The Federal Government last week approved the sum of N136 million for the procurement of optical magnetic forms for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which is the firts official step in the bid to introduce electronic voting in the country. THISDAY gathered that non-availability of the forms had hindered INEC from electronically revalidating the voters registers. Against this backdrop, it is curious to understand how an Electoral Commission that has a general election to conduct in less than 12 months from now and is yet to revalidate voters register still toys with the idea of electronic voting system.
The case of what happened in Lagos State in the 2003 general elections when INEC posted PDP's flag bearer Chief Funsho Williams as winner in their web site against Senator Bola Tinubu of Alliance for Democracy (AD), political watchers are wondering if the e-voting being proposed by the INEC is not just an avenue for electoral manipulation.
Former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, may have echoed the fear of not a few Nigerians when he said recently that Nigeria was not democratically ripe for e-voting system in 2007. His argument supports the genral view that Nigeria is a funny nation where policies are adopted without the knowledge of the populace. Many alarming questions have been raised on why Electronic voting should really be adopted in the 2007 elections in a country where almost 60 per cent of the population are illiterates.
According to Ogbenyealu Obas, an analyst, the introduction of E-voting system in the country will amount to an introduction of unacceptable risk of error and manipulation. He noted that electronic voting entails several means of determining people's collective intent electronically, but in the dearth. INEC, according to him, should sit back and recall the fact that Nigeria's major problem lies mostly in unstable electricity supply which is a sine-qua-non for e-voting. "We cannot dream of climbing higher by remaining where and what we are in Nigeria. Our history as a nation shows very clearly that we have been through difficult times. Rigging has always been our major problem when it comes to any political elections in the country. There are bound to be variety of serious electronic voting problems. "Several electronic voting machines may break down on the election day, prompting long voting. The electronic machine may inexplicably add more votes. Votes may be irretrievably lost due to storage problem from the electronic machine", he added. But not everyone agrees with this position as some Nigerians believe there are merits in the idea. According to Arc. Aniekanabasi Ezekiel Nya-Ekot, "any woman who vows never to face labour is only keeping a date with childlessness or be satisfied with adoption as option". He added that the relationship between pain and gain was universal, we must be ready to take our chances and strip our future to indulge our present.
Nya-Etok, gubernatorial aspirant in Akwa Ibom State under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2007 elections went further to say that: "the world is going digital with E-commerce, E-banking, E-government and E-voting. Nigeria can't afford the luxury of living in the past to dodge challenges. We have to take our chances, be creative and innovative. If need be, we could start with designated metropolitan and compliant cities and areas. But start, we must. Its an imperative that we start the e-voting system come 2007".
It would be recalled that sometimes in August last year, INEC formally endorsed the electronic voting system for the 2007 general elections. The chairman of the commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu made the disclosure in Abuja during the official launch of INEC Stakeholders Election Forum. He said the Nigerian electoral process had been bedeviled by complaints of irregularities and there was a need for an alternative resort to ensure success in the next elections.
His words: "The commission decided that the time has come for the introduction of technology in our nation's electoral process. Accordingly, the commission has formally adopted the Electronic Voting System (EVS) as the method it will use for the 2007 polls."
The former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Inter-Party Relations, Chief Rochas Okorocha, while describing the e-voting, said the electoral system in the country is terribly flawed, while the delay in the judicial system at best encourages injustice, and called for the introduction of TV viewing centres during election to stem the tide of fraud.
He said: "a big politician once told me that the most important thing is to be declared a winner, even if you have not seen the ballot box. And once you are declared, then they can go to court".
Okorocha, who walked out of the All Nigeria Peoples Party’s (ANPP) Convention in 2003 to join the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government, and finally settled for the newly registered Action Alliance, said "electronic voting system is the best thing that will happen to Nigeria. I think that the best that Nigeria will do is to computerize and adopt the principles of modern technology in the counting of our votes. It will help in no small way to correct the injustices in our electoral system. But we must also warn that Nigerians are very smart people and this fact must be respected. Even at the last point of writing the final result, these results could change. To print it out from the printer, the thing can change".
