New Mandate, New Responsibilities for Nigeria’s Election Czar

Nigerians who are passionate about free and fair elections would be quite relieved that Prof Mahmood Yakubu has finally been confirmed as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second tenure. Prof. Yakubu has become the first INEC Chairman to be reappointed to the position since the commencement of the institution in its current form. He was first appointed in November 2015, taking over from Prof. Attahiru Jega. Many analysts feel Mahmood Yakubu has significantly improved on the strides of his predecessor.

This can be seen in the crafting of strategic plans for the commission, reviewing of the INEC Gender Policy, holding of stakeholder meetings, and signing of Peace Accord by candidates during the general election and off-cycle governorship polls. He also expanded the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to incorporate representatives of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

In his first tenure, the commission commenced the INEC Framework on Access and Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Electoral Process. The framework achieved the accreditation of Disability Persons Organizations for electoral observation. Before his administration, only a few organisations namely the Inclusive Friends Association, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, and the Albino Foundation, received accreditation as members of the Civil Society Election Situation Room. However, during Yakubu’s tenure, many more were accredited. Also, INEC currently provides the Braille Ballot Guide to people living with visual impairment. Written Election Day instructions are also given to people with hearing disabilities to aid communication, along with magnifying glasses for persons with albinism.

Furthermore, Yakubu is the first INEC chairman to conduct elections in the course of a wide-ranging pandemic like COVID 19 in Nigeria. His commission initiated a new policy framework titled ‘Policy on Conducting Elections in the Context of COVID-19 pandemic’. The policy entailed the filing of candidates’ nomination by political parties, authorization of observer groups, while party agents and reporting were done electronically. Voters were subjected to temperature checks, social distancing, and the wearing of face masks when voting. Three elections were conducted during the era of COVID-19. The first was the Nasarawa Central State Constituency by-election on Saturday, August 8, 2020. Two off-cycle governorship elections were also conducted in Edo on September 19 and Ondo on October 10, 2020. These elections were considered highly credible due to the INEC’s innovation of the election results viewing portal known as IRev. The portal allowed citizens to track authentic election results as they were being announced from the polling units to the ward, local government, and state collation centres.

Yakubu disclosed during his screening that the Commission will make efforts to obtain the needed materials ahead of electoral polls to achieve success in the future elections. ‘We have to undertake 1508 activities in 814 days for us to deliver in the 2023 general elections. We had only two years, two months and two weeks,’ he told the panel. He requested the construction of 37 strong rooms across the country to forestall any future attempt by criminals to destroy electoral materials. He held on to his desire that in all elections that would be conducted by the Commissioner with his supervision, every vote must count.

The INEC Chairman also explored the application of technology to the electoral process. This has brought about the addition of technological innovations to the previous ones. Some of the innovations are simultaneous accreditation and voting. This allows voters to visit the polling station only once instead of twice, get accredited, and vote. Unlike previous elections, it saved a lot of time for voters and really enhanced the performance of Smart Card Readers (SCRs).

However, the first tenure of Prof. Yakubu was not without some negative patches.  He was not up to one month in office when the Kogi State gubernatorial election was held. Midway into the election, Prince Abubakar Audu, who was the incumbent governor seeking a second term mandate died. The election was declared inconclusive on November 16, 2015. Many had expected a rerun of the polls. Unfortunately, the allegation that had been making the rounds concerning INEC’s bias towards APC’s Yahaya Bello reportedly led to the pushing aside of Audu’s running mate, James Faleke, who, under normal electoral circumstances, should have inherited or earned the votes of his late running mate.

The January 2016 Bayelsa polls also witnessed another inconclusive election. INEC, under Yakubu’s watch, justified the outbreak of violence in Southern Ijaw local council out of the eight local councils in the state. Nevertheless, when speaking on his inclination to inconclusive polls, Yakubu stated that whenever violence impeded his officials from carrying out their duties, the best thing to do was to cancel the exercise. He further stated that declaring an election as inconclusive happens when the number of cancelled ballots gotten from Permanent Voting Cards (PVC) surpassed the number of votes separating the winner and the first runner up.

Read Also: 2023 Elections: Taking Advantage of the e-Voting Option

Critics also condemned the elections held in 2019, especially the use of Smart Card Readers in the biometric accreditation of voters.  The success rate of the Smart Card Readers declined from 54 percent under Jega to 19 percent under the Yakubu leadership. Although the increasing disdain for election was blamed on the public’s lack of trust in the present dispensation, the INEC chairman was accused of failing to comply with his promise on providing a Central Server transmission of results before the 2019 elections. Well-known election monitors, such as the African Union (AU), European Union (EU), and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) attributed it to INEC’s short-sightedness in foreseeing drawbacks that brought about the postponement of the 2019 general elections six hours to the commencement of voting.

The debate on Yakubu’s re-appointment has really generated mixed reactions. Nevertheless, his reappointment can be viewed as an opportunity to initiate new reforms that will ensure the success of INEC as the nation hopes to see what innovations he will add to Nigeria’s electoral system in the next five years.

Peace Omenka

Photo Credit: The Guardian