The 2023 general elections have yet to be mentioned. With the election commotion, notably the presidential election in court, do you not wish to criticize your colleagues?
I have kept quiet since most public opinions concerning INEC and the 2023 general elections have been overly emotional.
I didn’t want to praise or criticize our successors who ran the election for fear of being labelled a tyrant.
No of your ideas, you might look political indirectly. Yet, impartiality and diversity of view may be what the country needs to grasp electoral complexity in Nigeria and other democratic nations.
I quit INEC one year ago after five years as Resident Electoral Commissioner. I’ve done development/democracy consulting, teaching, facilitating, food justice, and food security advocacy for CSOs.
In reflecting on my tenure as REC, I recalled that the election I oversaw in Enugu was one of the best and that I earned several honours, including an excellent award from Inter Party Advisory Council Enugu chapter, which was deemed unachievable due to political party bickering.
How did INEC’s successes affect the 2023 general election?
Today, I reflect on most of the reforms, new technology, strategic plan, and voter access expansion that INEC achieved while I was there and how they affected the presidential election, 28 gubernatorial elections, 109 senatorial, 360 House of Representatives, and 993 State Houses of Assembly elections.
Even with the 2023 general election’s problems, public commentary rarely mentions most of these aspirational goals. BVAS replaced Smartcard readers, IREV, and IVED, INEC’s biggest accomplishment under Prof. Yakubu. The 2023 election problems I should mention should not detract from it.
Why not discuss it?
Before developing a conclusion or risking contempt of messing with the judges’ minds, we should wait for the courts to evaluate their evidence, much of which I don’t have.
Second, I study appreciative inquiry to enhance institutions. Appreciative inquiry approaches improvement from a positive viewpoint, taking into account all the positive results within the cycle to solve the negative ones without destroying both the good and the bad.
“If we approach our electoral system growth simply from the tiny prism of problems, Nigeria would be looping round the circles without real improvement of the system that on its own has created enough milestones for quick consolidation.”
With the election’s ruckus, what’s good? BVAS failed to deliver.
The online preregistration of Voters/CVR, IVED, and BVAS, which substitutes the card reader, is impressive. The 2023 general election proved politicians wrong about BVAS. Despite criticism, both winners and challengers are using the BVAS.
The INEC and CSO pushed IREV and electoral reforms, including introducing polling units to increase voter access, reducing political parties from 89 to 18, and logistics monitoring of materials.
These milestones safeguarded younger and smaller groups. The national assembly election win distribution is intriguing.
I agreed since things should improve.
You claimed you are not talking about the 2023 elections, but it looks like the Commission shot itself in the foot after all the hard work.
I participated. These INEC improvements are only for election improvement.
The appreciative inquiry approach evaluates the 2023 general election changes and identifies areas to consolidate and enhance. If we look at our electoral system’s issues, Nigeria will keep cycling without improving a system that has already set enough benchmarks for consolidation.
The new method eliminated the fraudulent swing state results.
Now that Nigerians have seen that BVAS works everywhere, how can we consolidate its usage or fast switch to electronic voting?
Since Nigeria approves IReV, how can we utilize it without restrictions? It’s also proving those controversial outcomes.
I created more polling places to increase voter access, yet voter turnout fell to an all-time low. The Commission’s positive and novel approaches were connected to the high voter registration participation.
What caused poor participation in the March 18 governorship election, notwithstanding residents’ faith in INEC, if the February 25 election problems reduced participation?
Political tribalism, nepotism, religious romanticization, and excessive party patriotism versus national patriotism should be eliminated first for a healthy society and democracy.
The takeaway?
In applying the appreciative inquiry model and contentious assessment model of performance appraisal, which looks at the totality of activities rather than a single activity, I maintain that the achievements of the Independent National Electoral Commission during the five years I was Resident Electoral Commissioner were remarkable and laid a solid foundation for better performance if those good things that can be built upon are not thrown away with emo.
