Voters should avoid violence at polling units –Oyetibo

Mr. Tayo Oyetibo
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, tells FISAYO
FALODI in this interview why arms-bearing policemen should
stay off the polling units on election days among other issues
Are you satisfied with the level of preparation by the
Independent National Electoral Commission for the general
elections?
We may not know until the election day (today). There are
sensitive and non-sensitive materials that must have to be
distributed. So, one may not have information on the level of
the INEC’s preparedness until the elections are conducted
because it will be presumptuous now to say INEC is not
prepared. INEC does not have any excuse not to conduct the
election properly on March 28 because the electoral
commission has been given enough time to prepare. It was
clear enough that INEC could not have successfully conducted
the election on February 14. So, the claim that INEC was
ready then had been proved to be wrong; the commission was
not ready then because about 30 million Nigerians had yet to
collect their PVCs. An election in which 30 million people
would have been disenfranchised would not have been
considered as valid. If for example the election had been
conducted on February 14 and one of the candidates emerged
as winner with one million votes over the other, the loser
would have lodged a complaint that if the remaining 30 million
PVCs had been distributed, he would have won. This is a valid
ground to challenge the result of the election. But in a
situation whereby INEC has distributed substantial number of
PVCs and what we have now are people who have not come
forward to collect their PVCs, nobody can be blamed for that.
INEC can take the census of those whose PVCs are not ready
but have their TVCs and allow them to vote.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Abba Suleiman, said
recently that the police would use fire arms with caution
because it is believed that the election may be tension-
soaked. How do you react to this?
Why should tension rise? Voters should come to polling
booths, do their accreditation and step aside. When it is time
for voting, they should go back to the polling booths to cast
their ballots. If these procedures are followed, there will be no
need for tension to rise; though that is one of the reasons
security agencies are well represented at each polling booth to
take out those who may want to cause problem.
What about the use of firearms?
A policeman without firearm is like a civilian, but those who
bear firearms should stay away from the voting process. They
should only be invited when there is crisis. We cannot rule out
the fact that policemen need firearms to deal with some
peculiar situations. The level of response by the police will
have to be determined by the situation. Any attempt to
completely keep away arms-bearing policemen from election
may be dangerous because you can only use armed policemen
to tackle armed thugs. But the police must be kept away from
the polling booths; they have no business at the polling
booths. They must be kept at strategic locations in case there
is need for their services.
Some people have expressed the fear that voters with genuine
PVCs may be disenfranchised because the result of the mock
test carried out recently on the card readers was not reliable.
How do you react to this?
INEC should have a ‘plan B.’ For example, if a voter has
genuine PVC and the card reader cannot read the card, the
voter should not be denied his or her right to vote. In such a
situation, INEC should fall back to manual system of
accreditation.
As a lawyer, what do you think voters whose eligibility to
vote is questioned by INEC officers can do?
Electoral officers have no power to challenge voters’ right to
vote. The electoral officers are to ensure that the cards voters
are bringing to the polling booths are genuine. But if it is
proved that the cards voters are bringing are not genuine, the
voters should re-examine themselves. In case the PVCs are
genuine, it then means that the card reader is faulty. That is
why INEC needs to provide an alternative way of accrediting
voters with genuine PVCs.
What do you think will happen if INEC fails to provide
alternative way of accrediting voters in case the card reader
fails?
It may be an invitation to crisis. I do not see any reason why
a voter with genuine PVC arrives at the polling unit at the
appointed time and is prevented from voting. Such a situation
can lead to crisis. So, INEC should ensure that such a
situation does not arise.
In previous elections in Nigeria, it was alleged that
politicians used money and other gifts or sometimes used
force to influence voters’ decision. How can this practice be
prevented now?
There is abject poverty in the country. As a matter of fact,
voters should know that a politician who offers them money
to vote for him will steal public fund to recoup his money. I
believe any contestant who offers money to potential voters to
be able to secure votes is likely to dip his hands into the
public fund in order to recoup his investment; that is why we
have been emphasising that those who give money to secure
votes, if they are caught, should be disqualified. If they are not
caught, those who collect the money should not vote for them
because they are voting against their conscience. The moment
voters collect money from politicians before voting, the
politicians become unaccountable to the people.
Politicians have, on many occasions, asked their supporters
to vote and ensure that their votes count. Can voters use
force to defend their ballots even if it is clear that the votes
are being stolen?
Two wrongs do not make a right. Voters cannot resort to
force to ensure that their votes count. If it is obvious that
there are issues, voters can lodge complaints to the
appropriate authority for immediate action. But it will not be
right to use violence to correct perceived irregularity at any
polling unit.
Do you support suggestion that policemen that will be
deployed in supervising the election should be subjected to
psychiatric test?
The police authorities should have a way of profiling the
policemen that are being used for election duty because if a
policeman is not mentally sick and is allowed to bear arms in
the midst of a crowd; and he is not trained in crowd control
technique, he may misuse the arms. I will not go as far as
saying they should be subjected to psychiatric test, but they
could be profiled and put through a special induction course
to ensure incident relating to accidental discharge is
prevented.
What appropriate measure do you recommend to the police
authorities in selecting policemen for the election
supervision?
Experience is very important in this area. The police
authorities should find out whether such policemen have
participated in similar exercise in the past and there was no
report of misconduct against them. Secondly, there should
have been a short and serious programme before the day of
the election to educate them on the limit of their involvement
in the poll. Those who will carry arms should also be trained
specifically that they are not supposed to harass or intimidate
voters. They should know that they are not supposed to
interfere in the voting process; their major duty is to promote
law and order. They can only be called for intervention if there
is crisis.
All security agents, including the para-military will be
represented in the supervision of the election. Don’t you
foresee conflict of interest among them?
It depends. When you have interplay of security agencies,
there will be a leader and the leader would have been given
operational guidelines. So, all other security personnel
operating under the leader would have been subjected to
induction course specifically set up for the purpose of
achieving a common objective. For example, if a unit is being
led by a policeman or a soldier, it is the duty of all the men
belonging to the unit to obey the directive of the unit’s leader.
All the security personnel that will be involved in the election
supervision are on special duty, so, the security personnel are
not going to impose the code of their particular agencies on
the other agencies that are participating in the exercise for the
purpose of ensuring peace.
How then do you advise security personnel for effective
service delivery?
They should keep their distance from the voting process; they
should be attentive and be at alert as well as ensure that their
arms are not handled recklessly so as to prevent accidental
discharge. Even if there is a little disturbance, it is a not
enough for arms-bearing policemen to come to the area at
that stage. Those without arms could intervene first. It is
when the disturbance is beyond the capacity of the non-
armbearing officers that his counterparts with arms can be
called upon.
It appears that INEC has not made special provision for the
physically-challenged persons. Who do you think should be
responsible for assisting them while casting their ballots?
It is a very sad situation in the country. The situation is not
peculiar to INEC; Nigeria has not done well for the physically-
challenged persons. If INEC can make provision for them, it
will be okay. Every aspect of our nation has failed in taking
the physically-challenged into consideration. In some
countries, there are public transport firms that will lower the
steps of their vehicles to make them accessible to the
physically-challenged persons, but we don’t have such facility
in Nigeria.