Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State| credits:
IT’s been victory dance for the supporters of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State who won the governorship election in the state last Saturday. The result of the election showed that Mimiko scored 260, 199 to beat his two closest rivals – Olusola Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 155, 961 and Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, who scored 143, 512 votes. Though there were reports of pockets of violence and irregularities in some areas, the election was judged to be reasonably free, fair and peaceful.
The successful conduct of the election offers a glimmer of hope that Nigeria’s democracy deficits are gradually petering out. It is heart-warming that President Goodluck Jonathan and other top leaders of the ruling PDP have quickly congratulated Mimiko.
Yet, it is not all sweet stories. That election material arrived late in some areas showed that logistics still posed some problems to the Independent National Electoral Commission. The turnout of voters was also not encouraging. Out of a total of 1, 638,950 registered voters, only 624, 659 people voted. This means that only about 38 per cent of the registered voters actually exercised their franchise and determined the outcome. Why did others not come out to vote? Was it just a question of apathy or fear of violence or disenchantment with the political system? Low voter turnout always creates doubt about the legitimacy of the elected government and democratic system, which is not good for democracy. We cannot form a true ‘government of the people’ if citizens do not participate in choosing their representatives. The militarisation of the process does not help matters.
Just for one governorship poll and like the recently-held governorship election in Edo State, the Ondo election witnessed massive deployment of soldiers and other security agents. Five units of mobile policemen were deployed in each of the three senatorial districts; 10 mobile units were on standby in the 18 local government areas; 20 armoured patrol vehicles were deployed and members of the federal counter-terrorism unit provided security at the polling units and collation centres. Soldiers were even ordered to arrest anybody with arms or shoot any armed person resisting arrest. Though the presence of soldiers might have helped in maintaining peace and order during the election, it does not speak well of our electoral process. Besides, the Chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, reportedly relocated to the state to take charge of events. Was it necessary that all roads leading to the state, including the ever busy Ore – Benin Expressway be closed to traffic?
The question remains; if we had to deploy soldiers to maintain peace during an election in one state, what happens when there is a general election featuring many other states? How many policemen and soldiers are we going to deploy in each state just to conduct elections? These are unknown costs in the conduct of democratic elections elsewhere. It means that something is still fundamentally wrong with our electoral and political system. The need for reforms is more urgent now than ever before.
Hopefully, all stakeholders will draw the right lessons from this election. Mimiko needs to do more to win over more of his people. He may have made some achievements in his first tenure, but the pattern of the votes cast shows that all is not well. He only got off lightly by scoring 260, 199 votes. But the total votes for his rivals of the PDP and the ACN which came to 299, 473, are higher than his own score, indicating that those who voted against him were more in number. He and his party have to do a far better job of explaining and translating their vision and policies to the electorate. Mimiko will have to rally more citizens of the state to the relevance of his policies and programmes. By the result, voters also sent out a loud message: They are capable of making informed decisions about their collective destiny.
A democratic election, however, does not guarantee, in itself, a pluralistic democracy. It is just the tip of the democracy iceberg. We need to make the system less attractive for people who aspire to occupy political offices for pecuniary gains. The major way to do this is by drastically reducing the allowances of political office-holders and cutting off such things as security votes, which some public officers corruptly siphon to enrich themselves. Such corrupt characters usually do not have any clear agenda for the people. Their only concern is how to strip the resources of their states bare for their selfish interests.
The country needs to strengthen the political system to make room for better elections in future. The crises that attend our elections have continued because people who commit electoral offences, especially high-profile offenders, invariably go scot-free. Even the electoral offences tribunal promised by the Federal Government to try electoral offenders is yet to be concretised. The 2015 general election is not too far away. That poll will be the ultimate test of our wobbly democracy. INEC must do everything possible to make sure it does not fail. As the United States’ President, Barack Obama, once said, “Africa does not need strongmen, it needs strong institutions.”
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Source : punchng[dot]com
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