Recently, the Senate opened debate on the use of electronic voting system as a means of conducting the 2007 elections. The e-voting system was contained in Sections 30 and 31 of the Electoral Act 2002 (Amendment) Bill, 2007, being processed for its final adoption by the upper legislative chamber. However, when the Senate arrived at the sections, the Senate Committee on Special Duties chairman, Senator Sule Yari Gandi (ANPP, Sokoto) observed that the Senate had set aside the provisions because "they are delicate, dangerous and portending the capacity to disenfranchise many Nigerians."
According to him, the complexities of e-voting cannot be entertained in the electoral system before the next general elections, adding that the system is also fraught with rigging procedures. He argued that: "In the open ballot election, you will require the cooperation of at least 30 persons to rig election but in the e-voting system, you don't need more than one person to rig elections".
Furthermore, he noted that in advanced democracies like the United States of America where the rate of literacy is high, the e-voting system was not found to be fool-proof. "It will be unacceptable to adopt e-voting for an election that will hold under a year without conducting a pilot scheme. It will create anarchy because the technology will be too cumbersome for our system.
"If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) desires e-voting, they should do it as pilot scheme and give us data on acceptability so that we can consider this for 2011 or thereafter, the Senate should delete the sections from the bill." In the same vein, Obas asked "how many Nigerians are literate? We have the Electoral workers who are not trained in the manipulation of electronic machines. So, they will be at sea in respect of the e-voting system. The vendor technicians may be bound to frequently have unsupervised access to voting equipments.
"Why then should we embark on electronic voting in the nation without sitting down to recall what it takes to operate voting through electronic voting system? We are in a democratic society, where free and fair election should be the endless song of the nation. There is no assurance of accurate recording of the votes through the electronic voting machine. Why should we be deceiving ourselves in the name of electronic voting? The machine does not work".
He, however, noted that efficient and effective electoral administration was the only basis for institutionalizing political stability. But not seeing the e-voting as a solution to the political instability in our nation. Election should be well equipped with human and material resources to ensure that the forthcoming election is free of electoral malpractice like rigging, thuggery, unrestrained use of money , violence, arson, among others.
"One of the qualities of a good electoral system is the ability to engender political stability in a polity by making sure that the people have confidence in the electoral process to the extent of encouraging its process rather than losing faith in it Nigerians have no faith in electronic voting, so I wonder why we should embark on it. Meanwhile, he said "the electoral body that wanted to embark on this system should remember that the political and administrative corruption is running high in national life, our economy gets its stimulation from outside rather than from within. We are unlike the European and American countries that are well developed.
"This is a democratic nation, the political system must be characterised with checks and balances which should not allow for the miscarriage of justice. When the majority of the citizens are not comfortable with the electronic voting, how can the issue of checks and balances take place during the election period.
"The villages that are not fully developed must be developed without any delay. They should have equal access to the infrastructural facilities of our nation. Electricity must be stable and regular, without any failure in transmission. The less privileged must have that sense of belonging academically. The old parents who are illiterate must be enlightened by the government for them to really understand their right as citizens, to be able to cast their vote without sentiment, Skills acquisition should be organised for all without exception,. Every Nigerian that is eligible to vote in 2007 must be well enlightened about electronic system".
However, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) president, Comrade Adams Oshiomole while throwing support for INEC ahead of the coming 2007 general elections said Nigeria had reached a stage where no one should rule except he had been so empowered by the people. The people, he stated, would have the kind of government they deserved. "We will mobilise Nigerian workers to support INEC to ensure a transparent election come 2007. Those who live on rigging election will be out of business in 2007. If Palestinians under war conditions can organise credible elections, we have reasons to believe that you have the ability to change the face of INEC. The enormous challenges of conducting a free and fair election are a big burden.
"The issue of adopting the Electronic Voting System (EVS) should not be generating so much controversy, what you want from the system is what you get. Analogue system has not guaranteed fair elections in time. The critical issue is not a method but the caliber of people that will execute the methods. We hope INEC will give Nigerians the opportunity to elect their own leaders so that the electorates can feel free to go out to vote", he said.
But a fresh dimension to e-voting issue is the fear being raised by one of the newly registered political parties, the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) to the fact that the e-voting machine was been configured to favour the ruling PDP. The INEC should respond to this and assure Nigerians that if the system must be used, it should be devoid of such fraud.
Autor: Sheriff Balogun
Quelle: This Day, 28.02.2006
