The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, stirred up a hornet’s nest few days ago when it stated that the commission will not conduct election by 2015 in states under security threats and state of emergency, namely, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The only condition that would guarantee conduct of election in those states is improvement of security situation. The spokesperson of the commission, Mr. Kayode Idowu, was quoted in an interview he granted a news agency in Abuja.
According to Kayode, “It is simple logic that state of emergency is martial rule in which armed soldiers are in control of daily routine in these states. So, INEC cannot deploy its workers to these areas and cannot also guarantee the safety of the electorate”, Idowu said echoing an earlier hint by the chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega.
Political parties, politicians and voters have been reacting to this threat of disenfranchisement of a large chunk of voters who have constitutional right to exercise their franchise in this country. For example, the state governments of the affected states are agitated. The governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, took a critical look at the implication of not conducting elections in the states: “…as a sovereign country…suspending national election such as the 2015 in any part of the 36 States and the FCT on account of Boko Haram activities would amount to making the insurgents supreme over the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he said, adding that it will be defeatist and a big shame on the Federal Government.
Of course, one can reason with INEC’s position in the sense that, you cannot send unarmed people to a war zone to go and carry out a sensitive national assignment such as national election. We have had ugly reports about workers on national assignment in the states affected by insurgency. In Kano State, for instance, there were recent reports indicating that some innocent health workers (women) who went to the rural areas on immunisation exercise in some local government were killed while some were wounded by gunmen in the course of their duty.
One cannot agree less with the Borno State government. As it has been observed by stakeholders, 2015 is still a reasonable distance for INEC or anybody to foreclose the possibility of holding elections in the areas where state of emergency is being implemented. The commission cannot jump into delicate issue of security without clearing from the security agencies. There is higher optimism today that the Special Forces’ successful campaign against insurgents in the North-East would have significantly improved to allow law abiding Nigerians and eligible voters exercise their fundamental human right by voting in 2015.
It is our considered view that, everything should be done to ensure that the people in the states vote and be voted for. There should be a deliberate effort to enforce democracy in those states. This will serve as a bold statement to the enemies of peace and unity of this country that Nigeria’s democracy is unstoppably on the move. Advance adequate security arrangements towards elections and safe-guarding of democracy in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa should commence immediately. Insurgents should not be allowed to truncate democracy in any part of Nigeria, unless the security situation in the North-East grows worse than it currently stands.