qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm A Handbook for Concerned Citizens and Election Volunteers qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm By qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm Aliyu Mukhtar Katsina, PhD qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm
A Handbook for Concerned Citizens and Election Volunteers
By
Aliyu Mukhtar Katsina, PhD
Consensus for Human Development (C4HD), Katsina – Nigeria, 2015 i
Copyright © 2015 by Aliyu Mukhtar Katsina. All rights waived. Permission is granted to reprint parts or this entire handbook in any way whatsoever, provided it is for enlightening the Nigerian public.
For information contact :
[email protected]
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“Can anybody come out and say ‘vote for me so that I can get contracts and build foreign bank accounts and houses with my foreign partners’? Or ‘follow me and listen to me so that I can get a plot at Ikoyi or Bompai and get a directorship and shares in U.A.C or Leventis’? Or ‘follow me so that I can get a big job and you can derive the satisfaction that, although you do not have one square meal a day and your daughter is deformed by and dying of chronic malaria, I am eating dinner…at Federal Palace Suite Hotel on your behalf and that of others in our tribe and religion?”
Y. B. Usman, The Manipulation of Religion in Nigeria, 1977-1987 (Kaduna: Vanguard Printers, 1987), p. 22.
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Contents
Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................... v Elections in Nigeria ................................................................................................ 1 Getting Ready for the Elections ............................................................................ 4 The Elections Days ................................................................................................. 8 After the Elections ................................................................................................ 16
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Acknowledgments
I write this small handbook as a guide for concerned citizens and youths aiming to participate as volunteers in the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. The purpose is to introduce them to the main issues and challenges, which they are likely to face as they engage with other stakeholders on election days for ensuring free, fair, and credible elections at all levels in the federation. This handbook actually developed out of the idea of composing a small piece on how to deal with the challenges of electoral malpractice, which I mooted with my wife, Dr. Maryam A. Hassan. Later, Yahya H. Rawayau his brother, Sada H. Rawayau, and his sister, Sa’adiya H. Rawayau came on board and graciously supported the idea. Aliyu Boyi Mahuta offered not only insightful comments but also the kind of criticisms, which only a friend could give. The support of my colleagues at the Consensus for Human Development (C4HD) is invaluable. I also thank the numerous people, especially those active members of various online chat groups and forums, who truly motivated my desire to write something down for their benefit.
Aliyu Mukhtar Katsina, PhD Katsina December 2014
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CHAPTER ONE
Elections in Nigeria
In popular representative democracies, nothing is as important as the freedom and ability of every adult citizen to decide who governs him or squanders his resources in a free and fair electoral competition. For those of us living in dysfunctional democracies such as Nigeria our lot is a pitiable one. The nature of our political institutions, the low maturity of our political culture, and the predatory attitude of most of our political elites have made the possibility of ever experiencing the joy of free and fair elections in our country near-zero. In Nigeria, people live and struggle during every election period against forces of retrogression determined to drag us on the path of corruption and instability. These forces, committed as ever to perpetuate a devilish agenda of bad governance, corruption, and inefficiency, employ different tricks to rob us of our freedom to decide our leaders freely. They whip ethnic and religious sentiments capitalizing on Nigeria’s traditional fault-lines. They compromise the integrity of the electoral officials inducing them to hoard electoral materials, inflate figures and falsify reports. They send their hunting dogs on election days to haunt, intimidate, maim, and violate the constitutional rights of poor citizens. Hell, they even buy the bench and compromise the judiciary after they robbed us of our right to vote during election. These forces and their agents who stand for darkness and underdevelopment of our country have done this many times in the past. They will also attempt to repeat this in the future, unless the citizens of this great country rise as a single body and courageously say No to politics of dispossession and cluelessness. Our hope of having the chance not just to cast our votes freely without intimidation but also to know that these votes will count accurately is something, which we ought not to joke with this time around. After all, we now live under a leadership grossly incapable of appreciating elementary arithmetic. This leadership and its party appears as
