INEC’s golden chance

With that, hopefully, it may succeed in repairing its image which was nearly bruised in some past elections. After every election, the electoral umpire, as an earnest of its grim determination to do better in subsequent outings, has had to engage in post-mortem examination of its conduct.

And you can’t discuss the role of desperate politicians without the generous mention of the bloody-mindedness of their thugs. Even in the face of heavy security presence, the thugs, in the service of their paymasters, almost always have a field day, shooting wildly and carting away ballot boxes. If need be, they shoot to kill in the discharge of their mandate.

This is what I was saying in December last year in a piece titled Wrong template for election victory. In that column, I made reference to the dramatic incidence of such bravado in the by-elections in Kogi and Rivers states. For purpose of elucidation and a reminder to the electoral umpire and security agents, I wish to reproduce some excerpts:

“The Lokoja/Koto by- election conducted also in August did not fare better. It featured ballot box snatching, intimidation, gunshots by thugs and men in uniform. Punch on August 11 and other newspapers reported that mob reacted by killing two persons who attempted to snatch ballot boxes. Police spokesman in Lokoja, DSP William Aya, confirmed that some persons were killed during the by- election, one of them in front of the palace of the Maigari of Lokoja.

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