 The electoral process is an ideal and integral part of the democratic process, whether in a developed or a developing nation. A malfunctioning electoral system inadvertently produces mal-administration or bad governance. With the Electoral Act of 2022, which President Mohamed Abouhari finally signed into law this year and its many process-specific provisions, Nigerians expect to have better elections come 2023. However, the ghost of June 12th annulment continues to hang over hopes and expectations. Not necessarily about a possible annulment, but there are indications or plans to ambush the electoral process and cause some of the innovations of the Electoral Act of 2022 to be abandoned. Well, joining us live to discuss this is our Chike Chudehi, he is a public affairs analyst. Thank you so much, Mr. Chudehi, for joining us. Always a pleasure. Great, let's look at this. I mean, you obviously have observed elections over and over again, you work with civil society organizations and so you know the ins and outs of, you know, electoral processes for as long as you've been around for. Let's start by looking at the questions that are looming, the questions that people are asking about, you know, politicians and those who do not necessarily want the Electoral Act of 2022 to hold sway, looking for ways or avenues to stop the use of beavers in the coming elections. Have you had that kind of, you know, concern? Yeah, well, it's the nature and character of politicians, especially politicians that we have gotten used to. We know that these politicians are not powered by any artistic purposes. They are not, from my own perspective, you know, they are not patriotic and not committed to the development of the nation state. And that is why they look for every opportunity to sovert, you know, every legal process, electoral process for political gain. And so it will not be untoward that and that's why some of us have to be, all of us have to be extra vigilant because they are always looking for loopholes to exploit. And then if they don't see loopholes, they try to create one so that they could exploit it for, you know, political advantage, you know. And so it is in their nature, it is in their character. I do not forget that, you know, when he was living, when he had served his second term and was living as a national commissioner, he was quite embittered about the actions of the politicians. And he said that the politicians are the weak link, the major weak link in an electoral process. You know, because they do everything they can to sovert the process. They do everything, you know, to, you know, ensure that elections are conducted, you know, on their own terms. You know, so this has been the problem. So it will not be untoward for the politicians to do what they have always done. Obviously, a lot of them are not happy with certain provisions of the Electoral Act, especially that that has to do with the use of beaver's machine. And then the transmission, you know, of the electronic transmission of votes as soon as they take place. And they see this scenario as a nightmare scenario, contrary or, you know, to the one that they have been used to, that they have used for about 20 years in this country to sovert the process. And that is the manual, you know, electoral process, which is somewhere along the line is sabotaged and cut short by the deployment of thugs, you know, and all manners of miscreants are to do a way with votes that are already, you know, counted, you know, either for the purpose of stuffing it or just absolutely doing a way with those votes when they are cast in areas where specific political individuals are not popular. So this has been their nature, actually. Judiciary and concerns also, you know, in that direction. Many people have said that the judiciary needs to take on its own sort of a form of activism, being that there's this saying that every policy to be a good politician, you must have somebody on the bench as a friend, meaning that they can be bought off. They can, these judgments can be gotten at any time to favor politicians. And what does that say about, you know, the optimism, the level of optimism we have going into this election as opposed to what these people think they know about the judiciary and how it could play in their favor? Yeah, well, what is to be known about the judiciary is already known. We know that the judiciary is a part of Nigeria, where you talk about a lot of things, a lot of anomalies, a lot of things that have gone wrong in this country. It will be strange to exclude the judiciary, because they are part of the process. I think I remember some years back that it was eminent jurists, jurists, the Karyu Daily Show, you know, and the Afeba Balala talked about at an event, I think in Abuja also, when they were talking about the kind of monies that have been made by justices of the courts due to an election petition tribunals, where you have politicians that are willing to see election as a do or die, you know, struggle and that are willing to spend billions of Naira and to buy cases. You know, and so they say that yes, that some of these judges had actually made become, you know, billionaires overnight. And this is what we have always seen. So obviously in the calculation to manipulate the electoral process or the political process, the judiciary, you know, it's part of the calculation