To avoid the deployment of the military for future elections in the country, political parties have been advised to jettison violence and politics of do-or die which often result in killings and loss of innocent lives.
Giving the advice in this interview with TUNDE THOMAS, a former National Commissioner with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Lai Olurode said there would have been no need to deploy the military if politicians and their supporters are civil in their conduct during elections. He also spoke on other issues.
What’s your candid assessment of the 2019 general elections?
I will say that the election can be rated to be just above average. Although INEC did its best but there is a general feeling that the expectations of Nigerians were not met by the INEC.
I believe that the Federal Government didn’t deny or starve INEC of funds but I believe we can still do much better in the future. We have been to other countries where elections were conducted, and the electoral process there were far better than that of Nigeria. A good example is Ghana, and even Kenya. I believe we could do much better the next time. But in spite of all these flaws, we must not give up. We must continue to reform, we must continue to improve.
Although INEC may not have lived up to expectation or met the expectations of many Nigerians but then INEC should not be solely blamed for some of these shortcomings. For instance, on the issue of inconclusive elections in some states, it is not because INEC has not done its bit but the blame should go to those hoodlums who disrupted elections in some places. These hoodlums not only disrupted the polls but also carried away ballot boxes. In such situations, what do you expect INEC to do? So, we should blame these hoodlums who disrupted voting exercise in some places and not INEC.
How would you describe the conduct of the political parties and their supporters?
Political parties in Nigeria have become an albatross on our electoral process. The parties’ conduct during the election fell below expectation. Parties have done far better in previous elections than this one. I want to advocate for the reform of our political parties. They need to change the mentality of winning election at all cost. They should not see elections as do-or die affair. It is sad that we no longer have what we used to call party supremacy. Godfatherism and imposition have taken over our political space. Godfathers have hijacked parties and this will not augur well for our democracy.
Godfathers have hijacked parties and ordinary members no longer have a say again or have any input as to who they want to be their leaders or representatives. Leaders are now imposed. There should be an end to imposition. Imposition is not reflecting the wishes of the people. Political parties are crucial part of the political process and this is why in fielding candidates, they must resist imposition. Election is very important in contemporary society, but when our electoral process is flawed nobody will respect us.
Are you saying that reformation of the political parties is very important?
Yes. Nigeria’s major political parties need to be fixed in ways that will rejuvenate collective ownership as well as strengthen internal party democracy. Money bags within political parties are muzzling and drowning dissenting voices. These are provoking disinterestedness and reinforcing voter apathy. It is also unfortunate that violence and crises are now more pronounced within parties; we even have less intra-party crisis now. We need to detoxify the political process in such a way to strengthen parties, to ensure that the voice of ordinary party members also counts. We can return to the past era where party members pay membership dues like in the days of the defunct Action Group led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the then Western Region. During that time, party members had strong voice in party affairs unlike now when the godfathers have hijacked the parties. But as desirable as all these recommendations are, INEC can’t do the reforms all alone; it has to be in conjunction with other stakeholders.
On the issue of voters’ apathy that manifested during the polls, what’s your reaction to that?
There are several factors for that. The postponement of the election for one week by the INEC took many Nigerians by surprise. That postponement which was sudden when everybody was prepared jolted many people. Some who had to travel to their villages and towns to exercise their franchise returned to their base dejected, and many of them who had become skeptical didn’t bother to travel back home again the following week because they had become doubtful as they don’t know whether there will be another postponement or not. Again, many stayed away from voting because some voters felt that the political leaders had disappointed them. They felt that they have been short-changed by those they had voted for to lead them. They felt that there has been no improvement in their lives. This should be a lesson to politicians that they should evolve people-oriented programmes that will make lives comfortable for the citizens.
Look at the number of registered voters on the INEC register but look at the poor turn-out. It is a far cry from the average. It is only in the North that you have some good turn-out but in the South, the turn-out was not encouraging. But I will advise voters and my advice is that they should not shy away from participating in elections because they don’t know the day their votes will count. We must not allow democracy to be in reverse gear. No matter the shortcomings, we must not be discouraged.
People have called for de-registration of political parties saying that the present situation where we have over 70 political parties is unwieldy, what’s your take on that?
There are two schools of thoughts on this. One, you have those who believe that all political parties should be allowed to test their popularity, and strength, and that in the process if they thrive, so be it and if they are not popular, let them wither away naturally. On the other hand, you have those who believe that the number of political parties should be regulated. They claim that having 72 political parties in a country with high level of illiteracy like Nigeria is a waste of resources and that was one of the reasons why a lot of votes were wasted during the 2019 general elections. People in this school of thought believe that before a party is allowed to register, it must have proof that it has won elections before, be it at local government level or whatever.
But again what we must realise is this, with the in-fighting in some parties, if you restrict the number of political parties, that means that people’s options are limited. When people know that there are choices, they can leave one political party for another especially where you have serious in-fighting in a political party. Participation in an election doesn’t mean you have to win at all cost. By taking part in an election, you are passing a message. We need to have multi-party system for our democracy to thrive.
Some Nigerians and international observers frowned at deployment of the military for 2019 general elections….
Election is a civil exercise, and if it is civil, then the military ought to stay away as their presence at voting centres may scare people.
But for us to avoid the military being deployed for elections, then we must do more to ensure that election is conducted peacefully. In a situation where there is violence and lives are being lost, then there is no alternative than to bring the military to keep peace. So, if there is no bitter struggle for political power, if there is no do-or die politics, and if there are no killings, there won’t be any need to involve the military. A lot depends on political leaders and their supporters. Politicians must eschew politics of bitterness. They must refrain from politics of ‘I must win at all cost even if it has to be at the expense or on the blood of others’.