The destruction of INEC’s electoral assets by shadowy non-state actors is a sure way of undermining democracy and further destabilising the nation.
THE laundry list of sundry malfeasances in the country lengthens by the day. But the brazen targeting and destruction of critical assets of the nation’s electoral umpire simply signals a deleterious agenda. Curiously, the unfolding scenario is perhaps only matched by the apparent lethargic ineffectiveness of the state in putting down the brash criminality and enforcing order.
On Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the eye of the storm, put the subject matter in context, when it revealed that the agency had recorded a total of 41 incidents involving deliberate attacks on its facilities in the last two years.
“No doubt, the last few weeks have been very challenging to the commission. The spate of arson and vandalism targeting the commission’s facilities and property has become a major threat to our scheduled activities and the entire electoral process,” an alarmed INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had stated.
Although INEC said it was still assessing its losses during recent attacks, it noted that “preliminary assessment so far indicates that the commission lost 1,105 ballot boxes, 694 voting cubicles, 429 electricity generating sets and 13 utility vehicles (Toyota Hilux).”
Yakubu, who said this at the commission’s emergency meeting with security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), revealed that nine of these incidents happened in 2019 and 21 cases in 2020.
His words: “In the last four weeks, 11 offices of the commission were either set ablaze or vandalised,” said the INEC boss, adding that, “two of the incidents were caused by Boko Haram and bandits’ attacks while 10 resulted from thuggery during election and post-election violence.”
More, he noted that, “29 out of the 41 attacks were unrelated to elections or electoral activities,” stressing that “18 of the attacks occurred during the EndSARS protest in October last year while 11 were organised by unknown “gunmen” and “hoodlums.”
According to the INEC boss, by working together with security agencies, the commission would stem the tide of attacks and wanton destruction of critical electoral assets.
Clearly, attacks on the commission’s facilities bode ill for the country and should be treated as a national security emergency. Initially, these attacks targeting INEC’s assets seemed isolated, occasional actions.
But today, they have become more frequent and systematic. Emerging theories that they are designed to demobilise and dismantle critical electoral infrastructure in the country are gaining validation. If these attacks continue unchecked, they would not only undermine INEC’s capacity to organise elections and other electoral activities but will also damage the nation’s electoral process and democracy.
Worse, attacks on INEC facilities are scaling up in the South-East and South-South.
Significantly, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd.), who is also Co-Chair of ICCES, said his office was working with other agencies to collaborate with INEC to sustain Nigeria’s democracy. But the NSA certainly needs to go beyond rhetoric and appropriately deploy his agency’s intelligence assets to pre-empt such attacks by non-state actors in the first place.
On his part, the acting Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Usman Baba, pledged the commitment of the police to lead in policing elections and working with other security agencies. He also pledged that the police at the state commands would also work with INEC’s RECs to replicate the collaboration at state levels for peaceful elections.
But just like in the NSA case, the IGP also needs to go beyond rhetoric and take needful action. Even police facilities and personnel have come under increasing attacks. If there are challenges hindering the efficient service delivery of his strategic organisation, it is within his remit to play these up before appropriate quarters for redress.
Beside the structural and organisational challenges intrinsic in managing the electoral process, the increasing and disruptive acts of violence and terrorism, which is scaling up currently, render the operating environment even more toxic and unquestionably, contribute to the raft of challenges faced by INEC in fulfilling its statutory mandate.
The security agencies must also dig deeper to cage the emerging war against the electoral assets of INEC. But, perhaps, most importantly, there are fundamental triggers that birth these depredations. These touch on core issues of statehood and are driving the current socio-political, security and economic ferment on all fronts. They must be addressed for the troubled national journey to be stabilised and make meaningful progress.
