2023: Dutch official recommends stiffer penalties for electoral offenders

The Netherlands Consulate-General in Lagos, Micheal Deelen, has said the best way to ensure Nigeria attains a fully democratic system is with economic development

The official added that in his home country, politicians who infringe on human rights, election fraud and violence are put on a sanction list which may include their accounts being frozen and assets seized.

Mr Deelan spoke on Thursday in Lagos at an interactive session with media, civil society and key state actors to discuss issues affecting Nigeria’s election processes.

The event, which was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resource Centre, was also attended by a delegation from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry said it is in the country as an advanced team of observers ahead of the general elections in 2023.

Other stakeholders in attendance at the forum included the Executive Director of Enough is Enough (EIE), a civil society organisation, Yemi Adamolekun; Director of Programmes at the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC), Mary George, and representatives of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), PREMIUM TIMES, Daily Trust, International Press Centre (IPC), TheCable, among others.

They deliberated on issues of electoral integrity, vote buying, INEC preparations, and civic space, among others.

Speaking at the forum, Mr Deelan said “next year, the European Union would send down election observers to Nigeria to participate in the EU election monitoring activities”, and pledged that there would be a collaboration with stakeholders to address some of the issues raised at the gathering.

Issues raised

The stakeholders suggested the need for the reform of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and civic education, particularly at the grassroots.

They also pointed out how the lack of implementation of the dictates of the electoral law is affecting the electoral processes.

Participants also called for gender inclusion in the electoral process, and the inclusion of people with disabilities and young people who are vulnerable to disenfranchisement.

The stakeholders also recommended the need to investigate election financing in Nigeria and how it relates to vote trading ahead of the 2023 elections.

Challenges

In his welcome address, the Executive Secretary of HEDA Resource Centre, Sulaimon Arigbabu, noted that as part of the core mandates in ensuring good governance in Nigeria, HEDA has consistently convened stakeholders in the Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR) to discuss issues affecting Nigeria’s electoral processes and how these issues could be addressed.

Mr Arigbabu said some of the issues and recommendations raised before the 2019 elections for instance informed policy changes but “many of the challenges highlighted pre and post-2019 elections are still experienced today.”

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He added that “issues of vote-trading are still being experienced as evident from recent elections including the Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections, and the lack of political will to prosecute offenders, lack of accountability on campaign financing, and the nagging issue of voter apathy among others are still posing challenges to the sanctity of elections in Nigeria”.

“As a further follow-up on these issues, we convened another ACSR on 24 November, in Abuja, focusing on the 2023 general elections, in partnership with WARDC and the HRC and indeed with the Support of the MacArthur Foundation,” he said.

HEDA’s efforts

Also speaking on the activities of HEDA, Mr Arigbabu noted that the organisation has been at the forefront of campaigning for electoral reforms as well as election observation and monitoring.

“We have worked with both state and non-state actors on this subject matter including the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Nigeria’s leading anti-graft agency, the EFCC, among others,” he said.

He recalled that in the build-up to the last general elections, HEDA convened stakeholders in the 8th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR) to discuss issues affecting Nigeria’s electoral processes and how these issues could be addressed ahead of the 2019 elections.

He noted that some of the observed issues include the prevalence of vote trading, excessive campaign spending in contravention of the Electoral Act; financial inducement for decamping; huge financial deployment for media manipulation and propaganda for phoney projections in favour of candidates; among others.

While some of the issues and the recommendations from the sessions informed policy change addressed before the 2019 elections, he noted that the unaddressed ones further informed the recommendations of the post-election Situation Room, the 9th ACSR held in April 2019 as a follow-up.

“Between 2019 and now, some of these recommendations have translated into policies. For instance, a new electoral Act has been enacted and also by the Act, BVAS and electronic transmission of the votes and related efforts at curbing rigging have been enabled,” he added.