The Nigerian Judiciary may not be exonerated, because the head was appointed by the incumbent President, therefore the head of the judiciary is at the whims and caprices of the executive. The 2019 and the 2023 elections witnessed more than nine-hundred and eighty-four (984) litigations in the aftermath despite huge voter apathy, says SERAP. In fact, about 48 hours after the February 2023 general election, INEC Chairman (Prof. Mahmood, Yakubu) started announcing the result via all the Nigerian television (TV) stations like Channels TV with all political parties present; the moment inconsistencies with the actual result was observed by the opposition party (PDP), INEC Chairman says, ‘If you are not satisfied, go to court’ (This was televised live on Channel TV station about 4 am, Nigeria time). This means, there is the likelihood of the Judiciary working in collaboration with INEC to subvert people’s mandate. Subsequently, the phrase ‘Go to court’ became a slogan in Nigeria’s election, because it is common knowledge that, the judiciary has the propensity to compromise judgment.
However, when INEC embraces geo-coding technology, the Judiciary will have little or no election adjudication and people’s mandate shall prevail; because voters can easily identify the nearest voting point, INEC also knows the geographic location of each eligible voter. It is against this background that this article seeks to demonstrate how to geo-code addresses of all voters in Jos South LGA of Plateau State, Nigeria as a prototype for the rest of the 773LGAs in the country.
Author(s) Details:
Isa Agaie Dawodu
Department of Geo-informatics and Surveying, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNN), Nigeria.
Francis Ifeanyi Okeke
Department of Geo-informatics and Surveying, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNN), Nigeria.
Mubarak Umar Faruk
Department of Geo-informatics and Surveying, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNN), Nigeria.
Yusuf Ibrahin Kuriwa
Department of Geo-informatics and Surveying, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNN), Nigeria.
Recent Global Research Developments in The Crucial Role of Geo-Coding Technology in Election Management
Geo-coding of Voter’s Residential Address: A Panacea to Election Malpractice in Jos South LGA of Plateau State, Nigeria [1]:
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- This study emphasizes the transition from unverifiable election methods to Geographic Information System (GIS) for elections management.
- GIS allows replacing non-spatial ‘voter’s address file’ systems with election district and voter location data in a GIS format.
- By geo-coding voter addresses, election bodies can answer questions about the geographic locations of voters.
- The study used ArcGIS to create a point attribute dataset of all voters, including demographic characteristics, latitude, longitude, and nearest voting points. This helps reduce multiple voting and improves election planning.
Geocoding 1.5 Million Registered Voters in Maricopa County, Arizona [2]:
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- In this project, the Maricopa County Recorder/Elections Department accurately geocoded all registered voters’ addresses using GIS.
- The goal was to locate each voter’s address with high certainty and repeatability.
References
- Isa Agaie Dawodu, Francis Ifeanyi Okeke, Mubarak Umar Faruk, & Yusuf Ibrahin Kuriwa. (2023). Geo-coding of Voter’s Residential Address: A Panacea to Election Malpractice in Jos South LGA of Plateau State, Nigeria. Journal of Psychology and Political Science(JPPS) ISSN 2799-1024, 3(06), 56–62. https://doi.org/10.55529/jpps.36.56.62
- Geocoding 1.5 Million Registered Voters in Maricopa County, Arizona
https://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc04/docs/pap1448.pdf