Elections: Between Nigeria and Ghana

FOR two countries that gained independence about three years apart, the yawning disparities between Nigeria and Ghana’s political and electoral profiles are disturbing. While Ghana’s political evolution and electoral history have been healthy and competitive, Nigeria’s have continued to wallow in the dark abyss.

Ghanaians trooped out on December 7 to elect their president and parliamentary representatives. Former President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress was declared president-elect with 6.32 million or 56.55 percent, unprecedented in the history of elections there.

The first runner-up, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party polled 4.65 million votes or 41.61 per cent. The NDC recorded a landslide in the parliamentary election. While the total number of registered voters was 18.77 million,the total votes cast were 11.43 million.Voter turnout was 60.9 percent.

Bawumiacalled Mahama to concede the election while vote counting was still in progress. This appreciable demonstration of statesmanship de-escalated tensions and enhanced the integrity of the polls.

The election was conducted between 7am and 5pm. Ghanaians went about their normal businesses during the voting period. The people and the economy of Ghana were not locked down either. There was no ubiquitous and menacing presence of security men. Votes were cast without intimidation and violence. This should be emulated in Nigeria, where elections are militarised with lockdowns.

As Nigerians were licking the wounds of serial electoral ignominies, Nigeria’s INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu boasted that Ghana borrowed from Nigeria “a decentralised system, allowing constituency-level officers to announce parliamentary results locally while only presidential results are sent to Accra…Ghana also learnt from Nigeria in the area of managing constituency election results.”

While Nigeria’s approach has compromised scores of elections since its introduction, Ghana, the so-called borrowing country, has made a success of it. Yakubu and INEC have no hiding place.

Ghana’s 2024 election is a lesson in sustainable democratic practice. The Africa Union Election Observation Mission “commends the people of Ghana for their commitment to democratic principles…The overall electoral process adhered to regional and international standards, reinforcing Ghana’s democratic credentials.”

In sharp contrast, the EU Election Observation Mission said, “The 2023 general elections did not ensure a well-run, transparent, and inclusive democratic process…Public confidence and trust in INEC were severely damaged during the presidential poll and was not restored in state-level elections….”

The late President Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010) openly admitted that the election that brought him to office was massively flawed. Except for the 2015 election, in which President Goodluck Jonathan conceded to Muhammadu Buhari, the runners-up rejected all presidential elections and contested up to the Supreme Court. Governorship polls suffer the same fate.

The Nigerian political elite has thrown patriotism and decency to the wind. Nigerian politicians introduced vote-buying and compromised security agents and INEC officials. Elections in Nigeria have become a bazaar. The popular refrain from the winner is: go to court.

As opposed to the practice in Ghana where the people have voted out the ruling party four times for incompetence since 1992, Nigerian voters shamefully return to the same parties and politicians who inflict hardships on them.

The ruling parties have consistently used the power of incumbency to perpetuate themselves in power.

The local government elections conducted from October to December in Nigeria were swept by the ruling party or their preferred parties.

These inanities have created voters’ distrust and lack of confidence in the electoral system, consistently producing poor voter turnout.Nigeria’s 26.7 percent voter turnout in the 2023 presidential election contrasts sharply with Ghana’s 60.9 percent in 2024.

Ghanaian elections are top-notch because the country persistently respectsits laws and buildsinstitutions, and the people and civil society organisations are active. Nigeria should follow in that country’s footsteps.