of the politicians that if they fail at a certain stage in the electoral process, they can only seek recourse to the courts. And then the courts, you know, seek recourse to specific judges who might be posted to handle certain cases involving them, knowing that they can always count on the, on the relationship that exists as a result of the financial inducements for the judges to make rulings in a particular, you know, in a particular way. This has gone on in this country for so long. We have seen, you know, the contradictions of a judicial declarations in this country where you have courts of a coordinated jurisdiction in weighing into matters that are, that have already been delivered by courts of the same status, you know, contrary to the spirit of stare decisis, you know, so these are some of the issues. And then the judiciary is negative in this, but that is not to say again that we do not have the brilliant people, people of integrity within the judiciary. We have them. And, you know, we have them. But I think, unfortunately, well, they say that a bad news tends to travel, you know, much faster. And so you have a situation where the very few good ones might be damaging, a cautious damage to others that try to keep their hands clean. And so you cannot exempt, you cannot remove the judiciary from the rough that is happening. And why is it, you know, happening? Even the, some judges in the past have had costs to, you know, be, you know, admonish politicians, you know, and the INEC to act in ways of manners that can show that a vote counts at the polling booths and that it is the votes of the people that determine the outcome of elections and not the declarations by judges, you know, who did not participate in this election as voters, you know, and so that has always been the issue. Votes, you know, winners have to be decided, you know, at the polling booths and not at the courts, you know, but again, when the process, something goes wrong with the process, there is a remedial, you know, a policy more or less that such matters must get to the judiciary for adjudication. So in cases where these things are not settled at the polling units, the only other place rather than to get people to resort to self-help is to take the matter to the judiciary. Will you hold that judiciary will do the right thing? Okay, let's talk about why Nigerians need to be concerned today. There are those of us who pushed for, you know, this amendment of the electoral act and push for certain, you know, adjustments, but then it seems like many people have gone to sleep. Many people don't even know, you know, what is even contained in, you know, in the whole act in itself. So what kind of level of information do we need to put out? There's also been a call for citizen activism also to hold sway if we must have the kind of elections that we're expecting in 2023. What are CSOs doing? What should political parties be doing? What should the media be doing? Yeah, you see, why it is it to be very good for as many citizens as many voters as possible to have a clearer understanding of the electoral act that puts them in a better position to properly assess the whole gamut of the election itself and to also have an idea where certain things are going wrong. But it is not a given, it's not a must that everybody must equip themselves with that knowledge. I think the knowledge, you know, that the vast majority of citizens should have is the knowledge of their patriotic duties and which is to also to take part in the process, you know, in the registration process and to make sure that they make themselves available on the day of election, you know, to cast their votes and to as much as and as much as is possible to also wait around to see that INEC officials do their own part. You know, because these things have a way, the more people turn up at polling units, the more, you know, miscurrents and political talks are discouraged from invading such places because of the sheer number of the people, you know, that are there. You know, so obviously we had a lot of, we had a major victory, especially civil society activists and campaigners who had worked assiduously to ensure that we had a new electoral act passed by the National Assembly and signed by the President of this country. That has happened, but we know that you cannot go to sleep because somebody has said that the price we have to pay for democracy is eternal vigilance. You know, so we must be ever watchful of our democracy. Obviously, you know, there are, you know, like I said, you know, there are always grounds for mischief, you know, by the political elites, and that is why we have to be watchful. We have seen what people have been saying about the use of beavers, the revelations that we had from, I think, COP, the conference of political parties in Nigeria about possible, you know, manipulation in a place like in most states. And I think on Yagocha, a former member of the House of Representatives also talked about that. And then beyond that, again, we have also seen attempts by some people in the media space. We don't know what they are doing is to try to test the waters, telling us about the viability of beavers, you know, in about 40 or 60 percent of the states in this country, making the argument that network, there might be network difficulties in those other places. We all know that the politicians