‘Turnout is Impressive’, Women Trust Fund CEO Gives Update, Senior Advocate Review Election Process

[00:00:01][music] [music] >> Welcome back and West Dane with the equity state uh governorship election, which is currently ongoing. Of course, you've heard from some of our correspondents uh covering the election in equity state and um all the updates you've had, large turnout of voters. Um There's no voter apathy from what I've seen. Of course, you know, they've not given us updates from the polling units. But, from what we've seen so far, if those two are anything to go by, then I'm guessing that the people are really coming out to vote and they want to decide um who governs them within the next in the next uh 4 years.

[00:00:51]>> though.

[00:00:52]>> Curiosity killed the cat.

[00:00:53]>> Well, I'm not a cat. That's the difference. Um where you to where reported from, the governor we hear is going to vote there.

[00:00:59]>> Yeah.

[00:01:00]>> Where Kumbi reported from, the PDP candidate >> Yes.

[00:01:04]>> is there.

[00:01:04]>> Is there already?

[00:01:05]>> He's there. So, um maybe that is why we have the >> Such a Oh, well, yeah, you have a point.

[00:01:11]>> Uh-huh. So, we're waiting. So, maybe this next >> Uh so, you know, outside of uh our regular uh correspondents, we also have, you know, people to help us look at this election and, you know, the ultimate outcome of course, what it means. Uh Brenda uh Anum CEO, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, uh is in Ado Ekiti. She's going to be joining us from there. She's an election observer. And of course, we also have Kayode Adeolu Aladesanmi, advocate of Nigeria, uh who joins us virtually. Uh thank you for joining us on the program.

[00:01:49]>> Thank you. Good morning.

[00:01:50]>> Right. Uh well, apart from ladies first, but let me start with uh Brenda, who is actually on ground in Ekiti State to see what her thoughts are about the elections which started almost an hour ago.

[00:02:08]Brenda, great to see you.

[00:02:11]What what have you observed so far right there in Ekiti? Or first you can tell us, you know, where you are and the observations that you've made so far.

[00:02:25]>> Thank you so much. Great to be here with you. So, I am at ward four in Ado Ekiti.

[00:02:33]This is at St. Michael's Secondary School where there are actually two polling units.

[00:02:40]You can see there's one behind me. There's also one in front of me which you cannot see.

[00:02:46]And each of them is filled with people.

[00:02:50]So, when we arrived here about 8:15 a.m.

[00:02:55]the crowd was already on ground.

[00:02:57]>> Good morning.

[00:03:00]Good morning, Nigerians.

[00:03:05]Mr. Kayode.

[00:03:06]>> Yeah, so the crowd was already on ground waiting.

[00:03:10]And I also noticed that women who have babies given preferential treatment. They are taken to the the table first so that they can start their accreditation. Although when we came, the BIVAS was not working, but the women are patiently holding on to their babies. Some of them had to take a quick break to nurse their children under the shade. But they are waiting patiently to to wait for the officials to get the BIVAS working and then they can go and start their accreditation.

[00:03:49]>> So, it's sounding to me to be like from what someone told us earlier at another polling unit. Are you saying that the BIVAS issue the BIVAS machine is having issues?

[00:04:03]>> Well, yes. When we came, there were issues, but the officials said that they were simply trouble and then they will start. So, I'm seeing the women run out right now. If you notice there's people there's movement going behind me. That means the BIVAS has started working. So, but I'm really happy that women with babies who turned out in large numbers are actually being given preferential treatment and they will, you know, have take be able to cast their votes first before others.

[00:04:35]>> Thank you for that. Before we let you off for about a bit, now before we go to our second guest, you've told us now that there's a large voter turnout where you are the two polling units right there. Can you tell if it's the same from other centers where your network is covering monitoring the elections from?

[00:04:58]>> So, I came from another polling unit of of Bwari, that's what it's called.

[00:05:07]And people were already on queue by 8:00 a.m. And of course, there were more women there than the men. And the only woman I saw at that time who had a baby an infant in her arms was given a seat to relax while the the officials were setting up. So, I found that also very good. It means that the CVE the conductor's voter education is working.

[00:05:37]People know those who are for priority voting and and they are following the rules accordingly.

[00:05:45]>> The last time that election the voters came out up to 50% was in 2014. So I'm looking to see whether this this current process will break that record. But let's quickly talk to our second guest. Well, you um First of all, tell us what your impression is.

[00:06:07]All we've been hearing, massive turnout of voters, which is not the same as the things we have had um previously. What are your thoughts on that and what concerns, if any, do you have?

[00:06:21]>> Thank you. First of all, if we do have massive turnout, it's a good thing for a democracy because what has concerned a lot of us in the past is the fact that um like you said, in 2014 we had about 50% turnout in the kitty.

