Nigeria’s Former president, Goodluck Jonathan, has voiced concerns over ghost voters in Nigeria’s electoral process, asserting that the country is not getting accurate vote counts during elections.
Speaking at the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) Africa Reflection Conference on Democratic Elections in West Africa, held in Abuja between February 25 and 26, Jonathan stressed that Nigeria’s electoral system would continue to suffer a credibility crisis unless people of integrity are appointed to lead the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The former President’s remarks come amid ongoing concerns about the credibility of Nigeria’s elections, particularly following the logistical challenges and technical glitches that have been consistently recorded in the country’s general elections.
Despite the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Results Viewing Portal (IReV) by INEC, polls have been criticised for falling short of expectations.
He urged electoral officials to resign rather than succumb to pressure to manipulate election results, stating, “We must have credible people. Political leaders who are so domineering will pressurise you to do what is wrong; you should be able to resign and leave.”
Jonathan noted that until only real human beings cast votes and their votes truly count, Nigeria’s electoral process would remain compromised.
“In Nigeria, you can’t get an accurate count of votes because I believe that we have too many ghost voters.” He urged that steps be taken to ensure that the systems of electing leaders are fine-tuned to the level that the voter card will work.
He further criticised the regionalisation of Nigeria’s electoral process, arguing that it negatively impacts free and fair elections. According to him, religious and ethnic interests have infiltrated the system, making elections more about identity politics than competence.
Many political commentators have expressed concerns that the deliberate disenfranchisement of eligible voters has been used too often as a strategy to influence the outcome of elections in the country by discouraging or preventing voters from voting.
The increased use of technology in Nigerian elections, many believe, has reduced the kind of rigging that was traditional, such as ballot box snatching and stuffing, multiple voting, over voting, alteration of results, and other related electoral malfeasance.
