INDEPENDENT
Barrister Emeka Iheonu, Imo State-born Lagos lawyer, is a public affairs commentator and member of the African Bar Association (ABA). He spoke to EJIKEME OMENAZU on some of the issues arising from the 2023 general elections, the crisis in some of the political parties, as well as the coming November 11 governorship election in Imo State. Excerpt:
How do you see the controversies that trailed the 2023 general elections?
The controversies included economic, human, and political issues that were discussed prior to and during the general campaign period from the end of the primary period in June 2022 and the final day of campaigns in February 2023. Several controversies trailed the 2023 elections. Before the elections, however, civil society reports from January 2023 had it that the most of the campaigning was not based on policy issues as personality politics, identity politics, and negative campaigning overtook policy discussion. The controversies included the insistence on Muslim/ Muslim ticket by the All Progressives Congress (APC) despite agitations from within and outside the party and the refusal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman to step down despite popular demands since a Northerner had emerged as the party’s presidential candidate. Some of the controversies also included various threats, intimidations, riggings in connivance with corrupt Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff and ad hoc staff, acts of violence, looting, killings, breakdown or non-usage of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in some polling units, failure of the INEC officials to immediately upload already counted number of votes via the iRev, etc. All these combined to mar the 2023 general elections, thereby destroying the great expectations of Nigerians, especially on the integrity of the elections.
What could be attributed to the pitfalls of the elections generally?
The deteriorating security situation nationwide contributed to the pitfalls experienced in the elections. While further advances in the fight against terrorists in the North East led to thousands of refugees being able to return to their communities, the situation in the rest of the nation became increasingly worrisome. The continued proliferation of kidnapping and mob violence along with an epidemic of security force brutality affected the entire country and led to increasing reliance on vigilantes and public anger at the perceived indifference of the administration. Due to the security crisis, civil society groups noted the possibility for electoral violence stemming from pre-existing violent groups. During the primaries and early general election campaigns, several notable attacks were also reported.