[00:06:37]And shortly after that we had um a deceleration, if you may want to call it that, or a decrease in the number of voters from 50% to 40%, 30%. So we're concerned that on this occasion we do not have a further decrease of voter turnout. Because then that should demoralize us. It's not good for our democracy, it's not good for our development. So my concern would be, as we have heard, there has massive voter turnout in some places, like area kids in Cabo and what have you.

[00:07:09]What I would hope for, and I keep my fingers crossed, is that we'd have the beavers working, the iron was also deployed appropriately so that we get right on top of technological use of um equipment to get voting and the whole process done properly. It doesn't matter who's going to win, the process should be clear, should be transparent, and to make everyone who participates in it, or who observes from a distance, to walk away feeling assured that we have done a good job. It's not for people to come out and then download ballot papers, for example. I don't think we've had that vote yet. But, people should be allowed to vote, get their BVN accreditation done, and get on with it. So, that when they get back home, they know that, well, I participated, and my vote has counted.

[00:07:58]That that really is what I was concerned about on this occasion. Thank you.

[00:08:02]>> Yeah, so and you know, the all of a lot of voter education has been going on. A lot of uh education to people to allow their votes count, to allow themselves be the the voice of, you know, of the voting process. And I say that because um because of the vote-buying situation that we often find ourselves in past elections.

[00:08:32]Um from what you see or what you've heard or reports that you probably have garnered from this ongoing process in Ekiti State, uh do you think that's, you know, we're not likely to see any of that playing out? There was a particular off-cycle election uh that happened some time ago, and, you know, EFCC officials were actually arresting people, you know, for selling votes, you know, some party agents and what have you that were there. But, from what we've seen so far, this election has been ongoing for the upmost of about just over an hour, and we've not heard any of that incident yet.

[00:09:12]Um do you think, you know, what do you think of this process so far?

[00:09:17]>> Well, um I'm not there on ground anything.

[00:09:20]>> Yes, that's why I asked. Just your thoughts.

[00:09:24]>> It looks as if every everyone cast their vote and did it properly.

[00:09:31]But, the the irregularity going on We have to wait for the outcome of the >> But then again, what we need to ask ourselves is if bribery, which is what's what's what's by the classical classes have to make or almost Now, the question is do we want to keep going round and round about whether people would bribe the poor or would not?

[00:10:04]The truth is these laws are available, those are threats.

[00:10:11]The appraisal of the punishment But as those are on the books, the question is are we willing to be Now, I just want to give an example of us not having a cohesive policy. It's not like politic They cannot up They would only report to the We had that structure.

[00:10:37]>> [cough and clears throat] >> Should we then be bogged down almost every time we have an electoral process with the fear that people will not obey the laws?

[00:10:49]These laws are made so that we can comply with them and make our society better.

[00:10:54]But the truth is, if you talk about people buying votes, 2,000 here 4,000 there, the truth is, until you get to the man at the top who is actually disposing of funds and not, you know, picking on the poor man in the street, we won't get to the bottom of it.

[00:11:12]For example, if a if a I'm not I'm not talking about the kids in this case. If a contestant is a governor or a senator or what have you, and he's got the resources, he's the one we should look at and then ensure that he doesn't do anything that is wrong. But if we go around talking about people who um who who pay for votes, then we're talking about the man and the boy on the street who's just trying to eke out a living because he's poor.

[00:11:41]That's not our problem. Our problem is the person who is this person with heavy funds to get this done. Aside from that, I'm convinced that we need a complete reorientation as a people. We must begin to ask ourselves, do we as a generation present now find ourselves accustomed to vote buying, accustomed to irregularities?

[00:12:05]Or should we ask ourselves whether from primary schools we begin to have civics as a subject again like we saw in the past, where children, whether in Sunday school or primary schools or in primary schools, are indoctrinated. I I I I'm not hesitant to use that word.

[00:12:21]In believing that certain things are just wrong and they just should not allow them to to be done. Such that you find a child who probably go to his grandpa, "I know you have this and you have that, but what do you do for a living?" It might sound like a joke initially, but these perhaps are the people who might turn around our nation.

[00:12:39]Otherwise, many more times we're just going to find ourselves going to elections and praying and hoping and keeping our fingers crossed that there will be no irregularities. I'm hopeful that people of Ekiti will prove us wrong and come out of this election to say that we have voted, that we elected a governor whom we want, and there hasn't been any irregularity. And we shall be able to upload >> All right. Well, I I I'll come back to you on on whether or not the voter sensitization, the continuous voter sensitization activity was effective or not, and whether or not people even understand the value that they should or are placing on the elections. But for the let me let me quickly go to Brenda, the madam who we spoke with earlier. Madam, the we understand that up to 97% of PVCs have been collected.