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incapable of understanding that nineteen (19) has always been higher than sixteen (16) just as seven (7) will always be lower than twenty (20). Therefore, if we are serious about not giving the revisionists forces in our midst the chance to steal our votes through shameless rigging and other forms of electoral fraud, I believe we must move beyond the commentaries that define our daily conversations. It is true conversations such as those that increasingly define Nigeria’s cyberia are good. Nonetheless, we need to consider the possibility of moving away from our smartphones, tablets, and PCs so that we can transform the boundless energy of our youths into a positive force for the liberation of our country. After all, the fate of our dear country, our fate as human beings, and the possibility of living that life we could only dare dream of in the inner recess of our minds depend solely and totally on the choices we make in February 2015 and the measures we take to safeguard these choices. My purpose in this short piece is, therefore, simple and straightforward. I intend to outline some counterstrategies, which volunteers and all other concerned citizens should understand and employ in preparation for the February 2015 general elections, on the days of the elections, as well as after the elections. My hope is that this small handbook will answer some of the basic questions which most of the citizens engaged in volunteerism ahead of the general elections ask. Most of these citizens often appear confused regarding the type of contribution their country and its people expect from them; nature of their role and behavior on election days – relating with INEC ad-hoc staff, security personnel, and party agents; and how to manage post-election disappointments and failures in their neighborhoods. I do not intend to make this handbook exhaustive. Since every state, local government, ward, and polling unit has its distinctive peculiarities, my intention is to draw the broad outlines of the expectations, challenges, and circumstances leading to electoral malpractices on election days and how volunteers should handle these. Sincerely, I am convinced that producing a rather comprehensive handbook will require more elaborate efforts than this modest attempt. Still, looking at the wide gap that exists between perception and reality, I feel we all have a duty to seek to enrich our understanding of the issues involved and our role in salvaging the country. We often use electoral fraud and rigging interchangeably in our conversations in Nigeria. Each, however, denotes a different act associated
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with dishonest attempts to distort electoral competition and its outcome. Electoral fraud is broader and encompasses acts as varied as the choice of polling clerks to favor a particular party or candidate, procedural violation of electoral laws and locating of polling units in inaccessible terrain. We also have ridiculous examples such as registering of underage voters and the repulsive ones such as intimidating political opponents and disenfranchisement of a section of the electorates. In its daily usage, rigging refers to the process of manipulating the result of an election to achieve a preferred goal. What we know as rigging often involves ballot box snatching, stuffing, falsification of the result, and vote inflation during elections. Looking at these two terms, one thing is certain: both are abominable acts, which every patriotic citizen of Nigeria ought to fight. They represent an anomaly in our political evolution as a nation. They also suggest our inability to be honest and compete based on sound ideas. Between these two forms of abominable acts which most of Nigeria’s political leaders are guilty of, we have the following acts as their most vivid manifestations. The use of violence against voters, ballot box stuffing by party agents, fabrication of votes and falsification of results, conducting of parallel elections by opposing parties, use of state agents and resources to gain unfair advantage over opponents, and using legislative majorities to dismiss charges of fraud and certify results as free and fair. Other forms of electoral fraud include purging of the electoral register of opposition elements and other undesirables, ballot substitution, opening and closing of polling units (PUs) out of schedule, stealing of ballot box, and expelling of party agents from PUs. Inflation of votes, not holding election in opposition stronghold, denying opposition access to state owned media resources, peddling of lies and other forms of psychological warfare and emotional blackmail are other forms of electoral fraud and rigged elections. We have cleared the air about our understanding of electoral fraud and rigging. I shall now proceed to focus on the type of activities and behavior, which citizens, voluntarily agreeing to help in supervising the conduct of the elections to ensure their credibility and protect their votes, need to understand and pursue before, during, and after the 2015 general elections in Nigeria.
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CHAPTER TWO
Getting Ready for the Elections
The process of organizing and conducting elections in a democratic state is a long one. It often starts months, if not years, before the actual days scheduled for the elections. To have credible elections, concerned citizens must necessarily take time to carefully design and adopt proactive strategies that will ensure every vote counts in all the elections. Volunteers must design effective strategies for mobilization as early as possible. As citizens anxious to secure our votes by participating actively in the electoral politics of our country, we have to focus our energy on the following fundamental issues prior to the days of the election. I.
