INEC under the watch of Prof Mahmoud Yakubu has metamorphosed to a cesspit of corruption where the highest bidder in a contest is awarded victory. The commission seems to be more corrupt than corruption itself.
The commission was under public scrutiny for suspected malpractice in the 2023 general elections where victories were awarded to those that could afford the ‘fee’, and now facing another charge of corruption from the public court in respect of the just concluded gubernatorial election in Edo State.
Reports have highlighted similar findings of manipulations and frauds in the entire electoral system, particularly, in cases of Adamawa, Kano, Sokoto, Lagos and now Edo State.
In the case of Plateau State, it was the Court of Appeal that murdered democracy on suspected corrupt practice under the guise of No Structure against the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidates for State House and National Assemblies victories.
PDP gubernatorial candidate, Barr Caleb Mutfwang, escaped the weight of compromised judgment of the Court of Appeal by the whiskers having reached the Supreme Court where judgment of the Appeal Court was faulted, rubbished, trashed and thrown to the public dustbin for scavengers.
Till this moment, nothing seems to have changed in the modus operandi of Election Tribunals, Court of Appeal and INEC, after several complications in the 2023 presidential election that awarded victory to a clear loser enmeshed in several scandals.
Despite the humongous amount of public funds expended on advocacy, seminars, workshops, trainings, and other electoral materials, INEC’s claimed efforts seem superficial, aimed at convincing the electorates for free and fair elections.
However, come the election time, the story changes from free and fair to manipulated election. INEC’s reputation has been marred by manipulation and fraud. Allegations of results tempering, vote buying, compromise and mal-functional voting systems such as BIVAS and IREV usually surface and defended with clumsy reasons for deceit to cleverly justify manipulation and corruption.
Lack of trust by stakeholders and voters questioning the integrity of elections under INEC’s watch has not solved the problem. Instead, most of INEC staffers and the recruited ad-hoc staff believe in making fast bucks at election time to the detriment of credible election. In the belief of INEC, if Satan contests an election against a societal respected Cleric or a Clergy and has the right bribe to offer for manipulation, INEC is ready to announce him (Satan) the winner without looking back.
Despite the controversy, INEC’s mission remains to serve as an independent and effective Electoral Management Organization, to conduct free, fair and credible election for sustainable democracy in Nigeria, and to uphold autonomy, transparency, integrity and credibility.
Inconsistent results discrepancies between declared results and the actual votes cast have been witnessed putting a serious disservice in their actions.
Like an Octopus, INEC appears to change color and texture to blend in with its surroundings, hiding its true intention of rigging the election before even the elections are held.
They tend to know the winner even before the d-day of election after suspectedly lining their pockets with huge bribes from contestants.
This perceived ability to manipulate the electoral process has overtime eroded trust and confidence in anything INEC.
In most cases, this happens in the build-up to elections, in pretentious spaces to show that they are preparing to conduct veritable elections.
But in real sense, those efforts seem rhetorical rhythm where the electorates are cajoled to believe in free and fair elections in vacuum.
Boom, a few hours to the election proper, the Octopus called INEC, begins to change itself with discordant tunes alongside the security operatives.
The reoccurrence is a pointer to a faulty institution amidst deaf ears paid by those leaders in power who would have fixed the lapses but always choose to allow it remain so because they are a major beneficiary of the corruption and nepotism.
Those intelligent creatures called INEC and Security Operatives often hide in crevices, under rocks, or within coral reefs like an Octopus during election, where they easily change color and texture.
INEC and Security Operatives are now institutions perceived by the electorates as the albatross of credible election in Nigeria for their inabilities to change direction, and often hide in electoral foliage, using their color-changing abilities to blend in with the highest bidders and its branches in incumbent governments to rigout oppositions.
Every election year, there is a promise to uphold the integrity of the conduct of elections in Nigeria, by those Octopuses.
In his tasks to conduct elections in Nigeria, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu has always assured Nigerians of free, fair and credible elections but he has never conducted any since he was appointed to chair INEC by former President, Muhammadu Buhari. What convinced Buhari to have appointed Mahmoud Yakubu to chair INEC remains a mystery to many.
In contrast, Mahmoud’s INEC in connivance with security operatives contravene and are often accused of open manipulations by stakeholders, a development that has left voters bewildered and upset with electoral process.
In the recently concluded Edo State gubernatorial election for instance, Yiaga Africa, one of the accredited election observers was clear about the position of the election where it stated that at the collation of results, there was glaring case of compromise. Under the INEC gaffer, Mahmoud Yakubu, votes of the electorates will never count. Incidences of self-writing results, vote-buying and unexplainable malfunctioning of BIVAS and Irev on the day of elections are common indices for the lack of trust and confidence.
Security operatives in several submissions have been similarly accused where INEC, uses them to scare voters away when they are about to manipulate results in favor of who offered the highest amount.
Politicians give the directive and strategy, INEC plays the script, and the security operatives carry out the implementation with brutally spiced with primitiveness.
These three Octopuses are today, the main culprits in elections manipulations and the albatross of credible elections in Nigeria.
To restore the fading trust and confidence in the electoral system, the management of the present INEC should be disbanded and kept away from anything to do with election matter. The newly constituted electoral body must be ready to address all shortcomings inherited and ensure transparent processes, open and verifiable voting systems, accountability, swift action against electoral malpractices, stakeholder engagement, collaborative efforts to strength electoral integrity no matter whose ox may be gored.
Only through genuine reform from sincere leadership can INEC regain its lost trust and confidence of Nigerians and the international community. But for now, even the most corrupt of the political class has no confidence and trust in anything INEC. It is a sad story all through!
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
