Ignited for a Change: 2011 Elections in Nigeria

The country of Nigeria is preparing itself for its presidential elections taking place on April 16th, and Ignitus Worldwide is doing its part to help the country get ready. Olugbenga Adeleye, Ignitus Affiliate Director in Nigeria, has created an article to share with us the latest on what’s happening and how Ignitus is doing its share to help the country during its leadership transition.

Introduction

In a healthy democracy, elections are the starting point for a stable government that protects minority rights, ensures free speech, respects the rule of law, and promotes a strong civil society. By allowing citizens to choose the manner in which they are governed, elections form the starting point for all other democratic institutions and practices. Nigeria, however, has not been experiencing a healthy democracy due to the past substandard elections conducted from 1999 to 2007.

The 2007 general elections were said to be the worst in the history of elections in Nigeria. They were widely condemned by the international community and local Nigerians alike. After the 2007 elections, Nigerians were more determined to have a credible, free and fair electoral process. They began their mission with a new voter’s registry and the appointment of new Chairman of the Election Commission, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor, Attahiru Jega, OFR late last year.

Voter’s Registration

The former voter’s registry was flawed and even included the names of non-Nigerians like Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Bill Clinton to mention a few. Therefore, a call for a new voter’s registry was made by the Civil Society and human right groups. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, who promised free and fair elections for Nigerians, called on all Nigerians to come out to register at the voter’s registration drive scheduled for January 15 –29, 2011. The registration drive lasted  almost a month in order to give room for eligible voters to register. At the end of the registration period, a total number of seventy-three million eligible voters were registered nationwide.

Ignitus Worldwide Affiliate Youth Crime Watch of Nigeria, a National NGO and an organization in special consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council was among several other national and local Non-Governmental Organizations accredited to monitor and observe the process of the voter’s registration. YCW Nigeria deployed its members as observers to various states of the federation and came out with a report which was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Headquarters in Abuja. (See report as attached).

Accreditation of Election Observer Groups

Further to the submission of application by Observer groups to INEC (EMOC 01 Forms) for Election Observation ahead of the April 2011 General Elections; the Commission has shortlisted and approved 337 Domestic Observer Groups/Organizations to observe the forthcoming General Elections.

All successful accredited Observer groups as shortlisted below are required to fill EMOC 02 Forms and submit the full names of their officials and the State of deployment to the Election Monitoring and Observation Unit, INEC.

The Youth Crime Watch of Nigeria deployed observers to sixteen states of the thirty-six states of the federation. The States are: Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Delta, Rivers, Yobe, Kano, FCT, Benue, and Nassarawa. See this link for details: http://www.inecnigeria.org/suplmentary-list-of-successful-observer-groups-2011-general-elections/

Observation is the purposeful gathering of information regarding the elections, and the making of informed judgments on the conduct of such a process on the basis of the information collected, by persons who are not inherently authorized to intervene in the process and whose involvement should not be such as to jeopardize their main observation responsibilities. Observing an election can be divided into three phases: i.e. observing what occurs before, during and after the election.

Types of Elections/Election cancellation

In the 2011 General Elections in Nigeria, there are going to be elections for the National Assembly (known as Parliamentary election in some other countries), the Presidency and the Gubernatorial/House of Assembly. These elections are/were scheduled as follows: Parliamentary/National Assembly – 2^nd April, Presidential – 9^th of April and Gubernatorial election – 16^th of April 2011.

Nigerians enthusiastically turned out in large numbers at the polls. In the midst of the parliamentary election, there was a call for cancellation by  Prof. Attahiru Jega, who sighted logistical challenges in moving  sensitive materials to the polling stations throughout Nigeria. This led to series of criticism from citizens, domestic observers and the International Observer groups. In some areas, politicians were lynched by angry youths and youths in other parts of the country led protests to condemn the cancellation and shoddy preparation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Report of Election Observation

As reported by our domestic observers, there were late arrivals of both election materials and officials at the polling stations on April 2, 2011 before the cancellation of the National Assembly election. These staff members were deployed by the National Youth Service Corp and were trained only a few days prior to the election. Hardly any of INEC staff were seen at the polling station in all the places visited

Voters throughout Nigeria turned out in large number to perform their civic responsibility, and adequate security were provided for the electoral materials, staff and voters at each of the polling units nationwide. Domestic and International Observers like the Commonwealth, European Union, African Union, Economic Community for West Africa States, and the United Nations were on ground to observe the process of elections.

It is to be noted that voters must be accredited in order to participate in the elections. Accreditation which was meant to start by 8.00am did not start until 9:10am or some minutes to 10:00am GMT in some places. Only few voters were accredited before the stipulated time of 12noon while voting was already on in some states of the nation before the Chairman of INEC called for cancellation of all elections.

The cancellation is a welcome development because it saved the nation from crisis which would have enveloped the entire country if the election proceeds.

Many have therefore called for the resignation of the INEC National Chairman while some set of groups and citizens believe in the ability and integrity of the INEC helmsman to conduct a free and fair election.

New Dates of Election

The parliamentary election shift brings a change to the order of elections. The Presidential election is now Saturday 16^th day of April 2011 while the Gubernatorial election will now be on Tuesday 26^th of April 2011. The new date has effectively altered all the dates for this month elections although the sequence still remains. See: http://www.inecnigeria.org/welcome/

I believe in a change. Nigeria is greater than any individual no matter highly placed. We, in the Youth Crime Watch of Nigeria determined more than ever before to contribute our quota to Nigeria development hence the deployment of the entire members to observe this 2011 elections in about 16 states of the federation including the FCT.

A facebook page has been created for young people to support peaceful election in Nigeria and comments are welcome. The group already has over 200 members. See: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_190089507683549

Useful Links:

Independent National Electoral Commission official website: http://www.inecnigeria.org/

List of Candidates in Nigeria Election 2011: http://www.inecnigeria.org/list-of-candidates/

Rescheduled elections: http://www.inecnigeria.org/press-release-inec-reschedules-2011-general-elections/

Newspaper report: The National Coordinator during the botched election spoke with one of the National dailies, the National Mirror. See http://nationalmirroronline.net/news/9342.html