Nigeria: Know your inalienable voter's rights

You have a great responsibility

As the first of the three consecutive election weekends in Nigeria arrives on the 2^nd of April 2011, never has it been more the duty and responsibility of Nigerians to ensure that their express wishes at the ballot box are transparently, fairly, honestly and truthfully represented in the results that are announced in all the elections they participate in.

Following the notices that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disseminated to the public through their website, on social media sites as Twitter and at press conferences, it is incumbent on every Nigerian to be aware of their rights as they exercise their constitutional rights to vote in their representatives and governments.

Get informed

Your first source of information is the INEC website [1], the guidelines they issued [2] regarding the elections have been condensed into a blog with related sites to help you understand what will happen on Election Day.

The @inecnigeria Twitter account posted a number of tweets that have been collated into a blog at NigeriansTalk.Org as a primer on the elections [3], the paper trail of how the results of the elections will be announced by Presiding Officers at the Polling Unit, the Registration Area, the Local Government Area, the State Level and at the Federal Level by the Chief Electoral Officer is documented in the blog that shows the INEC Electoral Chain of Custody [4].

Beyond vigilance, Nigerians must protect their votes and this starts by knowing their rights, all derived from all the guidelines given by INEC.

Your rights at the Polling Unit

It is the right of every Nigerian to help ensure the independence and impartiality of INEC is protected, guaranteed and enforced to the full by participation in the electoral process.

It is the right of every registered voter to be at their Polling Unit on Election Day from when it opens for accreditation at 08:00AM until when the results of the vote at that Polling Unit are published and posted at that Polling Unit.

All accredited voters are entitled by right and by encouragement of INEC to visit their Polling Units with their mobile devices and use them freely at their Polling Units. (This invalidates, countermands and renders illegal the atrocious warning [5] of the Inspector General of Police.)

Avail yourselves of the ReVoDa Voter Monitoring System [6] to report events at your Polling Unit.

It is the right of every accredited Nigerian voter to vote according to their persuasion, their conscience, their conviction and never under duress or inducement by any politician, religious or tribal leader or for compensation.

It is the right of every accredited Nigerian voter to use their vote wisely, the people we elect in April with run the country for the next four years, their decisions will affect our lives at home and abroad, our future, our prospects, our progress, our economy, our livelihoods and much more – ensure the party that has your endorsement at the ballot box can and will affect your life as a Nigerian for the better.

If you have doubts or have questions that have not been properly addressed today, endeavour to research and appreciate who really can deliver the Nigerian vision you have.

The INEC Official is chief

The most senior Nigerian Official at any accredited Polling Unit and all the collation centres is the INEC official; security agents answer to the INEC official and that INEC official controls all the activities that help in the smooth running of the electoral process relying on the support of INEC assistants and the law enforcement duties of security agents under the order and control of that INEC official.

The INEC official should ensure all activities are transparent to the accredited monitors, the assembled and accredited voters, the security agents and the party agents.

Law enforcement personnel are subject to INEC on electoral matters

All law enforcement personnel when it pertains to the electoral process are answerable to the designated INEC official at that location and they shall not act outside the remit and authority of the INEC official during the whole electoral exercise.

It goes without saying that the Inspector General of Police is also answerable to the authority of INEC when it pertains to electoral matters on all Election Days at all INEC designated electoral premises throughout the federation.

The function of law enforcement is to maintain peace and order as well as facilitate the ability for Nigerians to observe the conduct of free, fair, honest and transparent elections.

One function of law enforcement personnel on Election Days is to enforce the restrictions on vehicular movement and unauthorised travel.

INEC and law enforcement with their weight of responsibility are at the service of the people of Nigeria NOT the other way round.

2011 is the now; this is the time you have to make a difference with your vote.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS IN 2011 and refuse to let your rights be infringed by anyone in the April Elections.

Sources

[1] INEC Nigeria

[2] Nigeria: INEC Election Guidelines - Critical Information

[3] Nigeria: A Primer on INEC Elections in April 2011 | NigeriansTalk

[4] Nigeria: INEC Electoral Chain of Custody

[5] April polls: Soyinka slams IGP over use of cell phones

[6] ReVoDa | How it works

Nigeria: A Primer on INEC Elections in April 2011

Results and Reviews

Update: Nigeria: INEC Election Guidelines - Critical Information

This blog has been a veritable resource and guide to the Nigerian elections in April 2011, I have consistently updated this blog and add other bits of information as the election season wound down bringing together the election reviews and results from various sources.

All outstanding elections have now been concluded and those with grievances are now at liberty to file their claims with the election tribunals to seek redress or resolution.

The INEC Nigeria homepage offers a summary of the validated results of the elections.

Punch on the Web: Election Portal | Results of 2011 Presidential and other elections

Home : Nigeria Election Coalition presents an another analysis of the results announced.

