The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) recently raised alarm over the location of polling units in private residences, corridors, mechanics workshops, street corners, among other private places, arguing that the present location of polling units across the country makes them vulnerable for ballot boxes to be hijacked while the secrecy of voting are also greatly compromised.

The NBA also said that the poor location of some polling units posed fundamental challenges to security agencies “in providing adequate security cover for elections,” and recommended that “polling units should be accessible and located in public schools and other public places,” for the outcome of such elections to be seen as being free and fair.

The association, which expressed its concerns in a post-mortem report of the Bayelsa Governorship Elections held February 11, monitored by the Nigerian Bar Election Working Group (NBEWG) in conjunction with the state chapter of the NBA, consequently recommended an urgent review of the location of polling units in Bayelsa State and other parts of the country to ensure greater credibility in future elections.

In the report, signed by its Chairman, Dafe Akpedeye (SAN) and Alternate Chairman, Festus Okoye, respectively, the NBEWG also recommended a review of the voters’ register in all the states of the federation and Abuja “to verify its authenticity.”

It, however, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the conduct of the Bayelsa polls, pointing out that election material “arrived fairly early” in most of the polling booths while accreditation of eligible voters started between 8am and 9am.

While observing that there were “isolated cases of late arrival of materials and accreditation of voters” in some areas with difficult terrain, the body commended the introduction of “additional features in the ballot papers by INEC “to prevent their duplication and movement from one local government to the other”.

As if to accentuate NBA’s position on the overall performance of INEC in the Bayelsa polls, the Northern Patriotic Front (NPF), a domestic election observer group, also said that the election was the most transparent in recent times, explaining that INEC had improved tremendously on its experience in the last polls in Kogi and Adamawa.

The NPF National Coordinator, Alhaji Ali Abacha said, his team, which also monitored the Bayelsa polls, found that, “some of the problems we have identified in the past election like late arrival of election materials, under-aged voting, and inadequate security to some polling units, were absent in Bayelsa”.

The Tide agrees with both groups that the performance of INEC in the Bayelsa election was relatively satisfactory as the entire process was a tacit improvement on previous elections in the country. We also agree that the high presence of security personnel in the state, especially at the various polling units, contributed in no small measure to the smooth conduct and the credible, free and fair outcome of the elections.

But while we commend INEC for the great improvement in its overall performance as elections roll by, we insist that the NBA’s alarm over the location of polling units in private places deserves to be taken very seriously if our elections are to improve on its peaceful, free and fair state in the future.

In fact, we task INEC to ensure that no election holds in the near future with polling units located in private places. Instead, we recommend the use of public schools, fire stations, court premises, and other public institutions to guarantee the transparency of the process.

We say so because elections conducted in private residences are more likely to witness violence, irregularities, brazen acts of intimidation, stuffing of ballot boxes and crass abuse of true democratic tenets that should make our electoral process credible.

This is why we laud INEC’s expressed commitment to ensure level playing field for all contestants in its elections by allowing the use of cameras to capture proceedings at polling units by any stakeholder. We believe that this will go a long way in checking post-election litigations and also ensure that miscreants do not take advantage of the secrecy of the process to hijack ballot boxes, intimidate voters and opposition candidates and their agents.

We think that the electorate’s confidence in the ability of INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the near future would greatly improve if it builds on its records thus far by enhancing its interest in providing adequate security for all elections. It must also ensure that adequate personnel are deployed to manage the process while making sure that materials arrive designated polling units in a timely fashion.

Perhaps, the orgy of electoral apathy, observed low turnout of voters to some already held elections, pockets of irregularities, and opposition candidates’ lackadaisical attitude toward open competition for votes, including the unwillingness to commit to the provision of agents at polling units would be addressed if INEC takes measures to ensure transparency and fair contest of all contestants at every election. Indeed, our democracy would be better served at the end. And this is the way to go.