Electoral umpire in Nigeria and its miasma of failures

INEC chairman Joash Amupitan

By Hon. Femi Kehinde

Elections in Nigeria right from 1923 had been bedeviled with hiccups, brouhaha, frustration, suspicion, lack of trust, and untrustworthy umpires, who were usually placed into such positions by perhaps equally untrustworthy men of power. Nigeria does not stand in isolation in this instance. However, its peculiarities of electoral failures have definitely impacted its growth and development, and stunted the eminence of its position in the Committee of Nations.

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Sir Hugh Clifford assumed the office of Governor of Nigeria on August 8, 1919 and served until 1925, succeeding Sir Frederick Lugard, the apparent founder of a country called “Nigeria”, after the Amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorate he had established in 1900 and 1903 respectively. He had consequently Amalgamated these two uncommon people on the 1st of January, 1914 into a union called “Nigeria”, a name suggested to him by his British Journalist wife – Flora Shaw, whom he married on 10th of June, 1902.

Perhaps as a soothsayer, the British Secretary of the Colonies – Lord Harcourt, the man whom Port-Harcourt was named after, in a formal “Instruments of Instruction” Cablegram dispatch to Sir Frederick Lugard on the 26th December, 1913 sanctioning the creation of a new Nigeria on the 1st January, 1914, and the appointment of Sir Lugard as its first Governor-General, said:

“.…May the Union be fruitful…. May the Parties remain constant”.

In 1919, Sir Lord Frederick Lugard left office as Governor-General of Nigeria and was succeeded by Sir Hugh Clifford, a hugely prominent and highly experienced British Colonial Officer, who had hitherto, been Governor of the Gold Coast (present day Ghana).

Subsequently in 1922, to administer Nigeria within his own conception and to govern its people in strict adherence to the Rule of Law and democratic tenets and principles, Sir Hugh Clifford created Nigeria’s first Constitution ably tagged the “Clifford Constitution of 1922”. Interestingly, Britain has never operated a written constitution.

To herald Democracy in accordance to this Constitution, he conducted an election into a talk-shop like Legislative Council, where only four (4) members were elected; three (3) from Lagos and one (1) from Calabar. In fact, Lagos and Calabar were then referred to as British Crown Colonies. The four elected members were Egerton Shyngale, Eric Olawolu Moore, Crispin Adeniyi-Jones, Kwamina Ata-amonu. The three (3) successful candidates from Lagos were elected on the platform of Herbert Macaulay’s Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), while the Calabar candidate emerged as an independent candidate. There was no Electoral Commission to organize the election. It was personally organized and supervised by the Office of the Governor of Nigeria – Sir Hugh Clifford, who was completely apolitical (non-partisan).

However, in 1959, the tide changed. The 1959 General Election was the most significant, as it determined who would lead the country into independence. In 1958, Ronald Edward Wraith, a highly consulate British Administrative Officer, was appointed as the first Electoral Umpire by the British Governor-General in Nigeria, Sir James Wilson Robertson. His task was to design the framework for the country’s first major elections. He was appointed to oversee the 1959 General Elections, which were the most critical elections prior to Nigeria’s independence in 1960. Wraith is often credited with introducing the concept of the Secret Ballot to Nigeria. He spent years traveling round the country to educate Nigerians on how to register and vote, ensuring the transition from colonial rule to the First Republic, had a structured, albeit imperfect, foundation.

The 1959 elections, despite being organized by a British expert and Colonial Officer, was still bedeviled with irregularities. The Parties; NCNC, NPC, and AG, held dominant controls of their Regions. Elections were even won before contest, due to non-availability of Nomination Forms for opposition party members.

Right from the 1959 elections, participatory democracy began to fumble and wobble. The massive riggings of the Federal Elections of 1964 and Regional Elections of 1965 respectively, ultimately led to the collapse of the First Republic on the 15th January, 1966.

In 1960, Chief Eyo Esua was the first indigenous Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) during Nigeria’s First Republic. He was a veteran trade unionist and teacher. Before entering the electoral space, he was a founding member and long-time General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT). He was appointed by the Balewa government to oversee the 1964 and 1965 elections. His tenure was defined by the extreme political volatility of the 1960s. The 1964 federal election was marred by boycotts and allegations of massive fraud.

Esua was known for his personal integrity, famously admitting publicly that the 1965 Western Region elections were riddled with irregularities. This admission, while honest, highlighted the powerlessness of the Commission against the political giants of the time, shortly before the 1966 coup. He did not however admit that the 1964 Federal Election which he superintended, was equally marred with irregularities, and was in fact a precursor of the 1965 Regional electoral riggings in all the regions of the federation.

In the 1965 Regional Elections in the Western Region, Chief Obadiah Ojerinola, a seasoned Senior Civil Servant in the Government of the Western Region, was appointed by the Ladoke Akintola government as the Electoral Umpire. Obadiah Ojerinola was a high-ranking Civil Servant in the Western Region of Nigeria. Unlike the figures he worked alongside (like Chief S.L. Akintola, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode), he was not a “party man” by trade but an official within the regional bureaucracy. His appointment to lead the Electoral Body suggests he held a position of significant seniority and perceived stability within the Western Region’s Civil Service at the time.

Obadiah Ojerinola, served as the Chairman of the Western Region Electoral Commission during the highly controversial 1965 Western Region election, a period considered as one of the darkest chapters in Nigerian political history, often referred to as the era of “Wild Wild West” (Wetie).

As the “electoral umpire,” Ojerinola was at the center of the storm between the two major warring factions: NNDP (Nigerian National Democratic Party), led by Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola (the incumbent Premier), and UPGA (United Progressive Grand Alliance), an alliance including the Action Group (AG) led by Chief Mrs. H.I.D Awolowo and Hon. Dauda Soroye Adegbenro (standing in for the imprisoned Obafemi Awolowo).

