The electoral bill has been in the news lately and the major talking point has hinged on the president’s refusal to sign it into law. The president’s action and/or inaction has thus far brought about divided opinion especially among political parties – with the top two opposition parties taking the centre stage. The bill does not however seem to evoke much of a concern among the public, and it is with this in mind that it behooves to take a peep at some of the electoral amendment act 2018.

The bill is intended to ensure the credibility of the 2019 elections. It contains provisions that are aimed at ensuring good conducts during and after elections thus preserving the ‘true’ mandate of the electorate. An interesting part of the bill is the proposal for the utilization of the electronic card reader which [if the bill eventually signed into the law] will help to put in check most of the electoral malpractices that have bedevilled our electoral system. Incidences such as child voting, voting by unregistered persons and the stuffing of ballot boxes at unaccredited places will not be the order of the day. This is simply a way of letting justice and fairness prevail by making the most of the available technology. Permit me to deviate a little; I could remember vividly how prior to deployment of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in football matches, controversial calls were left unaddressed and at the end of the day, the outcome [of a match] became compromised. However, with VAR in place, the centre referees can now make better calls.

INEC as the centre umpire, in the case of our electoral process may become incapacitated without resources [such as the electronic card reader] in monitoring the excesses of certain despicable political players who are out to rig election and dubiously take hold of the people’s mandate. The president is however not helping matters by dilly-dallying in signing the bill into the law as he kept pinpointing some rather ‘trivial matters’ [in the bill] that ought to be corrected hence delaying the whole process.

Though some political topshots might have applauded the president on his refusal to sign the bill considering the short time-gap to the 2019 elections but it does seem they have forgotten that he (the president) is the reason why the bill has taken this long to be enacted. There appears to be ‘underground’ moves to frustrate the efforts of the Senate and allow the status quo [whereupon election malpractices thrive] remain. The issue at hand is not about aiming to put the president under undue pressure but making sure that national interest takes primacy.

Speaking about national interest; the senate, in its entirety, does not appear to be awaken to this reality as party interest is placed above a sacrosanctity such as the electoral bill that is under review. If not, why should it be difficult to get two-third of the House to veto the stance of the presidency over something that will benefit the nation’s polity on the long run? And why should the Senate majority leader, Ahmad Lawan come out to say that the Electoral Act of 2010 is enough to see us through the 2019 elections – even considering the problems that surrounded previous elections? The fact remains that we cannot solve a problem created with a particular level of thinking without breaking away from an ‘outdated’ way of doing things. There is an urgent need to address those things that have not profited us and learn to put ‘new wine in new wineskin’.

And to those politicians that have exercised fear over the tendency of technological innovations – electronic card reader in this case – to fail; a democratic system that has permitted lapses and allowed ‘men of dishonour’ have glorious seats in the corridors of power is nothing less than a ‘failed system’. So, except something is done to correct some of these issues, the incoming elections may yet left on a razor’s edge.