Oba Oladipo Olaitan is the leader of pan Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere. In this interview, he speaks on the controversy around electronic transmission of election results and the danger of violence during elections, among other issues
Looking at Nigeria’s electoral history, especially the 2023 elections, with all the technical glitches that were experienced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), how significant is electronic transmission of election results in addressing long-standing challenges like results manipulation?
I’ve listened to a lot of comments on this issue. One that is missing, that I’ve not heard people talk about, and which is germane, and which I’ve personally fought against for many years, is the safety of mankind. It is unfortunate the number of lives that are lost during elections just because somebody wants to snatch the ballot box. For many years, and I’m talking between the late 1970s and now, we used to worry about what can be done.
There’s no time we have elections where people are not killed needlessly. Somebody is trying to snatch the ballot box, somebody is trying to do this, they wait along the way to snatch the box and kill one another. But with electronic transmission of election results real-time, all that would be over.
Imagine the amount of money we spend on putting soldiers and policemen around polling booths just to secure the place. See the amount of money we waste on them to safeguard the process. So, with this, all that is gone. So, nothing can be more serious than the safety of human lives. Nobody is even talking about that. Electronic transmission of election results will address issues of violence and guarantee transparency in our elections.
What you have said is actually very germane but issues of technical glitches and network coverage in rural areas still remain. How will they deal with that?
Do we have enough time to actually sort that before the elections? There’s always room for anybody who doesn’t want to do anything. They will complain about glitches, not enough coverage.
We know that we have about 98 per cent network coverage of the whole country on this internet issue. So, where is this one coming from? And if that is even so, and I don’t agree with it, can’t we do something about it? If this is the way to save democracy, and we have to spend money to pull that out, can’t we do it?
Do we still have enough time between now and next year to achieve that?
Of course, we do but nobody is even talking about it. Nobody decides to live like that. If you have a problem, you solve it. You look at the pros and the cons. What do you gain from making sure that no life is lost, and we have credible elections, and that there are no glitches. They should stop looking for excuses. It won’t sell.
So, what do you think the Senate stands to gain by remaining resistant to electronic transmission of results, despite public support and technological advancements that have been made so far in Nigeria?
That’s the only way they can come back. They know what the country is saying about them. And they know, we call them rubber-stamp senators. We all know what to say about them. They all know that if things are done properly, most of them will not come back. And that’s exactly what they’re fighting for.
What role should the President play in all that is happening?
I’m going to say this, and I’m not going to be careful in saying it. If I don’t say it, I won’t be fair to my conscience and to this country. There is no way all this can be going on without the President knowing about it. That’s certain. Godswill Akpabio won’t be doing what is doing unless it is approved by the President. That is pure and simple. We hear about the establishment of state police. We’ve been talking about that for a long time now.
The last time, the President said everybody should go and establish police in their respective states. Have you heard anything about it again? All the President should have done is to send a bill to the National Assembly, and that would be done. When it is an executive bill, it sails through. The government in power has the majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, so what’s the problem?
Considering the fact that these were things President Bola Tinubu agitated for when he was in opposition, why is it so difficult to implement it now that they are in government?
The answer is just because they want to remain in power. It is a game and I’ll give you another example. Many years ago; I’m talking about the 70s now. The Lagos State government had this policy of free education for everybody. Then we had this Roman Catholic bishop, I don’t want to mention his name, in Lagos. He wasn’t happy about it.
If you ask me: Why would he be happy about it?
It is because we were going to take over the schools and they didn’t want that. They were making their money for that place. To us, making money was not important. What was important to us was educating our people, so we insisted on that. But because they wanted their money, they didn’t want it.
We went around with freedom of education and we went to court. I was the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Government on Political Affairs in those days and I stood up on a television programme, and said it’s simple, we would allow you to have your schools, but we would regulate conditions for establishing schools. That’s the duty of the government.
So, our regulation would be, before you can establish a college or something in Lagos State, you must have at least a standard swimming pool, a standard football field. They couldn’t afford it. That was how we could stop them. So, there’s always a way out.
What next steps will the SMBLF be willing to take to get what you’re agitating for, and what message do you have for Nigerians who are already afraid that the elections might be compromised?
I will tell you what is going to happen. If they see that there’s agitation like this, protests and things like that, they will let it pass. Then they’ll wait for another one. And I know what they’re going to wait for. These are the political thinkers. There are people in politics, who do this for them.
When I was active in politics, I was one of them. There are so many things waiting there. So, if they lose this one, they will look for another one. But Nigerians should insist. I’m not going to advocate a boycott because we did it before and it didn’t work. And if the government is desperate, if you say you boycott, they will still put their figures up. So, I’m not going to advocate boycotts, but I’m going to advocate insistence.
There’s nothing wrong with nonviolent protests. There’s nothing wrong with the Occupy National Assembly protest. They should sit at the National Assembly for as long as it lasts. Let them sit down there. With that, they may have a rethink.
Do you really think the protests are working because it seems they’re still giving room to wriggle out of it?
They know what to do. They are watching. Even if the protesters are becoming a little bit unmanageable, they will drop it and then take another one. I can show you. I know which ones they’ve got. I’m not going to say them. But there are two or three still waiting there.