Ojerinola’s Commission was accused of extreme bias in favor of Akintola’s government. The election is remembered for several systemic failures. Before the first vote was even cast, the Commission declared many NNDP candidates “unopposed” by refusing to accept the nomination papers of opposition candidates. On election day, there were reports of widespread ballot box stuffing and the physical intimidation of voters by “party thugs”. In a bizarre turn of events, Ojerinola’s Commission announced Akintola as the winner, while the opposition (UPGA) simultaneously announced their own victory via a pirate radio broadcast.

The conduct of the Ojerinola-led Commission sparked a total breakdown of law and order. Protesters began dousing political opponents and their property with petrol and setting them on fire, hence the term ‘Wetie’, meaning “douse it”. The Western Region became ungovernable, with widespread rioting and killings.

This electoral crisis is widely cited as the primary “trigger” for Nigeria’s first military coup on January 15, 1966, which ended the First Republic and led to the deaths of Akintola and other top leaders like Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister of Nigeria), Festus Okotiebo (Minister of Finance), Ahmadu Bello (Premier of the Northern Region).

Ojerinola is often studied as a cautionary tale of what happens when an electoral body loses its perceived neutrality. His tenure proved that without a credible ‘umpire’, the Democratic process can collapse into violence.

Similarly, the Electoral Umpires in the Eastern Regional Elections and the Northern Regional Elections in 1965, were Barrister Anthony Aniagulu (later Justice Anthony Aniagulu of the Supreme Court of Nigeria Rtd.) and Alhaji Bello Makaman Kano respectively. They performed similar feats like Ojerinola, to ensure the success of their regional gladiators in the NCNC and NPC respectively.

On 15th November, 1976, Michael Ani was appointed to the role of the Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) by General Olusegun Obasanjo’s military administration. Prior to entering the electoral arena, Michael Ani was a seasoned Civil Servant, who was known for his administrative discipline.

His primary responsibility was to oversee the transition from military rule to civilian government, which eventually led to the 1979 general elections. He led a 24-man commission tasked with organizing the return to democracy. His mandate included the registration of political parties, the delimitation of electoral constituencies, and the general conduct of the voting process.

Though he was appointed in 1976, he is most famously remembered for his legal interpretation during the 1979 presidential election. He ruled that Alhaji Shehu Shagari had met the requirement of winning one-quarter of the votes in “at least two-thirds of all the states,” despite the mathematical ambiguity of what constituted two-thirds of Nigeria’s then 19 states. His tenure is often remembered for this “Twelve Two-Thirds” legal dispute regarding the spread of votes required for a presidential winner; a case that eventually went to the Supreme Court.

However, despite Michael Ani’s famed integrity, urbane and cosmopolitan disposition, FEDECO which he presided may still not pass the crucibles of a free and fair election. In late June or early July 1979, through a nationwide State Broadcast before the elections held on August 11, 1979, General Olusegun Obasanjo- Head of State, addressed the nation on radio and television where he said amongst several others that:

“The best candidate may not necessarily win an election”.

Whatever that may mean.

In 1980, Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey was appointed as the Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) during the Second Republic, succeeding Michael Ani, by President Shehu Shagari. He was a distinguished Jurist who served as the Chief Judge of the High Court of the defunct Bendel State. He presided over the 1983 General Elections, which were incredibly contentious due to the “landslide” victories claimed by the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

He is famously remembered for his defense of his integrity. When accused of taking bribes to rig the 1983 election, he famously quipped that if he saw a bribe of a million naira, he would “faint” because he had never seen such an amount of money. Despite his background as a fair-minded Judge, the 1983 elections were so disputed that they served as a primary justification for the military coup led by Muhammadu Buhari on 31st December, 1983.

In-parenthesis, Oyo and Ondo States suffered massive electoral riggings, violence and manipulations in the Gubernatorial and Presidential Elections of 1983.

In Ondo State, Hon. Justice (Dr.) Lateef Oladepo Aremu, served as the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO). He was a distinguished Nigerian Jurist and later, a pioneer in the judiciary of Osun State. As the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ondo State, Justice Aremu was at the center of one of the most disputed Gubernatorial elections in the Second Republic.

FEDECO declared Chief Akin Omoboriowo (of the National Party of Nigeria – NPN) as the winner over the incumbent Governor, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin (of the Unity Party of Nigeria – UPN). The announcement sparked widespread riots, arson, and violence across Ondo State, as many citizens believed the results had been manipulated. The election results were eventually contested in court. In a landmark decision, the judiciary (up to the Supreme Court) overturned the FEDECO declaration, ruling that Chief Michael Ajasin was the actual winner and had been “robbed” of his mandate.

Justice Aremu’s role during this time is often cited in political and legal studies regarding the independence of electoral bodies.

While the FEDECO of 1983 faced massive criticism for “collusion” with the ruling party, Aremu’s later career as a pioneer Judge in Osun State (starting in 1992) saw him rebuild a reputation for intellectual depth and judicial integrity. His transition from the high-pressure electoral environment of 1983 to the Osun State High Court bench in 1992 is viewed as a significant paradigm shift from the Administrative side of the law back to the Adjudicatory side, where he spent the remainder of his distinguished career.

In the 1983 Elections in Ondo State, successful businessman, Chief Agbayewa, and serving member of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Olaiya Fagbamigbe who had both decamped from the UPN to the NPN, were killed and burned to ashes by irate mob in Akure.

In Oyo State, Stephen Sunmiboye Ajibade (commonly cited as S.S. Ajibade) was a prominent Civil Servant and Administrator who served as the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) during the 1983 General Elections.