Creating Political Awareness. Sadly, nothing stands in the way of good governance than the ignorance and political apathy of citizens. These characterize the engagement of most people in Nigeria’s political space. This is why it is easy to misinform and mislead the people into voting candidates and political parties based on ethnic considerations and religious sentiments. The ignorance of our people is a chain enslaving them in a bondage of corrupt politicians, religious bigotry, and ethnic chauvinism. As citizens struggling to improve our living conditions by means of choosing good leaders, volunteers have the duty to educate all people in their communities – parents, spouses, children, brothers, sisters, and friends – on the importance of national unity and discharging their civic responsibilities. Participating in elections through voting of credible, competent, strong, and popular candidates is part of those important civic obligations. Volunteers need to reach out to the people and let them know that the security and progress of Nigeria depend totally on each of them discharging this obligation of electing competent persons as our leaders.
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II.
Mobilizing and Organizing the People. Knowledge without action is counterproductive. Volunteers should not limit their efforts simply to creating awareness among the people. In any form of political struggle, mobilization is the twin of political education among the people. It not only gingers them but also gives them purpose and focus. Volunteers should not content themselves merely with educating their families, friends, and other people around them about their responsibilities as citizens during elections. They need to embark on a vigorous mobilization drive in their various neighborhoods, wards, and communities in order to reach out to every person and involve him/her in this struggle for national emancipation. Volunteers should employ door-to-door campaigns, reaching out to people at their places of worship, market places, bus stops, motor parks, and in all the other places which youths frequent especially football viewing centers. Volunteers should be unrelenting in their efforts. When they go out on mobilization campaigns, it is important for them to dress decently, and when they meet people, it is important for them to speak politely. They also need to have a good understanding of all the important issues that defined our politics today. Using facts to convince the cynics or confront the opposition has no alternative. Volunteers must, therefore, get their facts right and always avoid emotional and insulting language. One important thing which every volunteer must promote during mobilization is absolute disregard for every kind of fault-line whether gender, religious, ethnic, cultural, social, economic, or political in his efforts to mobilize the people in his community. Religious and community leaders as well as youth and women leaders should all be involved. We must also remember that our efforts must cut across partisan lines.
III.
Political Action Groups (PAGs). The goal of political mobilization in the context of the February 2015 general elections is to encourage the people to establish PAGs in their respective neighborhoods. This is because it is not possible to unite the people and turn them into a formidable force without forming PAGs at the neighborhood, ward, and larger community levels. These groups are the nucleus of mobilization. They sustain and nurture all efforts at engaging the people to remain committed to the politics of their communities and
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country. Among the advantages of establishing groups among the people, I shall enumerate the following. a.
b. c. d. e. f.
PAGs give their members a sense of belonging while offering them the chance to contribute modestly towards the success of the group; They serve as training ground where political sophistication is attained especially by the youths; These types of groups ensure that people remain united behind a common purpose and goal; They reduce pettiness and gossips among the people; They also make coordination and passing of information easier and cheaper among their members; During elections, they serve as ward security vanguards defending their votes and ensuring the safety of the voters;
PAGs are, therefore, indispensable to the greater objective of securing and defending the votes of the people during elections. When these groups are established, it is important to encourage them to meet as regularly as is possible and convenient. At their meetings, emphasis should be on the importance of dedication and sacrifice for the betterment of our nation. Courageous, honest, and committed persons should be appointed as leaders over these groups. Women and those that are physically disadvantaged should be encouraged to participate. The key, we should always remember, is to ensure and maintain internal cohesion and group solidarity. IV.
Raising Funds. Funds are to a political organization what blood is to the heart. PAGs should explore ways of raising funds to help in their operations. Personal donations by wealthy members, general contributions by members, and levies are some of the means through which these groups could raise funds. These funds are important on election days. They should be used for buying credit cards and for snacks and refreshment especially when volunteers are keeping vigil at the ward collation centers (WCCs).
