The declaration of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo as the governor-elect, may have, for now, drawn the curtains on the activities for the 2024 Edo governorship election. However, it is evident that the standard of the election, along with the questionable conduct of the stakeholders, has failed to meet the yearnings of the average Nigerian for a credible, free and fair election in the country. The high-pitched threats of violence as well as insinuations of partisanship against officials of INEC and security agencies ahead of the poll expectedly impacted the credibility of the process. Comments attributed to leading political actors in the buildup to the election in Edo were, to say the least, despicable in a democracy.

Outgoing Governor Godwin Obaseki, who is the leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, was widely reported to have described the election as a do-or-die affair. It is also pertinent to recall that President Bola Tinubu, who is the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had in a meeting with the stakeholders from Edo State, a few months before the election promised to hand over the state to the party. To a large extent, the unease and uncertainties elicited by accusations and counter-accusations among actors in the two leading political parties attest to the prevailing aberrant politics inherently triggered by prebendalism which regrettably subjects the electoral process to flagrant abuse and manipulation.

It is a matter of serious concern that reports on the conduct of September 21 are not reassuring enough to galvanise the much-needed public confidence in the electoral process. It would appear that improvements recorded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in election result management before the 2023 General Elections are gradually being eroded. Despite the hope invested in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and transmission of results from polling units, the alleged complicity of INEC officials in the suspected manipulation of results as widely reported during the recent polls in Edo State is inexcusable. As was the case in the November 2023 governorship polls in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, INEC’s poor handling of the Edo election seemingly encouraged voter apathy by creating the impression that votes no longer count. Concerning the Edo governorship poll, the alleged disparity in some polling unit results uploaded on the INEC Viewing Portal (IReV) and the final collated results are matters for which the election management body must interrogate.

It Is incumbent on INEC to come clean about the controversies surrounding result collation in Edo State, considering that voting had been concluded without hitches in the affected polling units. There is certainly no excuse for the failure of INEC to collate results transparently to erase doubt. INEC’s primary responsibility is to ensure that votes count based on actual results from the polling units should not be shirked and routinely left to the decision election tribunals.It should be emphasised that the commission cannot be indifferent to the trust deficit arising from the inadequacies of the Edo governorship election which is bound to affect citizens’ participation in other elections across the country. Elections in Nigeria are plagued by voter apathy as evidenced by the abysmal low voter turnout of less than 24% recorded in the election which indicates no significant improvement from the turnout recorded during the 2020 governorship poll. The electoral commission therefore has the responsibility to discharge the burden of trust to restore the confidence of the electorate by ensuring that the process leading to the outcome of the election reflects a visible and unambiguous transparent process as well as a credible outcome.

The pre-election squabbles within the three leading political parties on account of the selection of candidates could not be adjudged as good conduct on the part of the political actors. It remains a huge challenge that political parties are yet to consider internal democracy expedient in evaluating a free and fair electioneering process. It is instructive that INEC kept faith with the requirements of electoral laws despite the intense internal wrangling that morphed into protracted litigations which lasted through the duration of the campaigns.

It should be emphasised that the monetisation of politics and the prevailing rewarding system that makes political office overly attractive will continue to undermine credible electoral processes. That probably informed why the 2024 Governorship Poll in Edo State struggled against allegations of large-scale procurement of votes.Despite resources committed to reforms leading to significant technological innovations to make the electoral process transparent, the political elite has remained recalcitrant and glaringly impervious to positive changes. Notwithstanding, the expectation is that the outcomes of polls conducted by INEC should reflect the wishes of the electorate whose right to determine who presides over their affairs makes an investment of public resources in elections worth the trouble.

It is therefore unimpressive to Nigerians that the performance of INEC in the recently concluded Edo poll, as was the case in the off-season governorship polls in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States, failed to demonstrate significant progress in a positive direction. The failure of the electoral process to meet the expectation of transparency and credibility, no doubt, has overarching implications for the success of future elections. INEC should realise that the Nigerian electorate is generally disappointed by the inadequacies that have cast doubt on the credibility of the election. The electorate is unlikely to invest confidence in a process that furnishes little or no hope that the eventual outcome would reflect popular choice as expressed at the polls. Going forward, we expect INEC, as an unbiased umpire, to demonstrate unflinching commitment to a transparent and credible process to imbue public confidence and encourage popular participation. (The Guardian Editorial)