The provisions for electoral petitions

The Electoral Act 2010 provides for the resolution of electoral petitions, these can be found in PART VIII - DETERMINATION OF ELECTION PETITIONS ARISING FROM ELECTIONS this starts from Section 133 or Page 45 according to the pagination of the PDF file.

Electoral Act 2010 as gazetted [PDF File].

Petitions should be filed within 21 days of the declaration of the results, the tribunal should deliver its judgement within 180 days of the filing of that petition and appeals for the tribunal process must be exhausted with 90 days of the judgement.

Election petitions take precedence over all other case files before the tribunal or court according to Section 142 of this Act.

No hard time-limits are placed on the complete resolution of petitions all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Election Reviews

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review I

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review II - New Election Dates

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review III - Who votes on Saturday.

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review IV - Part I to Voting

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review IV - Part II - We can

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review V

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review VI - Report to Prevent Rigging

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review VII - Change!

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review VIII - A President-Elect

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review IX - Analysing the Presidential Results

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review X - The North

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review XI - A functioning democracy?

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review XII - Altogether acceptable

Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review XIII - Ideas for Electoral Reform

The election timetables, postponements and rescheduling

This primer started as a collation of information bits posted by the @INECNigeria Twitter Account, it has been regularly updated to reflect changes during the April 2011 election season though the most of the original parts of this posting appear below.

New election dates announced on the 3rd of April, 2011, further postponements announced on the 7th of April, 2011 for certain Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies

National Assembly Elections - Saturday, 9th of April, 2011 (15 Senators and 48 Representatives will not be elected on this day.)

Visit Nigeria: #NigeriaDecides Election Review III - Who votes on Saturday for more information.

Presidential Elections - Saturday, 16th of April, 2011

Gubernatorial and State Legislature Elections - Tuesday, 26th of April, 2011 (The Senators and Representatives not scheduled for election on the 9th of April will be elected on this day.)

Rescheduled Gubernatorial and State Legislature Elections - Thursday, 28th of April, 2011 (For Kaduna State & Bauchi States because of security reasons borne of post-election violence after the Presidential Elections.)

Supplemental elections held in 4 local government areas and one ward in Imo State to resolved the inconclusive situation – Friday, 6th of May, 2011.

INEC engaging social media

The @inecnigeria Twitter account finally came alive with activity last week with useful information about the elections to be conducted in Nigeria in the month of April 2011.

Through the series of tweets posted and my comments this blog will attempt to give a general idea of what to expect during those elections.

@inecnigeria At INEC, we are working round the clock to ensure a smooth delivery of a free and fair election to the people of Nigeria.

@inecnigeria INEC is doing its best as an Election Management Body (EMB) to restore confidence and provide a level playing field in Nigeria.

We as Nigerians expect no less from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) it is our hope that the elections are conducted and results announced that reflect the express wishes and majority voice of Nigeria.

@inecnigeria The total number of registered voters stands at 73,528,040 while total number of duplicates stands at 870,612. #VotersRegFacts.

The Timetable [Source]

The National Assembly Elections will hold on Saturday, the 9^th of April, 2011. This pertains to the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives that meet in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja unfortunately, the listed URL on the INEC Nigeria website does not link to the lists. [The URLs are now working.]

@inecnigeria List of candidates for Nigerian Senate elections http://j.mp/gpUxQm

@inecNigeria List of candidates contesting for the Nigerian House of Representatives http://j.mp/dO1xYf

The Presidential elections will hold on Saturday, the 16^th of April, 2011. The list of presidential office aspirants can be found here.

@Inecnigeria The list of candidates contesting for presidency with their running mates http://j.mp/glXuws

The gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections will hold on Tuesday, the 26^th of April, 2011.

@inecnigeria List of candidates contesting the Nigerian gubernatorial elections http://j.mp/effx3Q

At the writing of this blog the list for those running for State Houses of Assembly was not yet available but I will make that available as soon as I can.

Movement restrictions on voting day

In order to ensure that the voting in 2011 is seen as free and fair, it is probably going to be a full day exercise with full voter participation but a number of things need to be known.

Movement will be very restricted on election days which means voters must be close to locations where they registered to be able to vote. Students who registered at their schools would have to be in residence to vote at those locations and those who travelled to their villages from their locations of residence to register would have to make certain that they are back in their villages for voting before election days.

@inecnigeria It is important to reiterate that movement during elections will be restricted to only those on official election duty.

@inecnigeria Voters are therefore advised to start their day (on election days) close to their polling units to avoid being disenfranchised.

@inecnigeria #INEC. Governors and other officials not allowed to move around with armed detail on election day.

@inecnigeria Governors, other public office holders have been advised to come, vote and go back home. No reason for "monitoring". #INEC

@inecnigeria Movement restrictions will be enforced by security agencies nationwide for public safety & to preserve integrity of election materials.

