..Discussants identity causes of vote buying, other electoral challenges
By Editor
Founder of Coalition of Association for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), Yusuf Goje has said that rigging and other forms of malpractice during election has gone beyond ballot snatching, as politicians now resort to using of cutting edge technology and sophisticated processes.
Goje made this known at a 1-day Post-Election Dialogue, organized by Gidan Yanci Fellows in partnership with YandyTech Community and Governance for All Initiative. The objective of the retreat was to reflect on the electoral process, identify areas of improvement, and explore strategies for enhancing transparency and inclusivity in future elections.
He said politicians of this dispensation are not only snatching ballots, but now adopting the use of Big Data Scientific Schemes to manipulation electoral outcomes.
Goje who was asked by moderator of the dialogue, Mubarak Abdulganiyu Al-Ameer, who are those involved in rigging and he responded that "rigging has gone beyond ballot snatching.. It is about data science. And this are new manifestations in system. People would now rather use such sophisticated technology to rig elections than help the society.
"Rigging exposes the values we stand for as country as society. Until we go back to our communities to change the value is when electoral processes will be free and fair."
According to Goje, corruptipn and rigging works in tandem , hence, corruption is not peculiar to political spheres alone, but anywhere people find themselves they want to cut corners.
He explained that " We can get our values right by adopting the system thinking method. First, by looking at what is happening then identity course of rigging, then proffer solution as trend emerges. People rig election to have access to pull of resources for their own benefit. And until such mentally is uprootedthen this will persist."
Another discussant, Mohammed Abubakar, Northwest Lead, FollowTheMoney noted that there are numerous flaws with the BVAS machine provided by INEC for verification of voters, calling on the commission to reconfigure and re-train handlers of the machine before the next election.
"BVAS in some poling units didn't work. ..Results are uploaded on IREV portals inconsistently and many errors were recorded. There is need for more training for INEC staff, so that they would be conversant with tools used for conducting election," Abubakar stressed.
Similarly, Yusha’u Abubakar Executive Director, eCAPH who was also a participant at the retreat pointed out that some irregularities were reported regarding the use of BVAS machine in the just concluded elections, as "pictures uploaded on IREV are tampered with."
On delivery of good governance, the Director of eCAPH urged community members to cultivate the habit of holding their representatives accountable once elected into office. He said they should "work collectively to ensure they are accountable by making them sign an undertaken which will be presented to them upon assumption of office."
Meanwhile, Grace Hosea, Fellow, Gidan Yanci & Founder, Governance for All Initiative who is also a discussant at the event warned Nigerians against selling their votes, as she noted that "selling votes has consequncies in future."
Hosea then concluded by harping on "the need to engage people in capacity buiding and sensitization on election. There is also the need to train people and get them educated so that they can hold their electorates accountable. There is need to also mentor young people, especially those that have intrest in politics so that they get it right at first instance."
