2027: Varsity Don advocates transparency, accountability checkers for credible elections

Ahead of 2027 general elections, a lecturer in the department of Political Science and International Relations, Nile University of Nigeria, Dr. Iroro S Izu, has recommended that transparency and accountability checkers should be developed and used to gauge the operational credibility of the key stakeholders in election process in the country.

The major stakeholders in election enterprise include; the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Political parties, media, security personnel and voters.

The University Don also called on electoral umpire to create more polling units that will make voting centers easier, convenient and much more accessible.

Speaking Tuesday in Abuja at a political dialogue on election credibility threshold in Nigeria, organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), Dr. Izu said credibility of an election entails openness of the system, the conscious assurance of an all-dimensional involvement of different strata and gender of society, making it such that the system is non-discriminatory, non-judgemental and non-prejudicial, emphasising predictability, certainty, probity, measurability of actions, inactions and reactions vis-a-vis the extant electoral laws and relevant institutional frameworks.

According to him, it is in everyone’ s interest for elections to be conducted in a manner that meets basic credibility threshold, one which will be built on a system of transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, empathy, accessibility, convenience, security, flexibility, systematism and predictability.

Izu said: “That transparency and accountability checkers should be developed and used to gauge the operational credibility of the key stakeholders (INEC, Political parties, media, security personnel and voters) in the election enterprise in Nigeria;

“That existing constituencies should undergo new demarcation so as to create more polling units that will make voting centers easier, convenient and much more accessible;

“As recommended by the Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Commission, that INEC should be unbundled to several independent entities for purposes of efficiency and effectiveness to the end that one of such entities will deal with election offences, another will deal with political parties conduct, especially in the area of primary elections; also, a third entity could be in charge of massive re-orientation of citizens, politicians, security personnel and other stakeholders;

“Civil Society Organizations with vast experience in election matters should be engaged in the training and retraining of election workers and in election monitoring. INEC as an impartial player in the election enterprise could use any measure legal to execute and achieve its mandate.

Traditional rulers and religious leaders should be co-opted in sensitization campaigns and appeals to the consciences of all stakeholders involved in the election usiness.

The law should be guaranteed to ensure the conduct of all elections in one day to avoid to continued subtle disenfranchisement of many as a result of lethargy or voter fatigue.

“INEC should make it an official policy to prioritize the use of Political Science and Statistics graduates in election duties. This is because most times INEC staffers who engage in questionable dealings during elections do so out of ignorance of how the process should work. It is true that they are trained, but most times the training period is too short, abrupt and inconclusive.”

In his welcome address, Director of strategy at Centre LSD, Mr. Itia Otabor, said through the policy dialogue, the Centre aim to identify practical solutions to challenges facing credible elections and develop a roadmap for implementing reforms that will strengthen the integrity of electoral processes.

“We will explore innovative approaches to voter registration, voting systems, and electoral dispute resolution, among other critical areas.

“In order to implement Centre LSD approach to elections work, the Centre will adopt the electoral cycle approach and embed election-related activities into a holistic cycle, focusing on pre-, during, and post-election phases.”

While some speakers at the event lamented dangerous act of riging, votes-buying, thuggery, and other challenges characterized Nigeria elections, others believed the country has made progress in election process.

For Dr. Otive Igbuzor, it doesn’t speak well of the country’s democracy that nine million Nigerians representing 26 percent of the country’s 200 million population played the decisive role in the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the polls.

He noted: “So that pillar of our work is very important for us. Why is it that people don’t vote in Nigeria, and what can we do to make them vote? And then the last pillar, pillar four, is monitoring key stakeholders in the electoral process. And this, what we are doing today, is dealing with the credibility of elections.

“So we want to have indices to measure credibility. And our aspiration is that we will create an index, just like we have poverty index, so if there is election in U.S., we go to U.S., use the index to measure it. If there is election in Ghana, we go to Ghana, use the index to measure it. That is our aspiration.”

He said notwithstanding the challenges associated with democratic rule in the polity, it is still better than military rule.

For Ezenwa Nwagwu of the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Center in Africa (PAACA), much has been achieved in the electioneering process in the country since the return to Democratic rule in 1999.

He cited the deployment of BIVAS which has curtailed the challenges associated with votes rigging and manipulation as inroads recorded within the period under review.

Acknowledging that the adoption of the Justice Uwais recommendation is a welcome development, he remarked that in dealing with the credibility threshold of the elections, solutions to be proffered either administratively or through the legislature should factor in the contemporary nature of the challenges faced in the electoral system.