There is a saying that goes thus: “Truth is like surgery, it hurts but it heals, a lie is like a painkiller, it gives instant relief but has side effects forever.”
Some years ago, former President, Late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua said the election that brought him to power on 27 April 2007 was flawed with irregularities.
He admitted that the elections that produced him as president “had shortcomings” and promised electoral reforms to correct the system but unfortunately, he did not live to fulfill that promise when His Maker called him home.
His successor, former President Goodluck Jonathan also said that the results of the 2007 presidential election that produced the late Umaru Yar’Adua as President and himself as Vice President caused him a lot of embarrassment.
He said notwithstanding the Supreme Court judgment upheld the results of the elections. He said he was confronted with “embarrassing questions” over the elections whenever he travelled abroad.
Despite the fact that Jonathan, through the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC led by Attahiru Jega, introduced a technology – Bimodal Voter Registration Systems, BVAS, etc, the elections were perceived not to have been credible by the political actors especially the losers.
Although the technology was widely accepted, some people were not happy with the way they are being handled or manipulated according to some people. It was also reported in the media that manual voting and transmission of results were used hence defeating the essence of the technology.
However, recent research has shown that there are better ways to conduct elections in Nigeria rather than the one introduced which seems to be manipulated. And that technology is the one used by banks.
The banks issue Automated Teller Machine, ATM card to its customers and till date, it is serving its purposes. Since the introduction of the ATM machine and cards, they have made life very easy for customers and themselves.
People don’t need to go to the bank and queue anymore especially those withdrawing, except you are withdrawing a huge sum of money. And the good aspect is that one can withdraw from anywhere even outside one’s territory, town, city and state.
And because there is a withdrawal limit, one cannot go anywhere to withdraw if one has exceeded the withdrawal limit.
If that is achievable with the bank, INEC can borrow a leaf from the banks. The idea of going to a particular polling booth to vote where one is registered should be jettisoned.
During elections periods, people travel from one place to another because of where they registered for their voter’s cards. Between the last election and the next one, many people must have relocated from their former residents to another hence making it difficult for them to vote on election day due to restrictions of movement of vehicles and other means of transportation. For one reason or the other, some people also travel to their villages for reasons best known to them hence making it impossible for them to vote.
However, if one can withdraw money from any part of the country, and remain disqualified after getting to its limit and unable to do another withdrawal, one should be able to vote from anywhere like the usage of the ATM machine.
And if possible, the ATM, Vote’s’ card, Driver’s license and National Identity Card should be done together. One card should serve three or more purposes instead of carrying many cards around.
The good thing about using the ATM-like card is that there won’t be any need for people to queue anywhere and voting can be done at any time but on elections’ day as long as the card will not allow you to vote again the second time anywhere.
Finally, it has been discovered that many people don’t vote on elections’ days because of the nature of their jobs. Essential workers like doctors, nurses and other medical staff, uniformed men and women who are monitoring elections, Electoral officials, just to mention a few.
The aforementioned are denied opportunity to elect their next leaders hence that responsibility is left in the hands of their fellow citizens. INEC can make provisions for the aforementioned and others to vote too, either being the first to vote or if the ATM card is adopted, then they can easily vote.
However, if INEC is sincere and willing to conduct elections that will be free from complaints, credible and acceptable by all Nigerians and the international bodies, then let them adopt the formula above. INEC is perceived to have had a bad image, this is the best time to redeem it and prpv to to the world that they are truly independent and credible.
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