By Ayo Kehinde
Against the backdrop of upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states later in the year, stakeholders in the electoral process in Nigeria drawn from the academia, the media, civil society organisations, security and electoral commission attended a one-day workshop to interrogate the post-2023 general elections and chart the way forward.
The workshop was organised in Lagos by the International Press Centre, IPC, with its co-partner, the Centre for Media and Society, CEMESO, under the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria Project, phase 2.
Isaac Olawale Albert, a Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and the pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Multidisciplinary Studies at the University of Ibadan, who gave the lead presentation, titled,” The Role of Critical Stakeholders in Rebuilding Trust in the Electoral Process, Institutions and Elections in Nigeria,’ said, “there is no alternative to democracy and elections are important in the process. Without trust, democracy is a façade.”
He said public perception is key to effective participation in the electoral process, stating that key institutions and actors in the electoral process like INEC and the Judiciary have to deal with institutional credibility, while politicians have to deal with procedural credibility and National Assembly have to deal with personal credibility.
He outlined a five-step approach to stakeholder engagement in the political process, viz; engagement strategy whereby vision is set for future appointment; stakeholders mapping dealing with definition criteria for identifying and prioritizing stakeholder engagement; preparation which focuses on long-term goals to drive the approach and set rules; engagement to mitigate tension while focusing on priorities and action plan to revisit goals and plan the next step.
A former National Commissioner of INEC, Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu, who chaired the event, held that trust is fundamental to elections and the society at large because it is about social solidarity. For Ibeanu, there are three critical factors in building and retaining trust in the electoral process.
“The first is a normative framework which provides for a system of rules, particularly for institutions because they are created by rules. The second is the ability to implement the rules by those who have the professional capacity to do so and thirdly is a robust system of redress for holding accountability and rewarding those who do the right thing. Trust is the basis of legitimacy.”
In his intervention, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Lagos State. Professor Ayobami Salami said the INEC Report on the 2023 general elections detailed the successes, gaps and lessons for the conduct of future elections and expressed the optimism that the upcoming governorship poll in Edo and Ondo states will be successful with the support of relevant stakeholders.
Curiously, political parties which are the major beneficiaries of the electoral process and ought to be the fulcrum of the views canvassed at the workshop are yet to define their goals and strategy for engaging the democratic space.
The National Chairman of the umbrella body of political parties in Nigeria, the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Yusuf Dantalle, bore witness to this view.
He said many politicians in Nigeria see politics as business.
According to him, the political office transforms the economic status of the political office holder immediately after election.
“What this means is that politics in Nigeria is business. It is not about service to the people. That is why it will be difficult to trust elected office holders,” he said, adding that,” today, if as a farmer or businessman you go to the bank for loan, you will have to go from one end of Nigeria to the other to get the requirements.
But the moment you are elected into office, the banks will come for you, to give you loan that you did not seek or need. What this means is that the economic status of the elected person has been transformed and he would be able to pay the loan.”
In addition, he contended that democracy is only practiced at the state and national level with the grassroots, where it mattered most, being left out. The reason he adduced was the strangle hold governors maintain on the electoral process through state independent electoral commissions.
He said that plans are afoot by his administration which came into office in November 2023 to reorganize the parties through well -articulated code of conduct for political parties before 2027 polls. He disclosed that some strategic plans on this has been drawn by the political parties with support of Westminster Foundation, adding that democracy as currently practiced in the country was still far from the reality let alone the ideal.
IPAC, he said, has also created a Directorate of women affairs and People with Disability for more inclusivity clause for parties. He supported the general view for multi-stakeholder approach to resolving the gaps in the electoral process and consolidating the democratic gains in the country.
For Mr Ajanya Esrom, an operational officer with the Kukak Centre, which often get candidates and their political parties to sign and commit to pre-election peace agreements, trust in the political process is not a given.
According to him, “Trust like the Chairman said must be earned. It can be taken and it can be given.”
He however maintained that the process of earning trust is not an overnight task because it must be demonstrated by evidence. “That is part of the work we are doing at the Kukah Centre, to help political parties demonstrate that evidence. They have to show the Nigerian citizens through manifestoes that they can be trusted with the position of governance which they must administer inclusively.”
Former Rector of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Gbemiga Ogunleye reminded the media of the onerous role assigned to it by the constitution and to strive at all times to fulfil their obligations by upholding the ethics of the profession at all times
“These challenges are part of the culture of impunity I have seen from the first to the second, third and now fourth republic, robbing me of my trust of the system; hence building trust is a multi-stakeholder problem,” said Dr Akin Akingbulu, Executive Director of CEMESO, co-host of the workshop.
“The task of building trust in the electoral system is a collective responsibility,” said Mr Lanre Arogundade, the Executive Director of IPC in his welcome address. He submitted that each stakeholder must always ask whether they have done enough to hold political parties and their candidate, security, CSOs and INEC accountable during and after elections and be ready always to dialogue on rebuilding trust in the electoral process, institutions and elections.