Monitoring is now part of our civic responsibility Nigeria: ReVoDa - Making Your Votes Count

Protocols for elections

There is an accreditation process and a voting process on the day of the elections. Voters are to arrive at 8:00AM at their respective polling units to be accredited and this continues until 12 noon prompt.

It is the most important part of the electioneering process because it validates the eligibility of the voter to vote and this I believe is verifying registration, identification and the matching fingerprints.

@inecnigeria Voters must be at their respective polling booth at 8am for accreditation. Accreditation is a prerequisite for voting.

@inecnigeria Accreditation begins at 8am and ends at 12 noon prompt. It is the most important process in voting during the elections.

The voting would be by Modified Open Ballot System [1] the guidelines for this process will be published on the 23^rd of March, 2011.

@inecnigeria Voting procedure will be 'Open Ballot System' (similar to what was used during 1993 elections)

@inecnigeria Proper guidelines for the elections will be released this Wednesday. #INEC.

Protecting your votes

Voters will be allowed to wait around after voting to ensure their votes are counted and tallied freely, fairly, transparently and without interference. They are allowed to take their mobile phones into polling units, record events and make use of the ReVoDa [2] monitoring process.

No one in political office or contesting elections is allowed to monitor elections, they are to vote and leave the environs of the polling units.

The list of accredited election monitors appears here [3].

@inecnigeria Voters are allowed to bring in mobile phones/devices into Polling Units. #INEC.

@inecnigeria Violence and disruptions at polling units could be grounds to nullify results in those polling units. #INEC

@inecnigeria Results will be nullified if the total votes cast exceed the total number of accredited voters.

@inecnigeria There is a profound commitment from overwhelming majority of Nigerians for free and fair and credible elections in April. #INEC

Most of the information about the conduct of elections, the candidates and guidelines can be found on this page [4].

Little frustrations

Trawling through the INEC Nigeria website is a nightmare, the placing of information is not consistent, the quality of data is badly processed with some information that should be in tables provided as downloadable files in some cases you have to rely on the pot-luck of the latest news column of 3 items to get the information required because the user experience is appallingly unprofessional.

I was frustrated when I started writing this blog hours ago that I stopped, but this not before I had posted some rather scathing remarks about the website. I can now report that amazing improvements have been made to get at the necessary detail in use on this blog.

After the elections on the 16^th of April the INEC Nigeria website was again revamped making results even more accessible, the organisation has consistently improved on the quality of their service and information dissemination.

Sources

[1] National Mirror - INEC adopts modified open ballot system.

[2] ReVoDa: making voting social and protecting your democracy

[3] Accredited Domestic Observer Groups/Organisations for the 2011 April General Elections

[4] Reports: INEC Nigeria

Nigeria: Know your inalienable voter’s rights

Atiku can, INEC cannot

INEC - Not smart at all

Even a half-wit, crippled dog blinded in one eye and oozing with sores could have predicted without the need for a bark that the Independent National Electoral Commission was on to a loser by politicking instead of ensuring that elections in Nigeria were conducted freely and fairly.

The Supreme Court and there is no higher body of justice in Nigeria has reaffirmed the ruling the lower court that INEC does not have the power to disqualify candidates. - BBC

The ruling was unanimous and it would put INEC in a scurry to ensure that the Vice President is duly presented to the electorate in all regions of Nigeria on Saturday.

Basically, Atiku Abubakar can run and INEC cannot stop him, somehow, INEC had confused the job of vetting for eligibility with assessing for disqualification, the former being their role and the latter completely out of their remit and realm of influence.

Like I have said before, INEC has no logistical preparedness to serve the nation in a just poll; the weekend showed late openings, usurped ballot boxes that then were returned and still ended up being counted, poor security amongst other failings.

The fear is, by Saturday, Atiku Abubakar would not be on the ballot papers in some nether regions, causing confusion, exacerbating chaos and creating unrest.

A reckless risk taker

Now, the Professor of Pharmacognosy deigned to suggest that the conduct of the elections was a success and this is where I have a serious problem with his credibility.

Professor Iwu shows himself to be a man who takes reckless risks regardless of the consequences and contrary outcomes. As a pharmacist, one begins to wonder how many risks he has taken in drug research and the possible exposure of humans to dangerous, harmful or deadly substances in the name of medical research.

Any other smart person would have erred on the side of caution seeking the widest breath of legal advise when skirt the limits of the remit of an executing entity, but Professor Iwu threw caution to the winds to risk the democratic stability of his fatherland and deny his fellow countrymen due diligence in the discharge of his duties.

A fall so great looms

In the end, I would cast Professor Iwu as an archetypal Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, a senior Catholic Archbishop of England when Henry VIII was king. He promised to seek the dissolution of the king's first marriage from the pope and failed. It lead to the English Reformation, the persecution of Catholics and the execution of a few of the king's wives.

