POLICE AND THE ELECTION
INTRODUCTION
Ideally, the police should have
no role in the electoral process beyond the constitutional role of the
maintenance of law and order. However, evidence from the 2011 elections has
shown that when adequate preparations are not made towards elections the
tendency has been insecurity and violence. For a fact all the respondents
argued that if the police were provided with the necessary infrastructure with
attendant welfare for officers and men that they would be in a position to
secure the electoral process. One of the key informants argued that:
Elections in a democratic setting provide
an opportunity for citizens to participate in the political process of choosing
their representatives at any level of government- federal, state or local - in
a federal system like Nigeria, Canada or the United States of selecting between
competing alternatives and thus make for the smooth transfer or transition of
political power from one set of holder to another (King 1988:106). According to
Mayo (1960: 5), a universal function of elections is to invest the government
with legitimacy. Mayo (1960: 38) quoted Rousseau that legitimacy is needed
because: "the strongest is never strong enough to be always the master
until he transforms strength into might and obedience into duty ".
According to King, legitimacy converts political power into justified authority
and obligation into voluntary consent. It raises the level of consensus in a
political system and thus enhances stability of the political order.
This paper has looked into the problems
associated with elections, particularly the local government elections from the
colonial days up to the present stage in Nigeria. Unfortunately from the 1950s
till date it has been on record that Nigeria has not conducted any election
that has been free from electoral fraud or manipulation (Ideh, 2004:1). The
study has revealed that political leadership/elite at regional/state level has
never been interested in free and fair election at the grassroots , even when
elections were held. On the occasions, members of this group believe in
"selection" rather than "election" in the local government.
Furthermore, the use of incumbency factor by the premier/governor to choose
their minions as members of government care-taker committees has done a lot of
harm to democratic government in the country. This trend has made genuine
democracy to elude the grassroots in Nigeria and the unfortunate consequence is
the lack of meaningful socio-economic development at that level which should
normally provide a solid foundation for the nation's infrastructural
development. This paper wants to analyze the factor responsible for the
ever-present ugly scenario and to finally proffer solutions. Apart from the
introduction which is part of one, the paper is arranged in six other parts.
The second part takes care of the conceptual clarifications while the third
handles the theoretical framework for the work. A historical discourse on local
government election is the fourth part while part five is devoted to the
discussion of the local government election in Nigeria's fourth republic
(1999-to-date). Part six analyses the incumbency factor, local government
elections and the challenges of democratic governance in Nigeria while part
seven takes care of the concluding remarks, recommendations.
Police officers on electoral duties have a responsibility of
ensuring that peaceful conditions are maintained at the polling and counting
centres during elections and that citizen’s exercise of their franchise is
carried out without fear of coercion, intimidation, violence or manipulation.
To effectively discharge these function, the observation of the following
guidelines is compulsory for every police officer on duty.
1. Alertness
Police officers on electoral duty must be prompt in
responding to any form of incident which could escalate if not properly handled
at the polling and counting centres. He or she must be alert in noticing and
preventing incidents that could lead to disruption of voting and associated
electoral processes.
2. Approachability
The police officer on election duty needs to be approachable
and accessible to the voters who might need his or her assistance. Election
duties provide the NPF an invaluable opportunity to contribute towards the much
needed peaceful transition from one civilian to another. By performing this
function credibly, the men and women of the NPF also improve the image of the
organization and their relationship with Nigerians.
3. Professionalism
The police officer must be professional in his or her
demeanor and personal appearance. Polling officials, the public, election
monitors and observers forms opinions about the police on the basis of the
officers actions, appearance, and comportment.
4. Maintenance
of Impartiality
Every police officer on electoral duty must avoid
fraternization with any political party in any way that could be interpreted as
capable of compromising their impartiality police personnel must be equally
fair, courteous, and if necessary, firm to all persons in his or vicinity of
deployment, without concern for the party top which they belong, their
political or other opinions, religious, ethnic groups, place of origin, gender,
wealth or other status. Any evidence or indication that a police officer on
electoral duty showed bias towards one political party or another in any form
has the potential to undermine the integrity of the elections and will be
investigated by the PSC, with disciplinary action being taken where
appropriate.
