The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has drawn attention to the constitutional provisions by which the winners of the presidential or governorship are declared.
At an interface with the media and civil society organisations, which was organised by the International Press Centre and its partners last weekend in Abuja, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye referred to relevant sections of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which provided for the election of a President or Governor, explaining that the commission has already factored the scenario into its plan for the 2023 elections.
Okoye cited Section 134 which provides that the winner at the first election would be declared if the candidate won majority of the votes cast and at least 25 percent in at least “two-thirds of all the states in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja”. Nigeria has 36 states, while the FCT is also considered as the 37th state by this provision.
If no candidate however met these provisions, the Constitution provides for a second election as specified in Section 134(3). The second election will be between the candidate with the highest number of votes, and another candidate “who has a majority of votes in the highest number of states”. Okoye emphasised that the determination of the second candidate (first runner-up) is the candidate with the spread, and not necessarity the one with the second highest number of votes overall.
He said: “The threshold for winning the presidential and governorship positions quoting section 134 of the constitution enjoins the commission to prepare for every possible scenario and eventuality”.
According to him, candidates for presidential and governorship elections must meet the numerical and geographical threshold in section 134(2) and 178(2) of the Constitution to be declared the winners of the election.
“In default, the constitution prescribes a second election within a period of 21 days between two candidates.
“The candidate who scored the highest number of votes and one among the remaining candidates who has a majority of votes in the highest number of states and also secures a quarter that is 2/3 of votes cast in all the 36 states of the federation and the FCT wins.
“In this second election, for a candidate to be declared as a winner of the election, he must also score the highest number of votes and also secure the geographical threshold.
“And if no candidate secures this threshold and this numerical threshold, they will go into a third election in which the person who now secures a simply majority will be declared as having won the election”, he said.
Okoye urged the media to assist the commission in continuously educating the public on accurate information on the electoral processes.
”There are issues, processes and procedures of the commission that have been cast in a way aimed at confusing the public or discrediting it and the electoral process.
“The application and implementation of the regulations and guidelines by officers of the commission have been a source of misinformation and disinformation”, the INEC National Commissioner said.
He cautioned about false information by some persons to the effect that registered voters do not need their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to vote in any election.
Okoye said: “Poor understanding of the commission’s processes, procedures and hasty conclusions by some of the critical stakeholders in the electoral process have not made the transition from the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) to the Electoral Act, 2022 easy.
“They are still quoting sections of the law that have either been repealed or amended.
“A regime of misinformation and disinformation has been afoot in relation to the deployment of technology in the electoral process especially the introduction of the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) for voter accreditation and authentication.
“Issues have been raised and are still being raised on its functionality, efficacy of its use and the capacity of the commission to deploy the technology”.
According to him, the commission had integrated the existing voters register that had more than 84 million registered voters with the CVR (Continuous Voter Registration) figure and displayed the provisional register containing about 93.5 million.
IPC organised the meeting under the EU-Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria Phase 2 project (EU-SDGN 11). It focused on “Identifying and Mitigating Flashpoints of Electoral Misinformation and Disinformation”.
The chairman of the forum, who is also Editorial Board chairman of Premium Times, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim expressed concern over misinformation and disinformation, which he said threatened the country’s democracy.
He lamented that opinions were formed not on the basis of truth but on misinformation.
“People base their opinion on fact and evidence based opinion they have heard and seen from media, experts, academic, religious leaders who are all specialists in determining different facets of truth.
“So, listening to such citizens as actors in a democracy form their opinion.
“The new interlocutor, the handset has disrupted the messages and fills the information space with falsehood”, Ibrahim said.
In his welcome remarks, IPC Executive Director, Mr Lanre Arogundade reiterated the need for development of collaborative strategies by the media, the CSOs and INEC on curbing electoral disinformation and misinformation.
“For us in the media, it is also a straight forward case that we cannot effectively perform the function of providing citizens with the information they need to make informed choices at elections.
“The media task in the above regard, is further complicated by the penchant of the politicians to tell blatant lies to score cheap political points”, he said.
He urged the media, including new and social media to provide fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive coverage of the electoral process.
