To Tackle Fraud in 2007 Elections

By

Victor E. Dike

vdike@cwnet.com

As the political gladiators are warming up for the 2007 elections many people appear preoccupied with the issue of whether or not Chief Obasanjo will vacate office in 2007, as the constitution dictates. Any person that is wishing for an extension of his term in office (a violation of the Constitution) should be arrested and treated as an enemy of Nigeria. The people should, instead, begin now to plan of ways to tackle election fraud that is normally perpetrated by the “big political rouges” and their godfathers. The magnitude of fraud that occurred in the 2003 elections was shocking, repulsive, unpatriotic and inexcusable and a shame for the “giant of Africa.” History may repeat itself in 2007 if adequate mechanism is not put in place to check the menace.

The inability of the society to manage the challenges of crude political godfatherism contributed immensely to the rampant fraud, insecurity to life and property, decampment and political assassination. It is not enough for individuals to set up political parties and go to sleep. To increase their power the opposition parties need bold plans and ideas to increase their number and to guard against fraud in the upcoming elections. Thus without focusing on what matters they will wakeup from slumber in 2007 and cry fraud all over again. Threatening hell-fire and instigating mass action when one is rigged out is not a political game plan. Democracy is a serious undertaking that requires resources and serious minded individuals. This article, therefore, focuses on ways and means to tackle fraud in the 2007 elections.

A good starting point to tackle fraud and political godfatherism in future elections would be to restructure and strengthen the INEC, which is one of the commanding heights of Nigeria’s political institutions. In other word, the INEC should be truly independent with its budget and constitutional backing, etc. Thus Prof. Maurice Iwu (the new INEC boss), should work harder to accomplish this objective.

Others ways to manage the menace include:

1) Control the influence of money in politics but setting limits to individual and corporate contributions to political parties. Without this democracy may not be sustained in the society because the influence of money would curtail the people’s rights to participate in the political process.

2) Treat any person (political party) that participates in election fraud as a terrorist.

3) Compare fingerprints on the voters’ card with that at the polling center and individuals whose fingerprints did not tally should be denied the right to vote.

4) INEC should conduct civic and voter education seminars to inform the people of their political rights and voting procedures; this will improve the growth and development of democratic institutions in the society (New Nigerian, August 1, 2003);

5) Print only voters’ numbers on the voters card issued to voters and leave the voter’s name and number at the polling centers; then match each voter’s number with that at the polling center to ensure that they match.

6) Appoint people of proven integrity to serve on electoral tribunal; and those on that position should be paid well to avoid them taking bribes from election petitioners;

7) Attach voters’ photographs on voters’ cards, if possible and make ballot papers fraud-proof;

8) Employ state of the art technology to detect and reject multiple registrations and voting.

9) Begin voters’ registration drive on time to leave enough time to review logistic and plan for elections New Nigerian, August 1, 2003) and officials should ensure that enough voting materials are at every voting stations;

10) Discontinue with (or reduce) the use of ad-hoc staff and employ enough permanent INEC staff.

11) Use high ranking and reliable police officers (if necessary military officers) and security personnel to guard polling stations;

12) Set up permanent dates for elections and avoid crowding up the schedule. This will enable the society to become conscious of timetable and to prevent unnecessary election postponements.

13) Make and implement tougher laws to discourage political assassinations and intimidation, thugs and violence and electoral frauds. To disqualify political parties that encourages or engages in political assassinations and violence and provides “a level playing field” to all contestants. Any person (or party) that violates the electoral laws should go be punished because no corrupt and chaotic and lawless society could conduct free and fair elections.

14) Use electronic voting to avoid votes’ tampering at collating centers and from the movement of ballot boxes to other locations after elections, etc.

15) Improve the peoples’ living standards because poverty could lead to corruption.

16) Redress the social injustices strewn all over the society because injustice breeds anger and violence and thus social instability.

17) Install surveillance cameras at each polling station to track fraudulent activities and people of integrity should control the device.

18) Fasten ballot boxes on poles in secured rooms to avoid crooks and thugs from snatching them from polling officers.

19) Restructure and nurture the nation’s essential political institutions (Police, Judiciary, etc).

20) The people should demand accountability from the politicians, by using their votes wisely. They reject political parties and politicians that are not issues-based. This would make politics a game for people with ideas and not open to “area boys” and “area girls.”

21) Judges that declare losers of elections the winners (or granting frivolous Ex-parte orders (one-sided or partisan point of view) should be sacked without delay.

22) The duties of the court and electoral tribunal should be clearly defined. And the electoral tribunals should be allowed time to settle any election disputes before swearing in the winners in the National Assembly or State Assembly. Electoral bodies and the police should continuously review their security plans to fix any loophole.

23) Political parties involved in elections should be represented at every polling station to authenticate election results.

24) Reduce the term of for State and Federal House of Representatives to 2 years (as obtained in some advanced democracies) to enable the people to timely replace those that are not serving the people well.

25) Set up credible watchdog agencies to supervise the activities of the INEC during elections.

26) Use Identity Card (to check under aged voters and weed out non-citizens);

27) The Chairman of INEC should not to be controlled by the presidency (eliminate any other conditions that would politicize the position of the chairman of INEC and other staff). The INEC should be fully independent (have its Budget) to avoid being manipulated by the presidency or the National Assembly.

Democracy would die should the society allow a repeat of “the politics of unreason” of the 2003 in 2007 (preventing the people from participating in the political process.) This could lead to sociopolitical instability and thereby giving credence to the US intelligence report that has predicted the disintegration of Nigeria. The people should therefore be conscious of the character they should vote for in the 2007 elections. Ethnic politicians must be made to understand that the unity of Nigeria takes precedence over sectional and personal aggrandizement because politics is all about service to the people. Therefore, the people should work harder to reclaim Nigeria from the “crooks” by refusing to be bribed and manipulated because how the issue of fraud and corruption is tackled will determine the outcome of the 2007 elections and the future of political democracy in Nigeria.

 

Victor E. Dike, CEO, Center for Social Justice and Human Development (CSJHD), in Sacramento, California, is the author of Fraud or Democracy? The Presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, 2003-2007 [Forthcoming, 2007].