It should have happened long ago, but thank goodness it has finally come. The United States Government recently made good its threat to impose visa restrictions on individuals in Nigeria responsible for acts of electoral violence, intimidation and corruption during the November 2019 elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states. Barely 24 hours after the US action, the United Kingdom (UK) announced it would impose ban on any politician found to be  involved in violence in last Saturday’s governorship election in Edo state,  and on the forthcoming Ondo gubernatorial election on October 10. Perhaps the relative peace and outcome of the Edo election could be a pointer that the fear of the visa restrictions and threats are already yielding the expected results.

Truly, improving the integrity of our elections has been a nightmare experience. Very often, our elections have been marred by disenfranchisement, rigging, chaos, orchestrated by politicians who see elections as ‘do-or-die’ affair rather than a celebration of democracy where the votes of the electorate must  count. This is followed by acrimonious legal and political dispute over results that have often tested our democratic resolve. It’s, therefore  not unkind or unpatriotic to say that the decision of the U.S government and the plan by the UK  to follow in that path of visa ban on our election offenders  is well thought out.

As we know, many times, countries like the US, UK, use visa restrictions as potent tools of punishment for electoral offenders. The two countries have had good reasons in the past to use the big stick of visa ban against outlaws of Iran, Somalia,  Libya, Yemen, North Korea, Venezuela and many other citizens of rogue nations that disrespect democratic norms. And it has proved  effective.  And if that can rein in our election offenders, why not use it?

In a statement by spokesperson for the U.S Department of State, Morgan Ortagus, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed the sanctions. Ortagus says the U.S is  a steadfast supporter of Nigeria’s democracy and remains committed to working together with Nigeria to advance democracy and respect for human rights to achieve greater peace and prosperity for both nations. It will  be recalled that in July 2019, the U.S Government announced the imposition of visa restrictions on Nigerians who undermined the February and March 2019 elections. The latest visa ban was in furtherance of that action. More punishment could follow if the recent one fails to rein in our serial electoral offenders. The UK government has also said its threat could include restrictions on the eligibility of affected Nigerians to travel to the UK, as well as on access to UK-based assets or prosecution under international law.

Nothing will be too punitive to sustain our democracy, because elections are so vital, both as essential elements of effective governance within nations and indicators of the strength of our democratic institutions. No more should individuals claim to be the reason why we have this democracy as one individual claimed in a broadcast that he did days before the Edo election last Saturday. The visa restrictions should be even tougher by including offenders families, electoral officers, security officials and judicial officers who undermine our democracy by their actions during and after elections.

It’s commendable that the visa ban list includes bigwigs in the country. Among them are: a Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), three state governors,  some top chieftains of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition Peoples Democractic Party (PDP), some lawmakers. A serving governor in the North is reported to have had his visa ban extended in the latest review by the U.S  Government, while two others are reportedly added to the list. If we can’t help strengthen our electoral process, perhaps it’s proper that other countries come in by exposing us to who and what we truly are.

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That’s why the Federal Government’s protest against the visa ban makes no sense to me. A statement issued last week by the spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ferdinand Nwonye said that sanctioning electoral offenders was disrespectful to Nigeria’s sovereignty. It doesn’t also make sense to me when our government said that we have ample provisions in our laws to sanction violators and perpetrators of electoral violence and fraud in the country. And you ask: what is the usefulness of the law when it is not applied to deal with the offence committed?  How can any government that means well for democracy accuse nations trying to help our democracy succeed of undermining our democracy?

Democracy is not only about the voting process. It requires a strong and ongoing commitment from political actors to uphold the democratic ideal. It’s not enough as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in its statement that “the President (Muhamnadu Buhari) has continually urged all parties and contestants to peacefully conduct themselves before, and after elections, and supported patriotic non-governmental initiatives such as the Abdulsalami Abubakar Peace Committee”. The truth is that in democracy, neither tremendous moral strength nor raw power is enough.

The disappointment of our democracy is the lack of leadership to make things work and prevent worse things from happening. If Buhari presidency is guilty of this, his predecessors  were not better. That’s the gritty truth.  Maybe, as his critics say, he hasn’t done enough to move the country away from the challenges of immediate sort that he inherited from Goodluck Jonathan. Blaming others when he ought to take charge is one of the reasons why come allege that Nigeria is collapsing under his leadership. He has also not lived up to his promises on electoral reforms. Perhaps the US, UK visa ban is a wake-up  call. You see, the struggle to achieve democracy and make it the preferred choice of government gives it a special value and places responsibility on all political actors, indeed, all of us, to support the democratic process. Has this crop of politicians in Nigeria lived up to this cause? You answer.

If in doubt, what happened to the numerous electoral bills before the National Assembly that were meant to deal with electoral offenders? For instance, a bill for an Act to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission charged with the responsibility Prohibition and Prosecution of Electoral Offences passed second reading in the Senate of  the 8th Assembly, and until now has not been passed into law. Also, in the House of Representatives, there is a Bill for years now for an “Act to establish the Electoral Offences Tribunal for the purpose of trying electoral offences”. What has happened to it?  It has suffered the same fate like the one before the Senate. Highlights of these bills include potent provisions that would have been a huge punishment  for election  manipulators.

But our politicians won’t allow it be passed  into law just because they profit from electoral fraud. When everything else fails, they blame the electoral umpire, INEC, when they know the commission has no power under the Act setting it up to prosecute offenders. So far, since 2015, only  few cases of electoral irregularities are known to have been prosecuted to their logical conclusions. Three years ago, INEC announced that it detected over 870,000 cases of multiple registration which are in breach of the Electoral Act. A governor in the North Central geopolitical zone is one of the culprits. Altogether, a speedy passage of of the Electoral Act is necessary to improve the credibility of our elections and end illegal interference in the electoral process by politicians and security agencies. But for now,  the visa ban is well deserved until we put out act together.