…. Says Polling Units ‘ll be Citizens Office on Election Day
By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
With the 2023 general elections around the corner, the immediate past
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Akwa Ibom state, Barrister Mike Igini has posited that any candidate vying for political office under any of the 18 political parties who indulges in vote buying will lose his or her election.
He also insists that Polling Units (PU) are citizens offices on election days while promoting the idea of deployment of undercover agents across the country before and on the election days to apprehend vote buyers.
Speaking on Arise Television breakfast programme ‘The Morning Show’ monitored in Abuja on Wednesday, Igini who has been very vocal in his demand for free, fair and credible elections in and out of INEC, predicted that those who will rely on vote buying to win elections in 2023 will be hugely disappointing.
“Many politicians will lose huge amount of money in 2023 general elections in vote buying. I see a situation that may people will collect money from vote buyers but end up not voting for them”, Igini argued.
He also said the implications of vote buying is that if it is not stopped, there will be less incentives for elected people to perform in office as they will believe that they have already paid for the votes they received.
According to him: “resolving the issue of vote buying is very simple if the federal government can deploy undercover agents across the country in the eve and on the election days to apprehend vote buyers and beat them to their game”.
The firebrand former REC who stepped on many toes in the course of his duty also said that the positioning of the Voting Cubicles will be quite key to frustrate vote buyers and sellers, adding that he is optimistic that the electoral umpires will beat fraudulent politicians to their act.
Igini however expressed fears for the role of the judiciary in the 2023 general elections, pointing out that the situation where electoral offenders are not apprehended and taken to court to be tried as it obtains in Kenya and Ghana or in the advanced democracies pose danger to Nigeria’s democracy.
Meanwhile, Igini has disclosed that
2023 general election may follow 1993 pattern adjudged to be free and fair election and which was presumed to have been won by late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola but was annulled by the military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
Said he: “The level of political awareness by Nigerians both in the urban and rural areas has been on the rise. With what is happening across the country and with the advent of the social media, I believe and strongly too, that the 2023 general elections will throw up some surprises”.
The former INEC top official who has returned to his legal profession and as a member of the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) on retirement from the Commission insists that with the use of new technologies introduced by INEC the 2023 general elections will be a watershed in the history of elections conduct in Nigeria.
Said he: “Luckily, for INEC, the 2022 Electoral Act has given it unfettered powers to deploy technology in the conduct of elections in Nigeria, pointing out that “INEC is capable of delivering a free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections next year”.