5. Fairness
Elections are usually political charged. Public
sensitivities are bound to be unusually high with different people supporting
different parties. The way the police officer handles a situation is liable to
be interpreted differently by people of different political persuasions. Police
officers on election duties must always strive to be fair to all and to avoid
conduct that could be seen as high-handed, unfair or politically motivated. An
officer‘s action, if viewed as excessive or un-fair, could lead to election
–related conflict. Each person who witnesses the response to a given situation
forms an opinion of the officer, the agency that deployed him or her, and the
elections. Above all, there are also persons on the lookout for any opportunity
or excuse to cause trouble. Police officers must never provide such people with
an excuse to generate hostilities and cause the elections in their duty station
to fail.
6. Use of
force
(a) Every
voter has a right to life, physical and psychological integrity.
(b) It
is unlawful for a police officer to use excessive force in dealing with voters.
(c) Force
should only be used when necessary to restore law and order, prevent violence
or injury to life or limb and should always be proportional to lawful
objectives.
(d) The
use of force by the police officer on election duty is a very serious matter.
Any such incident must be promptly documented reported to the superior officer
of the officer involved.
(e) The
PSC will investigate and take appropriate action on every incident of reported
use of force by officers on election duty.
7. Communication
with Superiors and Commanders
In the event of a threat to or a breakdown of law and order
during election, officers on duty must immediately report the incident to their
superior or commander in accordance with standard operational procedure.
8. Awareness
of the Electoral Law
(a) Every police officer on election duty is expected to
have a good working knowledge of the electoral law, especially the section on
the electoral offenses, which he or she is obliged to enforce. These offenses
are enumerated above under the section on electoral offences.
(b) Unit commanders
have an obligation to brief and communicate contents of the electoral law to
the men and women under their supervision and command
(c) Communication
of the electoral law from the unit commanders to the officers should be in a
manner and at a time close enough to the election that is most likely to capture
their attention and be retained.
9. Reporting
(a) Every police officer on election duty is obliged to file
a written report at the end of his or her duty period.
(b) The report should include an account of any and every
incident that required police intervention at the polling centre and any other
incidents that in the judgment of the reporting officer, should be brought to
the attention of his superior or authorities
(c) The report should be submitted to the Superior or
Commander of the unit not later than 24 hours after completion of election
duties. The superior Officer to whom these reports are handed is obliged to
preserve them
(d) Omission to file or destruction of such reports will be
viewed as an infraction requiring disciplinary actions.
(a) INEC, in consultation with the
IGP, shall determine and inform the PSC about operational arrangements for
ensuring that electoral incidents reported by Police officers on election duty
acted upon effectively and promptly.
10. Wearing of
Identification Tags
Every police officer on election duty must wear his or her
name and number tags in bold print, for easy identification by voters, monitors
and observers.
11. Cooperation and
Collaboration
Police
officers on election duty have a duty to co- operate and collaborate with other
role players in the electoral process in order to ensure the conduct of free,
fair and credible elections. They are also expected to comply with lawful
instructions by the presiding and returning officer.
THE
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONCEPT
The concept of local government throughout
the world over the ages appears quite dynamic and fragile. However, the United
Nations (office of Public Administration) defined local government as:
"A political sub-division of a nation or (in the
federal system) state which is constituted by law and has substantial control
of local affairs including the power to impose taxes or to exert labour for
prescribed purposes. The governing body of such an entity is elected or
otherwise locally selected."(Ola, 1983:7)
From the Nigerian perspective, in
launching the 1976 Nigeria Local Government reform in August 1976, the Chief of
Staff, Supreme Headquarters, then Brigadier Shehu Musa Yar'Adua declared
interalia that "Local Government should do precisely what the word
Government implies i.e. governing at the grassroots or level" (Guidelines,
1976: Foreword). The federal Government of Nigeria in initiating the same
reform defined Local Government as: "Government at local levels exercised
through representative councils established by law to exercise specific powers
within defined areas .
