Necessary To Ensure Polling Units Do Not Become Warzones

Nigerians exhaled a sigh of relief that, at long last, we have a chance to put electoral malpractices like ballot snatching, thumbprinting of fake ballots in politicians' homes, kidnapping of electoral officials and forcing them to change results, falsification of results, and gunfights at collation centers to rest.

However, we must remember that the recently permitted electronic transmission of results would not instantly alleviate Nigerian politicians' desperation. Eneke the bird, according to Chinua Achebe, has opted to fly without perching since hunters have learned to shoot without missing. The fight to change the Electoral Act of 2010 to ensure the electronic transfer of results from polling stations to the Independent National Electoral Commission's headquarters, INEC, was long and drawn out. Because direct electronic transmission would cut off the collation centers, where numbers were faked under tight security cover, the dominant political forces opposed it.

Some in the ruling party said that the Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP, had utilized that "advantage" to rule our politics for 16 years, and that they were resolved to continue to "benefit" from the same wrongdoing for as long as possible. President Muhammadu Buhari, in fact, had previously rejected the Bill six times before ultimately signing it on February 26, 2022. Our leaders are likely to retaliate against the new electoral rules by unleashing a barrage of violence at voting stations. It's an old ploy to use violence to suppress opponents' votes, perhaps robbing them of their triumphs. It had previously been used to prevent individuals from freely exercising their right to vote.

Politicians are likely to arm thugs with lethal weapons or pay police, security, and military personnel to safeguard their loyalists' zones while targeting their opponents' loyalists' zones. If this problem is not handled today, future elections may devolve into gun battles in polling booths and surrounding areas. Of course, this will result in widespread dread and voting apathy. It might lead to "mutually assured destruction" circumstances, which would unhinge the system and throw it into chaos. Because whichever party loses the president and governorships in several states in 2023 will likely be out of power for eight years, the political season will demand special caution.

In order to achieve free, fair, peaceful, and legitimate elections in the future, the federal government must commit law enforcement forces to approaching their mission in 2023 with the patriotic impartiality of 2015 rather than the partisan engagement of 2019. Otherwise, the joy of the Electoral Act modification receiving presidential approval would devolve into a nightmare.