The 2019 general elections has come and gone (with about two states to be concluded in few days time) and winners have emerged. The Independent National Electoral Commission spent about N234.5 billion for the conduct of the election, and is said to be the most expensive poll ever organized in the history of Nigeria by the commission.
The Government, electorates and the media (especially social media) must be commended for the various roles played by them before, during, and after the conduct of 2019 general elections. From conveyance of election materials to the nooks and crannies of the country, to the deployment of competent adhoc staff to various polling units and proper usage of card readers by INEC must be commended and appreciated by well meaning Nigerians.
The electorates too have observed almost all the rules and regulations stipulated by the INEC, thereby complying with all the electoral guidelines, from the accreditation process to voting time and so on. It was reported to be peaceful in almost all the states were elections was conducted.
The media outlets (and the social media) played a vital role by covering the entire election process at various polling units. If not for the help of Media, the violence(s), thuggery and ballot box snatchers incident recorded in some states wouldn’t have been heard, and that led to the cancellation of elections in the affected places across the country. So kudus to the power of social media and the conventional media outlets for doing a great job.
Despite the hitches/violence in some parts of the country, the 2019 general elections was conducted peacefully with the exception of the Gubernatorial re-run in Kano state where thugs were seen openly carrying weapons and disrupted the election process, yet INEC went ahead to declared APC’s Ganduje as the winner of the election. Though, we are not in position to say a certain candidate of a particular party is the rightful winner or not, but in such situation where violence marred the election process, such elections should be cancelled by law and a fresh one should be conducted within a specific given days as provided by the electoral law.
The president on the other hand must be commended for not interfering in the election process (especially during the re-run elections in Sokoto, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi and Kano states). As at Wednesday 27 March, 2019, Adamawa and Rivers states are the remaining 2 of the total 29 states that held governorship polls, but their results are still outstanding. No elections in Kogi, Edo, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Anambra and Ondo. In total, APC has 15 states and PDP has 12(and will likely win Adamawa and Bayelsa) states. This can be said to be the first time in the history of Nigeria where a sitting president gave INEC a free hand to operate and to be truly independent. Such action by the President must be commended by all and sundry.
Nevertheless, the roles played by DIG Anthony Michael and other officers deployed for Kano gubernatorial rerun is condemnable and must be investigated. In summary, the re-run election conducted on the 23rd March 2019 in kano was a sham. It was the worst supplementary election ever conducted by the INEC. It was even difficult to differentiate the re-run election conducted under the supervision of DIG Anthony from motor-park or garage election which in most cases are marred by violence.
Thugs took over the streets of the affected area with security cover, thereby denying the electorates their rights to exercise their franchise. It’s unfortunate that the DIG and his team couldn’t (or decided not to) provide the maximum security needed for an election of less than 150,000 voters. Thugs were seen taking over different polling units in Kano and causing fear and despair for the electorates, and the security personnel attached to such polling units did not stop the thugs from carrying out their deadly missions.
It’s must for all well meaning Nigerians to commend the commissioner of police in charge of Kano state for coordinating and overseeing the election of over 2 million voters without having cases of thuggery taking over the various election units. Such brave conduct put in place by the CP must be appreciated by Kanawa and Nigerians and hope that other police commissioners will emulate CP Muhammad Wakili for a job well done .