[00:13:40]>> [snorts] >> Um, and it would be interesting to know cuz, you know, in some other parts of the nation, we've heard people say that they collected their PVCs for one important reason to be able to use it for some form of identification or not.

[00:13:54]Now, with this voter turnout, can you connect the PVC collection to the voter turnout or is there a some kind of different agenda of on the minds of the people that made the people come out? What kind of what could have motivated this high turnout that you're talking about?

[00:14:18]>> Thank you so much. Yes, we we were told the figures. We were told 97.1% of PVC collection happened.

[00:14:29]Well, you know, it'd be difficult to connect what I'm seeing now with that because that 97.1% is a percentage, it's not a number compared to what I'm seeing here. But what I'm seeing here and what I saw on the way here, I could I can definitely say the turnout is impressive. But of course, we have to compare with the number of people who are registered to the polling units.

[00:14:56]And um I must say but but for me, I am more impressed in the fact that the women are so resilient.

[00:15:04]I I know you can't see this but in front of me, the other polling units which is behind you and in front of me, they are laying their blankets on the floor and placing their toddlers, which means they are here to stay. They mean business and they really want to cast their votes.

[00:15:23]So, that is impressive. It shows resilience and, you know, the fact that the population really, really wants to select their new leader for the next 4 years. Thank you.

[00:15:36]>> Do you Do you see any chance, you know, where I mean, you've talked about security deployment on your way and around. Then, we've also heard about lockdown of movement on to 6:00 p.m.

[00:15:51]this evening. Of course, lawyers are already raising issues about violation of human rights, hurting of local economy, and all of that. Do you think Well, of course, we'll talk to Mr. Dilola in a moment, but do you think that is Do you think it is something hurtful? The The fact that we had to lock down movement, or you think it's where we are now and we should just use what we can to get what we can.

[00:16:20]>> Thank you so much. You know, I think I stand by your last sentence. Well, this This is the system that we operate in this part of the world. Of course, in other parts of the world, life will still be moving as normal. But, here, because it's an election and it's simply one day, and everybody had notice of the fact that elections will hold today.

[00:16:46]I'm hoping that people would have done what they they needed to do to prepare to stay home today. And movement is just restricted from 6:00 p.m.

[00:16:58]Sorry, on to 6:00 p.m. So, what It's important that they use the time given to them to go out and vote. And I think it's because of that that we have this massive turnout. At least, I have been to three polling units, and the turnout is impressive. So, maybe it may hurt the economy and all that, but this is the situation we found ourselves in. Let's make the best of it.

[00:17:24]And for now, I what I'm seeing, I think we're making the best of it in terms of choosing who the next leaders of this state will be.

[00:17:33]>> Right. And you know, as as as much as you know, we have a crowd of people there lined up trying to cast their vote. We also have reports of, you know, a heavy security presence for to keep order and to ensure that there's no hanky-panky going on behind the scenes. Where you are, what kind of security presence can you see there?

[00:18:05]>> Okay, so from the gates of the school, we're in a school, you can see NSCDC and then you see mobile police. They're They're at the gates, but they are not accosting anyone. I mean, we walked in freely and we've been moving around freely.

[00:18:22]To my right, I have a couple of policemen. You may not see them, but they're like three or four seated there quietly, peacefully, and observing just like I am. I can also see in front of me the other polling units there. They are female police officers. I see three just standing there not saying a word and they're just maintaining order there.

[00:18:47]So, where I came from, PU 030, there were about four policemen I noticed standing next to the BVA and they were not saying a word. They were just simply standing and the officials were, you know, setting up while the people were lined up. So, we've seen presence, but we don't see them accosting anyone or interacting. So, they're just simply there observing and but of course keeping the peace. So, that's what I've observed so far.

[00:19:19]>> Get back quickly to Mr. Adelola about the legality or otherwise. Well, you are a senior advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Adelola, and we have heard over and over again people raise issues about restriction of movement.

[00:19:38]First of all, it violates human rights and then there are those who are also looking at the economies, the local economy side. Even though when we heard from our colleague the other time, Aiyetoro, who was saying that look, there are some local economies that refuse to shut down in some other parts of the state. But what are your thoughts on that? Is it usually effective that lockdown roads are locked down, vehicles, movement of vehicles are restricted?

[00:20:10]Would you say that they have been over the over time helpful to maintaining election security or whatever you?

[00:20:22]>> Now, the truth is everyone has a constitutional rights to free movement, association, or what have you.

[00:20:34]Then again, these are personal rights.

[00:20:36]So, we have them on ask ourselves putting side by side the need for orderliness in society, the need for compliance regulations vis-a-vis the rights of the individual.

