The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has brought the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly polls to a closure. Winners have emerged. And so are losers. Yet, as always, there are hues and cries. There is wailing and whining. Throaty laughter and unrestrained guffaw.

Again, just as it happened when the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner in 2019, the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu drew solemn silence, no buntings, no banners of jubilant carousals. Only muted blurts of hisses and sighs. This is strange in a nation and among a people noted for their proclivity to loud celebratory questing. Even this has its lessons and message.

There is gloating from the victorious ensemble and grumblings from the losing clan. A mix of pleasure and pain. But whether you win or lose, there is still that DNA that reminds us that we are still Nigerians. And at all times, we must advance the national cause above personal, ethnic or religious affiliations. The best way to do this is to deliberately interrogate the process of the last election and learn some lessons.

The first lesson is for INEC to always audit its capacity. Obviously, this current INEC lacks capacity and even integrity to conduct elections that are free and fair. It’s this same INEC leadership that postponed the 2019 general elections minutes to the commencement of that exercise. Four years after that national embarrassment, the electoral body appears to have learnt no lesson on managing electoral processes.

This is troubling, more so because, this current INEC leadership has been the most engaging leadership of the electoral body since 1999. Credit to Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of INEC. He has, far more than any other INEC Chairman in recent history, engaged all critical stakeholders in the polity, including the media and civil society organisations (CSOs). He traversed the nation giving lectures, rousing the electorate to a new consciousness in election management. But it appears he underestimated the load of work even with the advancement of technology in the electoral process. At the end, it turned out a gamble; the type common in online shopping; what was promised was not what was delivered.

INEC, through the electoral guidelines it issued on its own volition, not under duress, promised real time uploading of polling unit results into its central server. On its own, INEC introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which it promised would be the ultimate cure for cheating, over-voting, ballot snatching and sundry electoral infractions. The same INEC through its staff, direct and ad hoc, not only abused the BVAS, but turned it into a machine for rigging elections. All international and local observers commended the idea of the BVAS, but all, bar none, condemned the human manipulation of the same system by poll cheats.

The reality is that while Yakubu and other top INEC staff were up and about making assurances of conducting a tech-driven credible, free, fair and verifiable election, they left undone the critical duty of planning for adequate logistics; they did not factor the human element of corruption by INEC staff or those who showed up on duty on behalf of the commission. INEC also failed to anticipate the wily ways of Nigerian politicians. They failed to grasp a basic rule in the tech kingdom; that is, for every technology, there is a counter-technology. The politicians moved ahead of the commission in a manner that gave them the opportunity to engage in all their dirty deals that the BVAS was designed to eliminate. Before the March 11 governorship and State Assembly elections, INEC must return to the classroom to update its strategy toolkit and upskill its staff.

Away from INEC, the next major lesson should be learnt by security agents. The nation’s security apparatchik scored both high and low. While some displayed splendid and highly commendable professionalism, some other security personnel including the paramilitary platoon that joined to monitor the elections, performed below par and far below the expectation of Nigerian electorate, some of whom were harassed, intimidated and bullied by thugs right in the presence of security personnel. Some of the security personnel merely supervised the brutish disruption of voting; under-age voting, disappearance and reappearance of INEC officials for the sole purpose of doctoring election results among other vices that signposted the exercise. In some instances, INEC officials were attacked or even shot dead as we had in Delta state.

Video clips of security men pleading with thugs or simply ignoring them while the thugs ran riot at the polling units are too self-evident. These videos and other documentary evidence point to a compromised security structure. Such conduct is not only criminally primitive, it is unacceptable in the 21^st century. The police, especially, should assemble and scrutinize these video clips to ascertain what went wrong and rally its personnel to take extra precaution next time.

The chief lesson for the security agencies is for them, especially the EFCC and ICPC, to investigate and prosecute those arrested for alleged involvement in financial and allied electoral crimes. Naming and shaming still remains a potent weapon for taming crooks. They should be named alongside their sponsors, and shamed.

Political parties have many lessons to learn here. There are gaps in voter education. Cases where persons without disability of any form were guided to vote for preferred political parties because they were not ‘literate’ enough to understand/interpret logos of their chosen parties (candidates) testify to ineffective voter education on the part of political parties. Though cases of vote-buying reportedly reduced but it was high time parties stopped this unhealthy political indulgence. A party that induces voters to vote for its candidate is only advertising its unpopularity and obvious unfitness (of its candidate) to lead.

Some political parties were not sufficiently prepared for the elections. They lack the funds and the spread. This explains why many parties did not have their agents at polling units across the nation. When you are not represented at a polling unit, some other influences will represent you and the outcome may not be in your favour. Lesson: Don’t go into a battle you are not prepared for.

A section of the media as critical stakeholders, unfortunately, dropped their cassock of professionalism and replaced it with a garment of partisanship. This election largely exposed a partisan media reporting partisan politics. A badge of infamy.

The Nigerian electorate, those who actually defied all the odds to vote, deserves commendation. Never in the nation’s electioneering history have we seen such passion, devotion and commitment. They should keep hope alive.

But the other Nigerians who allowed themselves to be used, who collected inducement to falsify figures, cheat through the process including INEC officials (regular staff or ad hoc), those who submitted themselves to be used as thugs should know that every seed planted has its harvest time. They will harvest multiple folds of the evil they collectively visited on the people. The reports from Nigerians, from local and international observers called this election “rigged/compromised.” This does not bode well for Africa’s largest democracy. The lesson here is: no lesson has been learnt from our previous failings. May we so do next time.

Author: Ken Ugbechie

First published in Sunday Sun