It is difficult to come to terms with the recent reprehensible attacks on the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in some parts of the country. It is not only barbaric; it is also retrogressive and disturbing. Penultimate week, for instance, arsonists simultaneously set the INEC offices in Abeokuta South Council in Ogun State and in Ede South Council in Osun State on fire. In the Abeokuta incident, INEC’s main building and movable assets such as 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones, 57 election bags, eight electric power generators and 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were destroyed. In Ede, a section of the INEC building and some furniture items were destroyed.
In July, the INEC office in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State was set ablaze by hoodlums. According to the INEC’s National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, the arsonists overpowered security guards, forced their way into the premises and set the building ablaze. He said the arsonists destroyed some ballot boxes, voting cubicles as well as office furniture and equipment.
In May 2021, similar attacks occurred in INEC offices in Igboeze South and Udeni Local Government Areas as well as the Enugu State Headquarters of the commission. Between February 2019 and May 2021, INEC noted that 41 of its offices were attacked in 14 states. Most of the attacks happened in Imo State and most of the culprits happen to be hoodlums and unknown gunmen. In the last few months, over 50 attacks on INEC offices were recorded.
Aside from the burning of INEC offices, hoodlums also attack political rallies. The most recent one was the attack on the campaign convoy of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in Maiduguri, Borno State, on November 9, 2022. One person reportedly died and over 100 others injured and hospitalised. The motives behind these attacks are not very clear yet. Perhaps, some politicians are afraid of losing the forthcoming election. Hence, they instigate attacks in order to instill fear in people and possibly scuttle the 2023 election. If people do not vote in volatile areas, definitely the election will be compromised.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, gave credence to this fact when he warned recently that insecurity might affect the work of the commission. That is why the United States and the United Kingdom recently expressed concerns over these attacks. The UK Development Director, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Chris Pycroft, and the US Consul General, Mr. Will Stevens, noted at separate forums in Nigeria last week that the attacks posed serious danger to the 2023 polls. “The largest democracy in Africa,” Pycroft added, “occupies a critical place in efforts to consolidate democracy elsewhere across the world. Credible, useful elections will deepen citizens’ trust and reinforce the foundations for democratic consolidation in Nigeria.” Stevens, on his part, said at a workshop for journalists in Ibadan that the US government looked forward to seeing a free, fair, credible and peaceful conduct of the 2023 election in Nigeria. Many Nigerians desire credible elections as well. The other day, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the appropriate law enforcement agencies to identify, arrest and bring to justice the sponsors and perpetrators of the attacks on INEC offices or face legal action.
According to SERAP, the attacks would undermine public trust and confidence in the electoral process. It said the continuing failure of the government to investigate, identify and shame the perpetrators and their sponsors as well as bring them to justice was fuelling impunity and resulting in vicious cycle of attacks and violence.
We join well-meaning Nigerians to condemn this act of cowardice in some parts of the country. It is as despicable as it is a threat to the electoral process, especially the 2023 general election. On no account should it be allowed to happen again. Going forward, government must ensure that the right to political participation, which is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, is guaranteed at all times.
Government must also ensure that security agencies are adequately catered for. It is not enough to deploy them to INEC offices as has been done but there should also be a conscious effort to provide most of their needs. Security agencies, on their part, need to redeem their image by sharing intelligence and nipping such attacks in the bud. Nigerians must be vigilant and not be deterred by the actions of some hoodlums. We urge President Buhari to always remember his promise to provide free, fair and transparent elections in 2023.