These are by no means the only activities that should occupy concerned citizens and volunteers prior to election. They are, however, the most important. In my view, if concerned citizens and volunteers could expend as
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much energy as possible on creating awareness among the people, mobilizing them in order to become politically active, and forming them into vibrant action groups, surely they would help to reduce the incidences of voter apathy and electoral irregularities which the country suffer from on the days of elections. These would also considerably prepare the people against any unintended consequences associated with the perception of electoral fraud after results of elections have been announced. AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: Concerned citizens and youths volunteers should understand that the process of RECLAIMING THE DIGINITY OF NIGERIA starts individually with the small efforts, which every one of us makes. Because of this, they should not feel demoralized or discouraged if they find no receptive audience for their message. Change, as we expect it, is not an easy thing. Forces of reaction and status quo will attempt to block their way, ridicule them, provoke them, and antagonize them. Yet, it is important not to waver in their determination to reach out to every single voter especially in the rural areas and in other inhospitable terrains across the country. WE MUST REMEMBER that the success and failure of FEBRUARY 2015 and the greatness of Nigeria depend on the efforts we make starting from NOW.
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CHAPTER THREE
The Elections Days
I cannot think of a more traumatic experience than witnessing an INEC designed and conducted election in Nigeria. Problems abound. Shortage of election materials, missing electoral officials, late arrival of election materials or inadequate materials are among the prominent features of INEC organized elections. Others include misplacement of voters’ register, rampant cases of intimidation and violence, thuggish behavior of local party warlords, hawkish behavior and crass partisanship of security personnel and INEC. Concerned citizens and volunteers will witness some or all of these problems on election days. These should not however deter them. In fact, they should hardened their resolve to ensure that every vote counts accurately in every election and at every PU in the country. Election days are the culmination of months of planning and mobilization. As such, it is important for volunteers to understand the following and make appropriate arrangements for all forms of contingencies. In order to help them understand fully what they need to do on election days, I have broken down the activities of a typical day into three. These are getting ready for an election - what a volunteer needs to know and equips himself with; being on election venue – meeting and dealing with other stakeholders at a PU, and the need for crowd control mechanisms; and after election closes - counting of votes, announcing of results, and accompanying the results to the WCC. I have also included in this chapter a list of basic dos and don’ts for all concerned citizens and volunteers.
Getting Ready for an Election: The Checklist Election day is always an interesting one. The excitements, the expectations, the suspense, and the disappointment are all part of the larger narrative for credible elections. Besides the excitements and expectations, this day also call
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for great sacrifice, endurance, and vigilance from volunteers. Because of this fact, they need to be fully ready and prepared for a long and hectic day. They need to be properly kitted too with the appropriate gear that will make their job easier, especially movement, communication, and ability to respond to unforeseen situations. In this respect, it is important for any volunteer to get the following before an election. A. A Working Knowledge of Relevant Sections of the 2011 Electoral Act (As Amended), portions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and other elections guidelines issued by INEC is a must for every volunteer. In fact, if possible, a volunteer should keep copies of the relevant sections handy. These are critical to the success of his activities on an election day. It is important to point that elections are conducted based on clearly defined legal framework. Understanding this legal framework is, therefore, the single most potent weapon in dealing with other critical stakeholders on an election day, especially INEC officials, party agents, and security personnel. B. Fully charged and loaded phone, possibly with internet and camera facilities. Nothing is more terrifying than to have a volunteer completely cut off from communicating the situation report in his area of operation. A volunteer should, therefore, charge his phone fully and if possible have spare batteries or a power bank as a back-up plan. They are the tools of the trade that complete him. Phone with a camera allows a volunteer to record all activities, which he considers as fraudulent, while internet facilities allow for the instant dissemination of this evidence online. Volunteers should remember that nothing terrifies forces of darkness committed to stealing our votes than publicity. As such, we should take care not to go out on an election day without means of recording, documenting, and disseminating proof of electoral irregularities. C. Writing Materials. Another thing a volunteer needs as he readies for election morning is writing materials. A volunteer should keep a small writing pad and a couple of pens. These will come handy when writing results from a polling unit and in coordinating the activities of other volunteers and PAGs. D. Transportation. It is important for volunteers to arrange for transportation beforehand. This is very important, as they will need reliable means of transportation for accompanying INEC ad-hoc staff after they collected
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voting materials in the morning and in the afternoon when accompanying the results to WCC. INEC does not provide transport for its personnel, and nothing is more embarrassing than to have the ad-hoc staff and results hijacked and altered on the way simply because volunteers do not have means of transportation to follow them. E. Finally, a volunteer should eat and dress lightly before going out. We do not want to deal with the embarrassing situation of having a volunteer scurrying to the rest room at the critical moments such as when accrediting voters or counting of votes. The same applies to baggage. These should be kept to the minimum. Too much baggage bogs down a volunteer and makes him looks like a porter than an energetic person ready to counter any threat to the credibility of an ongoing election. Depending on the location of a volunteer, he should take care to dress appropriately, paying attention to two important considerations – weather and mobility. As he will be moving constantly, he will need light and flexible clothes that will not inhibit his steps. His footwear should also be loose enough to allow for quick steps.
