Buhari, INEC differ on election funding, commission blames forex, inflation

 The Independent National Electoral Commission has expressed a divergent view with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on the impact of the attacks on the electoral body’s offices and facilities in different parts of the country and how this will impact on it.

While the President said the electoral body had no excuse not to conduct credible, free and fair elections despite the attacks as the funds it requested had been made available to it, INEC noted that its funds were overstretched by the attacks as it would have to rebuild and replace the destroyed facilities.

Buhari had on Friday assured the United States of America that the attacks on the offices would not stop the conduct of next year’s general elections.

The President spoke in Washington DC during a conversation co-hosted by the United States Institute for Peace, the International Republican Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

The President attended the US-Africa Leaders Summit held between December 13 and 15, 2022.

In the session monitored by Sunday PUNCH, the President also described Nigerian politics as argumentative and rancorous.

Buhari said in his opening remarks, “Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the stage is now set for Nigeria to conduct another general election in February 2023. I am resolute in my determination to enable the conduct of free, fair and transparent national elections in the first quarter of 2023 whose outcome will be largely accepted by the contestants.

“Since 2015, the conduct of our election continues to steadily improve. From the 2019 general elections, the bye-elections and off-season elections in Edo, Ekiti, Anambra and Osun states were conducted largely in improved content to the satisfaction of contestants and voters. That is what we hope for in 2023. Nigeria and the United States of America share many attributes. Apart from being among the largest democracies in the world, the Nigerian constitutional framework and brand of democracy are patterned along the United States of America. The two countries are the largest economies as well as the most populous in their respective continents.”

Asked if INEC was ready and able to conduct the 2023 general elections to keep the democratic process forward, Buhari replied that the commission was fully prepared for the forthcoming polls.

He said, “Thank you very much. You asked whether INEC is prepared to conduct the elections next year, I will say they are because I made sure they were given all the resources they asked (for). I don’t want any excuse that they were denied funds by the government.

“Though some of their offices in one or two geo-political zones have been attacked, all the same, INEC has not complained. Exactly, they cannot complain that they were denied resources to make sure that their infrastructure is firmly in place.”

On whether the attacks on INEC offices could impede the election process, the President said it would not in any way, stating, “It will not. I think there were two incidents. Don’t forget that we have six geo-political zones. If two offices in one geo-political zone were affected, I think the security is good. The results of the elections in Anambra, Osun and Ekiti, through them, Nigerians have appreciated that this administration is defending them to choose their political parties. This is the fundamental thing about democracy. Let people have a choice. I think Nigerians are realising that.

“Politics in our country is generally an argumentative and rancorous business. These characteristics do not necessarily diminish the very way of democracy. Governance is a product of rancorous debate to ensure the bidding of the majority of the people or representatives. More importantly, such an outcome represents the will of the people and not only of the leadership. Our political journey over the last years has pretty much been guided by these attributes of democracy. This process does not endear itself to speedy decisions.

“The characteristic trade-offs in democracy necessarily makes governance an extremely slow process. I am sure that you are familiar with the reference to me as ‘Baba Go Slow’. My compatriots would rather prefer that every day new policy decisions or actions are reeled out by the government in a military administration. But we are in a democracy and a converted democrat like me must listen and or be guided by the majority of opinions and most importantly, must learn to understand the knock-on effects of actions before they are undertaken.”

However, INEC has called on the Federal Government to intensify efforts at protecting its facilities and property nationwide to ensure hitch-free polls.

The commission also lamented that from 2019 till date, it had recorded a total of 50 attacks in 15 states of the federation.

Speaking exclusively to Sunday PUNCH, the National Commissioner, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Festus Okoye, said the commission would go the whole hog to deliver credible polls next year.

Quoting the commission’s Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, while making a presentation before the House of Representatives last week, Okoye said the attacks were worrisome and unfortunate.

Okoye stated, “In four years (2019 to 2022), the commission has suffered 50 attacks in 15 states of the federation. These are malicious attacks and do not include damages to facilities as a result of fire accidents, natural disasters such as flooding or rain windstorms, the snatching and destruction of materials during elections, theft and attacks on election duty officials.

“However, the commission is deeply concerned about the most recent attacks. This is so not only because they are increasingly happening closer to the 2023 general elections, but some of them seem to be rather coordinated. So far, there have been eight attacks in 2022 in Enugu, Ogun, Osun, Ebonyi and Imo states. Two of the attacks happened in Abeokuta. It appears that these attacks are coordinated and ostensibly targeted at disrupting the forthcoming general elections.”

On the impact of the attacks on the preparations for the polls, he said, “The facilities that are destroyed, especially offices, will take time to rebuild. In the alternative, the commission must rent suitable accommodation. Second, several materials lost in the attacks have to be replaced. In some of the recent attacks, Permanent Voter Cards in the offices were destroyed.

“The commission will have to reprint them in time for collection by their owners, who must be given the opportunity to vote in the coming elections. Further, the commission and security agencies must have to increase security around the facilities. This may be very challenging for security agencies that are already over-stretched trying to protect the public and other national assets.

“These attacks on election facilities are certainly additional problems they can do without. Above all, these attacks mean that the commission will have to rebuild facilities and replace destroyed materials.”

Another area of concern, according to Okoye, is funding given the low value of the naira.

“Our funds are already overstretched by inflation, exchange rate and other additional incidental responsibilities. In fact, in five states, the commission’s facilities were attacked twice, in some cases when they were still under construction as was the case in the Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State or within a few days after staff members moved to the reconstructed renovated facilities as in the case of the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State,” he added.

Should the attacks continue at the current pace, Okoye warned that the commission “may find it increasingly difficult to recover in time for the elections.”

 Buhari on corruption

Buhari noted that his administration’s efforts on corruption continued to yield results as relevant agencies soldiered on by making impressive recoveries and securing convictions of those sabotaging the country’s efforts at sustaining development and growth.

“The major cash recoveries will be deployed in a transparent way to fund the infrastructure debts,” he promised.

The President also noted that global terrorism, banditry and trans-national crimes continued to pose enormous challenges not only to Nigeria, but to global peace and security.

“These acts have become perennial threats to sustaining economic development and growth, which ought to be the dividends of democracy,” he added.

 He further said that Nigeria and other regional bodies in Africa and the rest of the world were working assiduously to deal with the existential threats to the existence of humanity.

He stated that Nigeria had continued to engage bilaterally and multilaterally to comprehensively win the war against Boko Haram and related terror groups, and overcome evidence of banditry and kidnapping.

The President said, “Recall that when I assumed power, Boko Haram held about two-thirds of Borno State, half of Yobe State and a couple of local government areas in Adamawa State. Today, this is no longer the case. As a country and sub-region, we continue to be negatively impacted by the events in Libya, the Central Africa Republic, the Sahel and the war in Ukraine. Our region is awash with small and light weapons that continue to freely circulate as well as cope with the influx of foreign fighters.”

According to him, the country’s armed forces and those of its partners in the multinational joint task force consisting of Chad, Niger and Cameroon continue to demonstrate great bravery while paying the ultimate price in securing the region’s collective freedom.

Buhari, INEC differ on election funding, commission blames forex, inflation (punchng.com)