It is not surprising therefore, that the
Nigerian Military Government in 1976, in its bold attempt to stabilize
government at the local level thought it necessary to the success of the1976
local government reform to government reform to decentralize some significant
functions of state government to local levels in order to harness local
resources to rapid level development. The Federal Military Government then
elected to use devolution as a form of decentralization. The government went
further in the guidelines to describe functions which local government bodies
should perform as those:
- Which required detailed local knowledge for
efficient performance;
- In which success depends on community
responsiveness and participation; and
- Which are of personal nature requiring provision
close to where the individuals affected live, and in which significant use
of discretion or understanding of individuals needed. From the foregoing,
the term " Local government" can be defined for our purpose as:
Government at local level exercised
through representative councils established by law to exercise specific powers
within defined areas.
These powers should give the Council
substantial control over the local affair as well as staff and institution and
financial powers to initiate and direct the provision of services to determine
and implement projects as to complement the activities of the state and federal
Government in their areas; and to ensure, through devolution of functions to
these councils and through active participation of the people and their
traditional institutions, that local initiative and response to local
conditions are maximized. (Ojofeitimi, 1992:2)
From the foregoing, one could observe that democracy
at the local level has been stressed so much since the orchestrated 1976
National Local Government Reform. The 1979 Constitution as well as the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria also place a lot of emphasis on
representative governance in accordance with section 7(1) of the two
respectively. However, a look at the chronology of local government
administration from 1976 till date shows that as far as democracy is concerned
at the grassroots in Nigeria, not much has been achieved. This invariably might
have been a result of the long stay of the military in power in the country until
29th May, 1999 and the continued will of the civilian State Governors who treat
local governments as mere local administration.
THE CONCEPT OF ELECTION
According to Ideh (2004:26), with the rise of
representative system of government, which can be traced to the Greek City
State, and the spread of democracy, the world over, the need for selection of
representatives, for the purpose of governance arose. Thus, the need for
election. Elections can be defined as the means or mechanisms by which
individuals or groups are chosen or elected through votes, to occupy certain
given positions. Being systematic avenues for the expression of popular
desires, elections serve as the means through which the masses express
preference both in favour of available parties and candidates.
Being an important factor in leadership selections,
elections provide the available means by which the citizens in any given
political system indicate their preferences in election to those, whom they
perceived as being worthy of rulership . We can as such say that, elections
serve as an important means for empowering the elaborate or the masses, with
regard to how they intend to be governed, who should govern them, and the
policies that should be used in governance.
The key informants informed the author that the
“Hero‟s Grant” which was used to take care of officers who died in the line of
duty had never been reviewed and that it was in 1992, thirty two years after
political independence that an in-house scheme known as “Police Welfare
Insurance Scheme” was started with a loan of N7.5 million from the Police
Cooperative Society and then the federal government later supported the scheme
with the same amount which was then used to pay back the loan. All the
respondents advocated for a 21st Century police force that will be in tandem
with global best practices. According to them, the first thing is to review the
welfare of the officers and men. Second, ensure that they are properly housed
in modern barracks, provide them with modern communication equipment and then
train and continue to retrain them. For them if all these initiatives are
implemented the Nigerian Police Force will be in a position to provide security
in any election in Nigeria.
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
Governance is defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner's
Dictionary of English as "…the way in which a country is governed"
(Hornsby, 2002: 514). The same dictionary on page 309 defines democratic as
"(of a country, state, system etc.) controlled by representatives who are
elected by the people of a country connected with the system". Democratic
governance therefore refers to a system of government that is controlled by
representatives who are elected by the people of a country. The concept of
democracy is central to the democratic-participatory school of thought. This
school of thought believes that democracy is a way of life that "demands
that one another's point of view and one another's interest be mutually
appreciated". (Panter-Brick, 1970: 347). It is a concept that is based on
fair play, tolerance and respect for the right of others, a concept that
accepts these to be intrinsically undeniable values (Ola, 1984:10-11). It is
expected that real democratic governance would be a good governance. Good
governance amongst other things involves the enthronement of due process,
constitutionalism, rule of law transparency and accountability in the conduct
of public affairs, the absence of good governance and its by-products,
automatically leads to two negative outcomes: massive corruption and political
instability. None of these outcomes is conducive to development. (Muo, 2007:
424). Unfortunately, the general consensus among Nigerians is that corruption
appears to have been institutionalised in the local government. Selection instead
of election - a serious trait of anti-democratic governance - among other
things might have accounted for the scenario.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA - A HISTORICAL
DISCOURSE
The first elections held under the colonial
administration in 1952 were for local councils (Aborishade & Mundit, 2002:
169). The political history of Nigeria shows that politicians in Nigeria, right
away from the early 1950s when both the Eastern and Western Regions
respectively instituted new local government systems and with the North then
sticking to the anachronistic Native Authority, had always taken the control of
the local government as very vital. And this might have informed why during
that period, the late Dr. Azikiwe, late Chief Awolowo and late Sir Ahmadu Bello
became Ministers of Local Government in 1954 in their respective regions in
addition to being Premiers.