Professor Iwu, we can plainly say under the orders of the executive has failed to conclusively exclude the Vice President from the elections, if a fate worse than his archetype befalls him, it would have been as a result of his scant regard for the responsibility he holds.

To paraphrase the final words of a remorseful Cardinal Wolsey - "If Professor had served his country as diligently as he has done the wicked will of the President, we would have commended him a man of honour to be celebrated amongst the great men of Nigeria".

Alas! The man would leave a legacy befitting a thief.

PS: Meanwhile back to the INEC website, the piece of news has not yet been posted and I note that the part for election observers contains nothing though he did address election observers with the view to challenge their status rather than offer transparency - this a charade and it must not continue any longer.

References

The INEC Blogs

INEC frustrates Nigerians with incompetence

Incompetence becomes INEC

Many Nigerian Bloggers have already reported on the elections that took place in Nigeria yesterday and I am not going to add much to that.

However, going to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) website, it would appear the time they should have spent sorting out their logistics was probably expended in the politics of disenfranchisement of Nigerians.

In all the time that they had to prepare for the elections, how is it that on election day some polling stations were only opening up 6 hours late or not at all? BBC.

Then the President whose total 11 and a half years in office represents a failure that history would most assuredly record has the temerity to suggest that the polling had gone relatively well.

Time and again, the ruling parties have frustrated Nigerians in order to obscure and manipulate the electoral will of the people and usually with success.

Indeed there are issues of safety and security for the precious votes of Nigerians and the polling officials who need to be able to do their work without fear or favour.

Trying us by trying

Nigerians have been longsuffering if not supinely docile to accept half-measures, incompetence and shoddy planning as sufficient even that the mentality of low expectations is translated into one phrase - They tried.

We should stop trying and start doing and from what happened yesterday for something so critical to the survival and future of Nigeria to be handled with such confusion and levity is a disgrace.

So when INEC announces that the law makers and journalists were happy with INEC's facilities and level of preparedness, I read that with an overdose of healthy skepticism - the use of the phrase, selected journalists is already a giveaway, sycophantic praise-singers who parrot the desired propaganda.

This entourage visited the INEC headquarters which had over 100 gun-totting mobile policemen - only in Nigeria can legally armed law enforcement officers be called gun totting - a phrase usually associated with militias, gangsters or a force under unruly or ill-disciplined command.

Proper investigative research required

In the end, the entourage was awe-stricken; read - easily impressed, but having a Central Depot does not a national election make, somehow, the entourage should have been visiting locations closer to the polling stations and I doubt if the sycophantic journalists would have had the conscience to relay what they saw.

This obviously makes the visit and views of two former heads of state in the persons of Dr. Yakubu Gowon (1966-1975) and General Muhammadu Buhari (1983-1985) rather immaterial as they pandered to the window-dressing in the centre rather than a proper research of the facts in the regions.

In the circumstances we are saddled with this atrocious service and might have to condone it for now, but if for once we believe that INEC's independence in conducting the elections as free and fair then it would definitely be time for Nigerians to rise and claim their country back from the petty tyrants who have committed this great country to a cabal of corrupt politicians.

No voting advice for our Dear Dutch Leader

Tell me who

The Dutch political season in readiness for the November 22^nd elections continues apace with the launch of StemWijzer (Dutch). StemWijzer is an online voters’ advisory that poses questions to the participant to help them determine if they are conservative, liberal, libertarian, socialist, communist or whatever political shade you might be, it now has a more European outlook called VoteMatch.

Then it advises on which of the 26 or so parties the participant should vote for at election, offering second and third choices depending on how the questions are answered.

As I have lamented before, our Western democracies are failing because of the failure of education and the lack of understanding of how to read party policies and ideologies and how to match that with personal political slant and thinking.

People think they are liberal and end up being classified as intolerant and right-wing, some who are right-wing end up in another political spectrum, how does one begin to appreciate ones political temperament and convert that into an effective democratic voice?

Bad system or lacking an ideology

Worse still is when StemWijzer cannot offer an opinion as what party you can vote for, when this happens to the person who has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands for the past four years, questions should be asked.

The Prime Minister is leader of the right of centre CDA, which would be nominally conservative, could it be that Stemwijzer is seriously flawed or we have a leadership without an ideology?

I do not have to answer that question because the Prime Minister himself says and I quote, “StemWijzer provided good support for people in making a well-motivated choice”. But for some reason, StemWijzer could not even find a neutral or nonchalant choice for our Dear Leader.

Other leaders like the leader of the Liberal party (VVD) was advised to vote for the progressive-liberal D66. The leader of the Labour Party (PVDA) however, was true to his party and ideology – he probably should be the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

References

Dutch election news - Part I