Voters should avoid violence at polling units –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.