Local council elections have been held in conjunction
with each phase of elections in independent Nigerian history and in a few cases
(under the military) when there were no elections at higher levels. On the
other hand, civilian rule does not automatically mean elections at all levels.
For instance, there were no local elections after the
first election of the Second Republic, because elected officials were replaced
by officials appointed by state government.
Councils with a majority of elected representatives
(some could be appointed by governors) were chosen in non-partisan elections in
1976 as a prelude to the return to civilian rule. However, under the Second
Republic, civilian governors appointed and re-appointed "caretaker
committees" composed of their own political clients. These councillors
were replaced following the 1983 coup by military-appointed "sole
administrators" and then by appointed five-member councils.
In 1987, non-partisan councils and local government
chairmen were chosen, in elections generally perceived to be free and fair.
(Aborishade, et al, 2002: 169). The constitution of 1989 provided for elected
councils and secretaries (executives) of local government areas. Local
elections were scheduled for 1989 but were postponed to 1990 to accommodate the
two-party system imposed by the Babangida regime. The councils elected in 1990
remained in office until all civilian institutions were terminated by
Babangida's suspension of the 1989 constitution in 1993 . Between November 1993
and April 1994, the administration of local governments was by the secretaries
(Directors of Personnel Management) to the local governments under the
directives of the State Military Administrators (MILADS). (Aluko, 2006: 129).
From April 1994 to March 1997, the selected chairmen and four (4) supervisors
(indigenes) appointed by the State Military Administrator for each local
government ran the affairs of the councils throughout the country . The Abacha
regime scheduled nonpartisan elections for local chairmen (executives) in 1996,
then sponsored the registration of the five new parties to contest local
council elections charging that all certified parties to contest local council
elections in March 1997. NADECO called for a boycott of these elections,
charging that all certified parties were under the control of the government.
This 'top down' creation of parties was even more controlled than Babangida's
creation of a two-party system.
Nevertheless, the elected councils of the 5 registered
political parties under Abacha regime was in place between March 1997 and June
1998 when General Sani Abacha died. Between July 1998 and May, 199, sole
Administrators (State civil servants) with 4 indigenes selected as supervisors
ran the grassroots administration. This arrangement did not disturb the arrangement
of local elections of December 1998 which were used as the basis for the
registration of parties to contest at the state and federal levels in 1999.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLIC (MAY
1999 - TO DATE).
One could have reasonably concluded that with the
civilians coming back to power in Nigeria since 29th May 1999, grassroots
administration might have experienced orderly and regular conduct or have
experienced orderly and regular conduct of elections. Unfortunately, this is
not so. It appears the present day politicians have learnt from the political
history of Nigeria and seem to follow the footsteps of their predecessors. No
wonder, many of them particularly Governors at the State level have regarded
local governments as local administration, that is, a mere extension of either
state secretariat or the State Ministry of Local Government.
Although our main focus is on elections at the
grassroot level in Nigeria, this study at this juncture, will draw mainly from
the examples of three south-western states in Nigeria (Osun, Oyo and Ogun). In
Osun State, elected councils have only been on ground for a little over four
(4) years - May 1999 to May 2002 and January 2008 up-to-date. From May 2002 to
May 2003, all the councils were made up of A.D. controlled caretaker committees
appointed by Governor Bisi Akande. They were sent packing when Governor
Oyinlola came in in May, 2003. Thus, for the period May, 2003 to April 2004,
all the councils had PDP controlled caretaker committees. In April 2004 up to
April 2007, the Governor retained all the 30 PDP Chairmen of the Caretaker
Committees and renamed them Acting Chairmen from April 2007 to January 2008,
the Governor once again appointed 30 PDP controlled caretaker Committee
Councils.
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