At the Election Ground: Dealing with Stakeholders Being a volunteer on a day of election coordinating the activities of a neighborhood or perhaps ward PAG has its ups and downs. Every volunteer must know that he will share the stage with other stakeholders. The most prominent among these who feature in every PU across the federation are: a. b. c. d. e. f. g.
A corrupt presiding officer; A conniving polling clerk; A hungry, poorly paid, and highly demoralized security personnel, usually a police constable or corporal/NSCDC personnel; Barely loyal and committed party agents; Members of PU party mobilization and contact committee – a euphemism for the team of vote buyers in the PU; Traitorous ward party officials, usually from the opposition, willing to sell their party to the highest bidder; A wealthy benefactor of the ruling party, often a crooked businessman, acting as the local champion, supplier of money for vote buying, and coordinator of means of violence when needed;
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h.
i.
j. k.
A band of unemployed youths mostly on drugs and other related substances acting as thugs under the command of the local champion; Educated elites who, as armchair critics, feel they have all the answers but consider it demeaning to rub shoulders with poor voters. They are totally useless without any mobilization value; Voters, most of whom are ignorant and will vote with their hearts and stomachs rather than with their heads; An assortment of registered voters without valid voter’s card, underage voters, and multiple voters, etc.
Besides these actors, we have others who make guest appearance on the stage, often when nobody needs them. These include: a. b. c. d.
e. f.
Pompous, but clueless, ward party officials who supervise PUs; INEC supervisors who are, almost always, helpless and useless in every situation; Senior security personnel who are usually on self-enrichment tours of the wards and polling units; A gang of roving thugs, fully armed and under the control of the local champion or a top-shot politician, scouring the ward for trouble-spots; Bored election observers and monitors who are more interested in their per-diem than what is actually taking place at the PU; Unethical journalists sold to the highest bidder.
For the unexperienced among the volunteers, the names on our lists of stakeholders will look intimidating. The fact is that, these stakeholders are not only intimidating, but for most of them elections represent a do-or-die affair. In trying to protect and promote their various and often conflicting interests, most of them are willing and ready to go to any length in order to remove any obstacles to their interests. Vote buying, bribing of ad-hoc staff and security personnel, snatching of ballot boxes, and intimidating of opponents are among the least of what many of these stakeholders could do. In extreme circumstances, they could resort to violence and even killing of opponents. Therefore, volunteers should be under no illusion regarding what they are going to face on election days. The challenges are not for the timid and the chicken-livered.
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With these type of characters sharing the stage with volunteers, what then are the best strategies for dealing with them to ensure the success of the elections without compromising its integrity? Here, there is no single answer. No single strategy is yet to prove effective. Still, these are some advices for a volunteer to consider. 1.
2.
3.
4.
