Candidates of the Edo gubernatorial elections are to sign a peace accord today in the lead-up to the September 21 governorship election. Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission has extended the collection of Permanent Voter Cards by three days, from Friday, September 13th to Sunday, September 15th. Samson Itodo, Executive Director at Yiaga Africa, joins CNBC Africa for this discussion.
Candidates of the Edo gubernatorial elections are to sign a peace accord today in the lead-up to the September 21 governorship election. Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission has extended the collection of Permanent Voter Cards by three days, from this Friday to Sunday, September 15th. Samson Itodo, Executive Director at Yiaga Africa, joins me now for more on this discussion. Samson, thanks a lot for joining us on the show today. Now, the momentum is building to the Edo elections. However, the main challenge remains getting everyone on board when we are talking about signing peace accord, be it governorship or presidential elections. As we speak today, Africa still deals with this major hurdle. What's your reading of the intricacies that have played out so far as the lead-up to the elections for Edo state continues to intensify? Thank you very much. There are intricacies at three different levels. The first one is that this will be the first off-cycle elections this year, and this election is conducted in a context of intense, volatile electoral environment. The pre-election period have seen all forms of pre-election violence, attacks on political opponents, and also incendiary statements and comments attributed to political stakeholders. So it does appear that stakeholders are preparing for a showdown and war on September 21st, and that is disturbing. The second relates to the peace accord signing ceremony, which, by the way, is ongoing in Benin, where, as at yesterday, the incumbent governor was quoted to have said that they are not going to sign the peace accord because they have raised questions about intimidation on the part of the police, the IGF police, who they claim have arrested some of their members. And so to that extent, they have lost confidence in this entire process. The third, it's the transparency and impartiality of INEC as an election management body. Now, all of these pre-election issues really put concerns on the part of voters and stakeholders, on whether there's commitment on the part of the stakeholders to credible elections. INEC has done its bit. It has prepared for the election. But if the security agencies do not deploy massively, voters are not going to show up on election day. But also the fact that there are really concerns about peaceful elections. And we hope that the police and the security agencies will conduct and manage the elections with a high sense of non-partisanship, impartiality, professionalism, excellence, so that the people of Edo will be given the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote a leader of their choice. Yes. And talking about the sanctity around electioneering processes now, let's also talk about how all of these challenges, which you've highlighted quite clearly, feed into the expected voter apathy some quarters have highlighted. Now, you've also highlighted once again, this is also the first off-cycle election we are seeing here. So with this particular interest around here, how do you see the state pressing forward with voter turnout and overall, the challenge of voter apathy? Is it going to leave us any time soon? At Niagara Africa, we've been observing the electoral process for four months now. And in our first pre-election observation report, we predicted low turnout of election in this election for several reasons. One, the issue of the economy. Secondly, there is violent rhetoric on the part of political stakeholders. And then the crisis of confidence on the part of security institutions to manage the security in this election. The level of arms proliferation in the election is very troubling. And so we expect that voters will not turn out massively in this election. There's also an historical antecedents to this. In the last governorship election, there was a decline in the level of turnout. And so if you check between the presidential and the state house of assembly election, there was also turnout. But this low turnout isn't a phenomenon that is peculiar or unique to Erdo state. Across the globe, we are seeing a decline in turnout as a result of the failure of governors to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people, but also the growing lack of trust in the electoral process. So INEC is moving to this election, you know, with the burden of rebuilding public confidence on the part of the people, because the confidence of INEC has declined following the last general election. Definitely. Samson, if I may butt in here as we're wrapping up the conversation now, we've always talked about the use of technology in our election processes. Now with this use of beavers once again here now, the state of preparedness of the electoral umpire sounds different from what actually plays out on the D-Day. Are you confident that the electoral umpire is truly ready to deploy the use of beaver machines in this election? Well, beavers have been successfully deployed in elections. The only challenge in the general elections was IREV, and the courts have ruled that IREV is not part of the coalition system. It is just, it's nothing but a viewing portal, a decision that I find very troubling. But the technology we believe will function, INEC has tested and it will deploy. But the big question is whether the personal integrity of those who will be managing the election will be guaranteed, because we've heard cases of beavers bypassing previous elections. We've also seen cases where there are pre-filled result sheets before accreditation and voting. We hope that we won't experience that in the due election, because if that happens, it will undermine the credibility of an election that in the pre-election period has already shown that we are heading for a tough and highly contested election. Well, Samson, we'll have to leave the conversation here for now. Thank you so much for your time and the show today. That was Samson Etodo, the Executive Director at Jaeger Africa.
Theme: Challenges facing the Edo governorship elections and the implications for voter turnout and election integrity
As the Edo gubernatorial elections draw near, the spotlight is on the peace accord signing ceremony that is expected to take place today, leading up to the September 21 governorship election. Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by three days, from this Friday to Sunday, September 15th. Samson Itodo, Executive Director at Yiaga Africa, shared his insights on the challenges facing the electoral process in Edo State. Itodo highlighted three key intricacies that have emerged in the lead-up to the elections. Firstly, the volatile electoral environment in which the election is being conducted, with reports of pre-election violence, attacks on political opponents, and incendiary rhetoric by political stakeholders. This has raised concerns about the potential for a showdown on September 21st. Secondly, the peace accord signing ceremony faced initial resistance from some candidates, with the incumbent governor raising concerns about police intimidation and expressing lack of confidence in the process. Lastly, Itodo emphasized the importance of transparency and impartiality by INEC to ensure credible elections and inspire voter confidence. However, voter apathy remains a looming challenge in this election cycle. Itodo pointed to various factors contributing to low voter turnout, including economic concerns, violent rhetoric, and security challenges. He noted historical data showing a decline in voter turnout in the last governorship election, reflecting a global trend of decreasing trust in the electoral process. Despite efforts by INEC to rebuild public confidence, the burden remains high due to lingering skepticism following previous elections. As the conversation shifted to the use of technology in elections, particularly the deployment of biometric voter accreditation machines (BVAs), Itodo expressed cautious optimism. While BVAs have been successfully used in past elections, concerns about integrity and possible malfunctions persist. Cases of BVAs bypassing in previous elections and pre-filled result sheets have raised doubts about the credibility of the electoral process. Itodo emphasized the need for rigorous oversight and adherence to electoral guidelines to prevent any compromise of the election integrity. Overall, the Edo governorship elections face significant challenges that cast a shadow over the electoral process. Stakeholders must work together to address issues of violence, transparency, voter apathy, and technological integrity to ensure a free, fair, and credible election on September 21st.
"The burden remains high due to lingering skepticism following previous elections."
['Edo governorship elections', 'peace accord', 'voter apathy', 'INEC', 'election technology']