[00:20:53]Which should come first? We can't say that yes, everyone should be allowed to move around because that's a constitutional right that they have, but what is the likely consequences in a situation where we're having elections in a peculiar situation. I use language our particular situation because we know very well that even where there's restriction of movement, people still in the past have had and have snatched boxes, run away with them, and they will find situations where all manner of things have happened.

[00:21:23]Now, if we allow people to simply move around, if the possibility is that you find it more difficult to trace those who have um done this some of these um you know, kind of criminal acts and we'll find ourselves in a situation where voting may be truncated and the whole election may be cancelled.

[00:21:47]For a few hours, we may be willing or we should be willing as citizens to donate our rights for the common good of the society. That is my view. But, having said that, with time, we should begin to find a situation where people can vote wherever they are seated in their homes.

[00:22:08]People pulling diaspora should be able to vote so that we don't have to move around and go to polling units. Most of those polling units, we should be able to do so. Those who choose to vote using their BVN or NIN should be able to do so. Our technology should be able to avail us such that wherever we are, we can vote and get it over and done with in a few minutes or a few hours. So, we don't have to restrict people because there could be situations where persons who are in dire situations, imagine this, are unable to move around because transport is not even available. We don't want people dying, you know, people who are in labor and in in in throes of childbirth having situations where they cannot even get to the labor ward. Or, find situations where people who rely on business on Saturday um will then cannot make money in spite of this very bad economic situation that we're in.

[00:23:00]Hopefully, we get around it and citizens themselves will say, "Whether you allow us to move around or not, we'll ensure that the process is sacrosanct."

[00:23:09]>> One of the things that comes to mind about this local economy part that you brought up is the prices people pay for us to have the kind of electoral processes that we need. On the one hand, election is just one element in the in the electioneering process in the democratic, you know, process. You know, there are those who would also say, "Okay, maybe I should ask it this way." While we're celebrating large voter turnout, I'm not sure we can get 100% voter turnout. There are those who may still be unsettled. One of the promos we played earlier talked about people asking whether or not their their votes are going to count. So, Joka and I were discussing earlier, said, "I look, it is possible people don't know that they are practically paying for this election, you know? It's the people that pay for the election. It's not INEC's money. It's not the federal government's money. It's their money.

[00:24:09]So, if you are And every Nigerian pays tax. Every Nigerian, whether directly or indirectly, cuz if you pay if you buy a product, someone has already placed the tax they are supposed to pay pay or they will pay on that particular product. So, one way or the other, directly or indirectly, we are paying taxes. Do you think that orientation, that understanding, would help would propel people to see the importance of spending the money, or rather utilizing the money that they have spent to execute this election?

[00:24:44]>> Um Good good question.

[00:24:47]I have always been of the view that the ministries of information and um you know, ministries who carry out similar functions, whether the states or the federal level, have a very strong role to play.

[00:25:05]Now, their role is not only for election purposes, you know, even for employment, labor, what options the young people have and whatever you. We need them to do this for us all year round.

[00:25:18]And so, the the the sensitization should not just be um about um just a few months before the elections.

[00:25:28]It should be all year round. And that's why I said earlier that we need some measure of indoctrination.

[00:25:34]You may want to have the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Education coming together to revamp school curriculum, particularly for children. Let them understand what it is to vote.

[00:25:49]You hear, for example, that Can you hear me?

[00:25:55]You hear, for example, you hear, for example, that in a place like the United States of America um everybody goes through some measure of voting from primary school, from classroom to the school and whatever you. So, through a lifetime, you would have gone through process of voting so many times. Let it be a part of us as well. Let children learn in civics in schools. Let them understand why sometimes you have to give up a bit of your time, a bit of your resources for common good. It's it's a it's a good thing. Just try this World Cup which showed that when the Japanese finished the match their citizens went around picking up garbage around where they were seated.

[00:26:35]This is the culture.

[00:26:37]And you see, we need to begin to ask ourselves, can this also be in re-enacted? We used to have in those in those >> you you've hit you've hit a very very solid um point there, culture. Um leadership experts um performance coaches will tell us all the time that um if you get it wrong in the from the level of culture, you got it wrong all the time. And if any change is going to happen, it has to start from the culture.

[00:27:04]And thank you so much for your time this morning. Mr. Kayode Adeola is a senior advocate of Nigeria. I'm pretty sure that we'll be reaching out to you again.

[00:27:13]We've also had Ms. Brenda Anum Udum, who is the CEO of Nigerian Women Trust Fund. I'm almost certain that we're going to circle back to you at least one of our correspondents will still be able to circle back to you before this process is over. So that we can get your perspectives on how it all went. Thank you again for your time.

[00:27:34]So when we return, Seun Okinbaloye is on the other side of this break. Do stay with us.

[00:27:43]>> [music] [music]