The first and the most important is calm - the ability not to become agitated even under tense situations and extreme provocations. From experience, there is yet any reported incidence where hired thugs attacked calmly organized group of people on an election day without provocation. The second is the ability to organize members of the PAGs to remain orderly and polite even in the face of rude and provocative remarks and gestures, and to obey every lawful order from ad-hoc staff and security personnel. This is where a working knowledge of the electoral act and other election guidelines will be useful. Volunteers will distinguish between what is the law and what is rubbish and therefore respond appropriately. However, this is not to say there will not be exceptions. The desperation of corrupt politicians knows no bound. When pushed to the wall, they could unleash their hunting dogs against innocent people in any given PU without warning to scatter everyone away and disrupt the conduct of the election. Again, being calm is crucial. Do not be terrified. This is where the PAGs that you worked hard to organize before the election are important. A well-organized and coordinated group of concerned citizens can and should be able to contain, disarm, and handover thugs to the appropriate security agents. This is why we said it is important to have disciplined PAGs acting as one in every neighborhood and ward. They will deter thugs and crooked politicians, security personnel, and INEC staff with corrupt tendencies. There is strength in unity while there is weakness and dispossession in disunity. Still, under no circumstances should volunteers and their action groups take law in their own hands. Their responsibility is to assist the legitimate agencies and personnel. They should desist from any action that portrays them as trying to substitute those agents. Their responsibility is to watch like hawks and assist where needed.
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5.
If a volunteer notices an attempt by INEC staff, security personnel, or party agents to do something that apparently compromises the election or breaks the law, he should calmly and confidently alert the official concerned in a polite way showing him his mistake and the need to rectify it. Remember, officials are humans too and, thus, prone to mistakes and fatigue. They also have sensitivities. Talking to them in a rude manner may provoke them and blow a simple case of misunderstanding or error into a big issue with catastrophic results. Volunteers should always remember that it is in their best interests, more than that of anybody else, to have peaceful elections that are credible.
Closing the Election and Accompanying the Results After the allotted time for accreditation and casting of votes is over, the next thing is to count the votes transparently, and announce the results openly as endorsed by respective party agents. When sorting and counting of votes, INEC ad-hoc staff and duly accredited party agents are the only persons allowed by law to participate. It is not the responsibility of volunteers or security agents to assist either in sorting or in counting of the ballot papers. Theirs is to watch carefully for any irregular attempt by party agents or adhoc staff and raise the alarm. The presiding officer has the power to ask any person, under the watch of assigned security officer to vacate the venue of election. As such, volunteers should beware not to behave in any way that will draw the anger of presiding officers such as rude remarks, double counting, or quarrelling on the issue of invalid votes. Volunteers should restrain members of their action groups from interrupting when officials are counting the votes and after whether they are happy or otherwise with the outcome. It is important to remember that orderly conduct by volunteers and their action groups is a key to the success of their efforts. Once the counting is over and results officially declared after their endorsements by party agents, volunteers should note down the figures accurately. Preferably, they should use the camera of their phones to capture the shot of the result as pasted on the wall of the PU as required by law. A volunteer should promptly forward to his supervisor the result for proper documentation.
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The next thing is to accompany the ad-hoc staff together with the used and unused ballot papers to the designated WCCs. There, the presiding officer and his polling clerk will submit the result of his PU to the Ward Collation Officer (WCO), also an ad-hoc staff, for onward transmission to the Local Government Collation Officer. Often times, criminals and desperate elements would hijack the presiding officer and his polling clerk together with the election materials on their way to the WCC. They do so, in order to substitute the result, sometimes with the connivance of the ad-hoc staff and at other times under life threatening situations. Volunteers and their action groups should be ready to accompany them, and if necessary, provide them with additional security until they reach the WCC safely. If the WCC is not very far, they could all trek together, but if it is far, then the best option is to get a reliable transportation to convey as many people as possible. That is why we mentioned transportation as a crucial tool in the kits of volunteers. It is important to note that closing election at the PU and safely accompanying it to the WCC simply represent the first leg of the journey for credible elections. The second leg actually starts from the WCC when volunteers keep vigil to ensure that desperate politicians did not send thugs to disrupt the elections or attempt to compromise the WCO. Therefore, they need to remain vigilante all the time. After presiding officers have returned their results to the WCO at the WCC, the next line of action is to accurately record the results in the appropriate forms as provided by INEC. Ward party agents will endorse these results and then the outcome of the election will proceed to the local government for recording purpose. Leaving the WCC for the local government is also another flashpoint where desperate elements ambush results from wards and alter them mischievously. Volunteers and their action groups need to very careful. At the local government office of INEC, volunteers should also keep vigil. While doing so, they should share the little food and refreshment they have between their members. By then it is already night, and certainly it is going to be a long one. They should prepare fully for it. They should even get blankets to keep the cold. While waiting, volunteers should be very orderly and polite. They should cooperate with security personnel obeying all legitimately issued orders. Nevertheless, they should not be intimidated by the sight of them. Security agents are there to protect them. Unless, they are unruly, security agents have no reason to harass anyone. Similar activities will recur at the state level. For volunteers, the
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expectation is that they will continue to endure and accompany their votes and the results from the polling unit until they reach the state INEC headquarters where state collation officers will record the results. This very hectic job may take up to two days. Volunteers should therefore be fully ready. In the following lines, I have provided a modest list of dos and don’ts on the days of election.
