Pastor Efiye Bribena, secretary of the Ijaw Elders Forum and an advocate of equity and justice, spoke to OBIRE ONAKEMU on how the 2023 general elections can give birth to a new Nigeria, true federalism and solutions to crisis in the Niger-Delta.
Are you satisfied with INEC’s preparation for the 2023 general elections?
The build-up to the 2023 general elections seem to be on course if INEC is ready to live-up to its responsibilities. To a large extent, the BIVAS and electronic transmission of results will help to check malpractices. In 2019, we saw a situation when INEC came out to say they didn’t have a server and allowed many things to happen. We hope that will not happen again in 2023. If the results are transmitted the way they are structured, it will go a long way in checking malpractices and also, if the security agencies are able to prevent buying of votes, that will help in having good election.
In other words, the future of this country is in the hands of INEC. If the electoral body holds a free and fair election in 2023, there is hope for Nigeria, but if they allow themselves to be used to rig election, then Nigeria might not remain the same. The good thing is that there is a widespread opinion by Nigerians on how to achieve good governance through that election. People are more conscious discussing the issues and for once, voters are excited about voting and allowing their votes to count. So, it is left for INEC to play its role.
A Northern governor was reported to have said the election is going to be a two-horse.
Is he saying that it is going to be a two-horse race between Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu? That is fallacy; it cannot be a two-horse race. In terms of what we see and what is going on, two of them may likely come distance second and third in the race. They may not likely be anywhere near winning the election. In terms of the optics and what we see around, their capacity of winning the election is very limited.
