Before The Dec 10 Rivers Re-run Polls

Amidst public disenchantment over the shocking discovery of fake Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) result sheets, illegally printed to influence the December 10 re-run elections in Rivers State, INEC last week joined the army of concerned Nigerians to call for proper probe. Such a probe, the nation’s electoral umpire believes, would unearth those responsible for the criminal attempt to rig the elections.

Interestingly, among illegal INEC documents found to have been criminally reproduced were sensitive materials complete with official codes and serial numbers for each polling precinct in the affected local government areas, where the Senatorial elections into the Rivers South East, are to hold next month. With such exactness, even the most articulate of enquirers would be fooled by the fake sheets if judged against the original.

Only INEC knows the codes for each of the polling units. This means, such codes can only be sourced from INEC, either officially or through a compromised official determined to truncate free, fair and credible elections and ultimately influence the outcome in favour of a party in the contest.

That is why The Tide is curious that INEC could call for a probe into the scandal. We think that such investigation needs to start with INEC itself, because the disturbing discovery speaks loudly of likely INEC complicity. The release of such sensitive codes to those now known to have engaged the printer, caught in the act, is an indictment on the commission. An indictment that is most destructive.

To purge itself of official complicity, therefore, INEC must come out clean, by exposing insiders suspected to have been compromised.

After that, it must begin a deliberate move to reassure political parties in the contest of its neutrality, trust and non-partisanship.

Beyond that, The Tide thinks that the Senate must take seriously, protests by some Nigerians against the scandal. As representatives of the people, whose timely intervention rekindled hope for the long forgotten Rivers re-run elections, the Senate ought to place INEC in the box.

INEC’s chairman, Mohmoud Yakubu needs to provide answers to some burning public concerns and re-assure Nigerians that his commission will get it right this time.

Some of these questions include, how prepared is INEC to meet the December 10 date for the re-run? With result sheets now reproduced, is there a chance that fresh ones would be officially reprinted, with new codes and serial numbers to render useless initial plan of the crooks to rig the elections? More importantly, INEC needs to explain the position of the Tai polls it declared inconclusive only to be secretly legalised by the electoral body, even against existing court order.

Most importantly, the Senate must prevail on INEC to make necessary avowment over its needed neutrality and ensure that the commission stands by same. It must be made to convince all parties in the December 10 contest that it would not serve any special interest, other than ensuring that the people’s votes count.

Just as President Muhammadu Buhari charged the security community to ensure peaceful elections in Rivers and Ondo, without which it would be doubtful if they could successfully superintend over general election security, INEC needs to guarantee that it has the capacity, the needed neutrality and good conscience to conduct credible general elections by getting it right in Rivers and Ondo State.

In like manner, Rivers people need to be assured that the expected huge presence of armed men before, during and after the coming polls, is for their own protection and not for manipulation by influential politicians to intimidate opponents and threaten voters.

In the last re-run, against the electoral law, a serving Minister was allowed to move from one polling centre to another and one local government to another, with the protection of armed soldiers and was caught on camera at a police station during election with such full security complements. Those double standards have forced some Rivers people to lose faith in the process.

INEC and the security community must get it right, because the lives they would save in the process may well be theirs or those of their loved ones. The success will ultimately be shared by their children and children’s children because it will give them the voice they need in the future. That is the beauty of democracy.

The security community and INEC owe all that much. And Rivers, Ondo are litmus test.