..Election Neither Free Nor Fair; Neither Credible Nor Inclusive Says Epelle Dr. Jake Epelle, a consultant on inclusive education and albinism and Chief Executive Officer (CEO),TAFAFRICA, formerly The Albino Foundation in this interview on post general election analysis argued that protests after elections are a reaction to make a statement that the people are losing
..Election Neither Free Nor Fair; Neither Credible Nor Inclusive Says Epelle
Dr. Jake Epelle, a consultant on inclusive education and albinism and Chief Executive Officer (CEO),TAFAFRICA, formerly The Albino Foundation in this interview on post general election analysis argued that protests after elections are a reaction to make a statement that the people are losing faith in the judiciary.
Q: How many Persons Living With Disability contested in the last general elections, how many got elected?
A: From the data we got from INEC, 34 Persons With Disability contested the elections for various elective offices.
We are actually going to have a meeting with them on Thursday to assertain the figures. One got elected. He is a person with albinism in Uyo. The governor elect of Akwa Ibom state. That is the person I know for now.
Q: What number/percentage came out to vote during the election?
A: We can’t ascertain, again the actual number. But there was a confusion in the data. The confusion was that we were working with INEC CVR exercise data that puts it at 87,000 , but that is not the number of People With Disability that registered. But those that registered generally in 2010, 2015, 2019, the number has grown but I am glad ,we are working with National Population Commission (NPC) now, that although may not necessarily know the number of persons eligible who are eligible to vote. However, it will give us a peep into the accurate number of persons With Disability and then we can project base on age aggregation and how many that will be eligible to vote in 2027. So, we have a window to verifying the actual number of persons With Disability in the country.
Q: You are working with NPC now…
A: Yes, we are working with NPC .
Q: How many of your members are going to be employed by NPC for the census?
A: Persons With Disability in general, many of them have been recruited, but unfortunately we don’t have the data but we know many have been recruited for the exercise.
Q: Did INEC supply all needed aids to allow People Living with Disability participate in the election?
A: No they did not. It is the same disappointment across board. It affected us. They did not. They did not. My thinking was that whatever they procured for Presidential election would also be used for Governorship. It is the same material. If you are bringing magnifying glasses for Presidential, you will bring for Governorship but information filtering from INEC was that they did not say they will deploy the same material for Governorship. For me, it doesn’t make sense. But that is where we are. It is a very disappointing exercise for me when it comes to inclusion.
Q: You are one of the people advising INEC and the electorate before and during the electoral process. What is your assessment of the election?
A: For anyone who understands the term “free, fair, credible and inclusive election” ,this was very short of it. I don’t believe the election was fair. I don’t believe it was credible. I don’t believe it was inclusive. That is my personal opinion. What is it that shaped my opinion? Poor logistics deployment, poor deployment of electoral resources across board. Two, failed election technology. Three, obvious intrigue and non cooperation between INEC Chairman and Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs)and finally, I would say that there were some cases that were obvious interference of each political party that was in power- if you come to federal that was All Progressives Party ( APC), if you come to the states, if the governor is of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), there would be obvious interference. There was obvious disregard to electoral law, violence, intimidation and killing. I don’t think there was any election that we have lost many lives like the past election. So many and they are dying everyday. Look at that shameful thing that happened in my state, Rivers state, very shameful. It is very unfortunate that those who are in the democratic process are very undemocratic. They have no genuine intention of serving the people but to serve their selfish interest.
Q: The election came and winners were declared and given Certificates of Return. Losers went to the Election Tribunals. But even after filing their petitions, they are on the streets protesting. What is your reaction to this?
A: Again, it is unfortunate. It is assumed that after the ballot box is opened and people who are aggrieved could not get solution the next is the judiciary, the courts. What we are seeing today is a sort of reaction to further make a statement that they don’t have faith in the judiciary. If they do have strong conviction that they would get justice at the courts , they would not be on the streets demonstrating. I don’t know why a political party would go to INEC to get a Certified True Copy of electoral materials used and the people who are claiming that they have won will go and block them. It is unfortunate. We have never seen this level of undemocratic practices in the history of our democracy.
Q: What is the way out?
A: Way out? Let’s practice the tenets of democracy. Let’s understand that in issues like this, one person will win ,one person will lose and those who win should be magnanimous in victory and those who lost should know that it is four years and after four years, they can come back. We need to reexamine our democratic institutions for us to make our elective offices less attractive. People should go there and know that they are to offer service to the nation and not to go and serve their selfish interest. If we make it less attractive, the real democrats will emerge. Then, the older politicians should retire and allow younger ones to take over.
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