Dos on Election Days: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Understand that it is going to be tough; Get fully ready and be prepared for all forms of eventualities; Acquaint and equip yourself with all relevant electoral laws; Always listen and obey what your group leader asks; Always remain part of your group for your own safety; Respect and obey all legitimate orders and authorities; Be mindful of the actions of the ad-hoc staff and party agents; Watch and count every ballot paper issued; Document and report all irregular activities in your PUs; Treat all people kindly.
Don’ts on Election Days: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Do not go out under pressure. This should be purely voluntary; Do not be a burden to others. If you do not want to help or cannot afford, do not bother going out. You are not helping matters; Do not canvass for votes for any candidate or party at the PU; Do not wear any dress depicting the symbol of any party or picture of any candidate; Do not engage in arguments and other heated discussions with anybody; Do not provoke the security personnel. They could charge you for disturbing public peace; Do not stupidly jeopardize your safety and that of other people; Do not quarrel with INEC ad-hoc staff. If you are not satisfied with their conduct, report them; Do not attempt to show a voter how he should thumbprint his ballot unless specifically asked and agreed by all around.
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CHAPTER FOUR After the Elections
Election is a contest, and in every contest, it is normal to have a winner and a loser. What is not normal is when the outcome of this contest is dishonestly tempered with to achieve a predetermined result. In the history of electoral politics in Nigeria, there are innumerable instances where elections were shamelessly rigged with tragic consequences for the unity and stability of the nation. That is a tragic experience and a sad reminder to the inability of most of Nigerian politicians to engage on issue-based politics rather than following dishonest short cuts to power. Generally, for volunteers concerned with protecting their fundamental human right to decide the persons they want as leaders, there are few advices, which they should always heed. 1. One, the outcome of an election depends on a number of factors including the arrangements they made and efforts they exerted long before the elections to ensure that corrupt politicians could not rig the process and its outcome. In this respect, the best defense against fraudulent or stolen elections, I believe is to adopt a proactive strategy of elaborate arrangements to ensure credible elections on the D-Day. Citizens should not feel content with promises by government and INEC of their readiness for credible elections. They should also complement them through effective mobilization. 2. Two, citizens, especially youths, need to appreciate the fact that emotional reaction to the announcement of election results that usually ended in violence serves no purpose. Even a glance reveals that the poor and the innocent are always the victims. The main culprits always get away with their crime. There is the need, therefore, to be more creative in addressing the issue of flawed elections in Nigeria. Happily, there are legal avenues. Aggrieved parties should explore that mechanism. For poor and concerned citizens, they could adopt positive action strategies where they stigmatize politicians with stolen mandates. They could refuse to
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3.
deal with them, or socially interact with them, or even boycott them politically. Third, stripped of all appearances, all politics is local. Therefore, the search for credible elections starts with the choices and decisions, which Nigerians make today. This collective effort should involve everybody. Effectively mobilizing and educating the people on the dangers of ethnic sentiment and religious bigotry hold the key to free, fair, and credible elections in February 2015 and beyond. It is, therefore, important to start planning from today so as to be ready by February 2015.
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