Vote buying: Nigerians need change of attitude not legislation

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on the National Assembly to enact a law that will prevent the possession of N50,000 within the vicinity of polling stations during elections.

This call was made by INEC Director of Litigation and Prosecution, Professor Tanimu Mohammed (SAN), who spoke at a consultative meeting with security operatives and the technical committee on electoral law amendments which was held recently in Abuja.

The meeting was organised by the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Electoral Matters in collaboration with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

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Professor Mohammed stated that during election periods, politicians often carried huge amounts of money to pay party agents and logistical expenses. This unrestricted possession of cash at polling units has been mainly responsible for vote buying which in turn compromises the integrity of elections.

In Professor Mohammed’s observation ‘’Vote-buying remains one of the biggest threats to credible elections in Nigeria. We need legislation that not only criminalises this practice but also puts preventive measures to curb it in place.’’

Also lending his support to Professor Mohammed’s call, the Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oluwatoyin Babalola, said reducing cash transactions at polling stations during elections would make it harder for politicians to financially influence voters. He said ‘’If we set a cash limit, security agencies will have clearer guidelines on what constitutes an electoral offence, making it easier to enforce the law.’’

Nigerians will readily agree that the issue of vote-buying at polling stations constitutes one of the greatest infractions of the electoral process. The carrying of huge sums of money around polling stations also engenders violence as well as disorderliness, which in many cases results in the disruption of elections. There are many recorded cases of such incidences in the various elections conducted in this country.

While we are inclined to agree with the views and recommendations by Professor Mohammed and the Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, we however need to point out that essentially, the issue goes beyond legislation. We observe that both the Constitution and the Electoral Act have copious provisions to ensure a conducive atmosphere for the conduct of elections in the country. Indeed, we observe that over the years, the electoral laws have been periodically reviewed after every round of elections to strengthen the process.

On the issue of carrying huge sums of money to induce vote-buying, the blame goes to all parties; voters, political parties, security and law enforcement agencies as well as INEC. How often have we had reports of INEC officials and ad hoc staff being given cash to compromise the election process? What about reports of security agents escorting the cash to polling stations and even helping in the distribution to voters and INEC staff? The courts and judicial system too, with their resort to technicalities on electoral cases involving vote-buying and other electoral offences, do not help matters.

Thus, we believe that what the electoral process needs is not just more legislation but an attitudinal change. It is certainly not all identified lapses in the electoral system can be resolved by legislation.

Democracy is not just about laws and legislation alone. It is also about a culture of behaviours which involve adherence to the practice and rule of law, observance of political decorum, and respect for the rights and privileges of others as defined by the Constitution among others. This places on political stakeholders the burden of enlightened self-interest in observing and defending the tenets of democracy in the overriding interest of the democratic state.

These requisite behaviours and principles are sadly missing in our democratic system. When we often wonder why certain inexplicably untoward things happen in our democracy or why we do not seem to get certain things right in comparison with other democracies, the answer may not be far from the absence of these factors. And this is what largely accounts for some of the negative developments that have retarded the growth of our democracy.

Going forward, it is necessary for our political stakeholders to realise that democracy can only be sustained through paradigm shifts in the direction of positive attitudinal changes that would help grow our democratic practice.

Accordingly, we call on our political actors to imbibe from other democracies where such practices have been entrenched and have indeed become the norm in the overall goal of growing and preserving our democracy.