TACKLING MONEY-FOR-BALLOT CULTURE

 Those arrested for inducing voters during the Anambra State gubernatorial election should be prosecuted

Based on media accounts and the reports of various observer groups, there are two broad outcomes from the recently concluded governorship elections in Anambra State. The first is cause for cheer, the second, a cause for jeer. Together, they suggest that Nigeria’s democracy remains very much a work in progress. Groups which have issued reports so far include the Anambra Election Observation Hub—a coalition of civil society organisations including Yiaga Africa, The Kukah Centre, International Press Centre (IPC), Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), ElectHer, and TAF Africa.

One central finding is the noticeable improvement in the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), especially in the technical aspects of the electoral process which had to do with the voting and counting process as well as the collation and uploading of results. The second finding is that there was widespread vote buying by agents of the parties and candidates at the election. This regrettable development was also serially captured in many social media reports.

Given the significant gap between the incumbent Governor Chukwuma Soludo and the other 15 candidates in the announced results, it has been suggested, even by the observers, that the shenanigans had no effect on the final outcome of the poll or that the result could have been otherwise. Indeed, the Anambra Election Coalition Hub declared that the official results released by the INEC are consistent with its independently verified estimates. Still, the presence of vote buying in our elections over a quarter century into the 4th Republic is an indictment of the  democratic practice, and demands serious action against confirmed perpetrators. We therefore urge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prosecute individuals arrested for involvement in vote-buying during the election.

The financial inducement of voters constitutes an abuse of the constitutional right of the people to choose their leaders in a free, fair, and credible manner. Our elections should not become bazaars for the highest bidders. Unfortunately, that transactional voting has become a recurring challenge is why we should all be concerned. In 2018, the report of the coalition of local and international observers on the Ondo State gubernatorial election attested to the same prevalence of vote-buying. One of the observers, Mrs. Virginia Marumoa-Gae, of the United States’ International Republican Institute (IRI) had painted a disgraceful picture of how the slogan, “see and buy” was used to lure voters to show their thumb printed ballot papers in exchange for money. If anything has changed since then, it is in the audacity of these entrepreneurs of cash-for-ballot.

 Poverty and illiteracy are major contributory factors especially with the rural and urban poor who tend to view election periods as a time to get something off politicians who are in the habit of forgetting their promises until the next election cycle. But this is also not a new phenomenon. Election bribery goes back to the First and Second Republics and was the excuse used by the military to abort the Third Republic. We cannot as a nation continue to condone this ugly political “culture” which is making a mockery of our democracy. The interest of the country should not be subordinated to the personal interest of desperate, ethically challenged leaders who adopt a zero-sum approach to winning elections.

The reality is that until Nigerian politicians imbibe a culture that reflects and promotes good governance, transparency and accountability, our democracy will remain imperilled. Therefore, curbing vote buying, financial inducement, and the general deployment of cash to game the electoral process is critical to the survival of our democracy. To the extent that vote-buying undermines the essence of democratic freedom to choose, robs the electoral process of moral credibility and denies its outcome legitimacy, we cannot continue with elections in which outcomes are determined by who commands the biggest purse.

Going forward, the federal government and its enforcement agencies must design concrete strategies to deal with this crime in such a way that it deters potential violators of the law. A starting point is to diligently prosecute all the people arrested for inducing voters during the Anambra State gubernatorial election.