistical failures of INEC and widespread delayed opening of polling units meant that voters who showed up at the polls early were frustrated and many voters and INEC staff were not able to locate their polling units for several hours.”
“Less than half of eligible voters could participate in the elections, despite the commission’s N305 billion budgetary allocation. While Nigeria’s youth seemed energised leading up to the elections, it seems their ability to turn out is still being hugely constrained by how difficult and potentially dangerous it is to cast a vote in Nigeria.
“The INEC’s performance and controversies over these results mean that the electoral reforms and lessons declared to have been learned were not fully applied
INEC, the report continued, “failed to adhere to its own statements and guidelines, which derive from its laws, that election results would be uploaded to its portal using the BVAS directly from the polling unit in real-time for the public’s viewing…INEC’s sub-optimal performance must be taken seriously because Nigeria’s path to recovery and stability must follow the way of accountability and electoral integrity.”
It is the same complaint that Nigerians – PDP, LP, NNPP and political analysts - have now laid squarely at the doorstep of INEC, for aiding the ruling party in its electoral victory despite widespread disenchantment with its policies. Translation? Widespread cheating and intimidation of voters.
Does that, in any way, explain why there wasn’t any spontaneous jubilation across the country soon after Prof Mahmood declared Tinubu winner of the polls?
There might be some sense in that. It is a common belief that when people cheat to win in competitions, the spontaneous jubilation that follows never quite happens. And psychologists have two answers, “neither very noble. People cheat to get ahead, even if they don't qualify for the advancement and even if they can't win a fair competition. Such people don't care about anyone else but themselves.”