are terrified of beavers because we have been in the field and we have seen how effective beavers, you know, has been. So it is the nightmare of the crooked politician who is not willing to sell himself adequately to the public, you know, to the voting public to convince them about his credibility, you know, and his ability to handle, you know, elected political office properly on their behalf. So what they do is to look for a way to try to get into the background, you know, and so but beyond that is the fact that we are optimistic on the basis of the recent elections that we have had and we have seen the success. We have seen INEC, you know, try to get better at, you know, what they have, what they have done in some cases in the past. We have seen them fail outrightly, but they have been noticeable improvements in the way INEC has conducted, you know, elections in some parts of the country. So we need to continue to engage the process. We need to continue to respond to those people who are just looking for ways not to ensure that INEC does not use the beavers. You cannot give us that, whatever a clinician are giving us an excuse that it is security-based, because if security, for instance, does not allow the use of beavers in many parts of this country, it simply means another massive failure on the part of this government that has failed on so many other areas. And I have made the argument, the president did promise the international community on the floor of the United Nations General Council the very last time, you know, he went, he went there to say goodbye. He said that he was going to ensure that this country would have incredible election. Having in my own estimates, you know, been unable for whatever reason to fulfill the promises he made to Nigerians about addressing the problems of the economy, the problem of insecurity and corruption in this country. The president has a unique opportunity to get it right, you know, with regards to this election and to do what his predecessor had done, organize an election that removed him from power. And that is why Jonathan continues to be a very popular president, not just in Nigeria, but in the continent of West Africa, I mean, in the sub-region West Africa, the continent of Africa. We are not necessarily saying that the president must do the same thing, organize an election that will remove you and your political party from power. We are saying organize an election that is seen to be credible, transparent, accountable, free and fair. And when he has done that, regardless of his many other failures, you know, in other, I mean, in his, in the responsibilities or the promises that he made to the Nigerian people, people are going to remember him for an election that was well conducted. So that is what we have to keep on reminding them, that elections have held even in security, you know, in security-prone areas in this country. Virtually many parts of the country have had an election. So there should not be any excuse for an election not to be held in many parts of this country. If that happens, it will be one more failure of President Mohammad one more failure of his party, the all-progressive Congress, the APC. On that note, we want to say thank you. Chike Ture is a public affairs analyst. Like I said, to my other guest, we'll all be seeing our Hail Marys and hoping for the best. Thank you so much for being here. It's a pleasure. Thank you. All right. And thank you all for joining us. That's the show tonight. But don't forget, you can watch a replay on our YouTube channel. It's Plus TV Africa, our Plus TV Africa lifestyle. And don't forget to click, like and subscribe. You can get more stories on our website at PlusTVAfrica.com. My name is Mary Annakul. And don't forget to get your PVC because it is your passport to the new Nigeria that you deserve. But before I go, I would like to give you my take. Here's my take. Now, in a globalized world where countries are linked diplomatically and economically, it's hard for a nation to hide its struggles and triumphs. As much as we might wish that we could leave our lives without being beholden to societal eyes, the perception others have of us affects our lives. So when we consider the impact that our problems as a nation has on us, we should remember that the world is always watching. Now, Nigeria currently faces trillions of naira in debt with no visible way of paying that down. And we continue to incur more of these with no end in sight. As our leaders continue to borrow just to pay off our bills, it's like taking loan from a bank with 5% interest rate, knowing that we chip away at the perception that we are a viable investment. Ultimately, that eroded perception affects the value of our currency. And when that loan comes due, we ask a different bank for a loan with double the interest rate that just to pay off the other bank loan, even pyramid schemes have a greater rate of success than the model that we are employing in this country. If our leaders were CEOs of a company that had failed to generate any profit for decades, we as the board members would have to consider filing for bankruptcy and shutting it all down. And maybe that's just what our generous creditors are hoping for so that they can buy us up in pisses or for cobblers instead of naira. And we as Nigerians must fight that. I am Mary Annacom. Have a good night.