Certainly, any moment from now, the Chairman
of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Muhammadu
Jega will be leaving office as the nation’s chief
electoral officer.
By Jude Opara
The question now is not whether the erudite
scholar will be bowing out because he has said
that he will not even accept reappointment by the
government. So what matters now is who will be
taking over the baton from Jega and what type of
person is he?
Jega was on June 8, 2010 appointed the INEC
chairman by former President Goodluck Jonathan
to replace another university don, Prof. Maurice
Iwu who conducted the election that brought in
the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua
and his then vice, Goodluck Jonathan in 2007.
That election was highly criticized as falling short
of acceptable international standard. To that
effect, Late President Yar’Adua even admitted
that the process that brought him to power was
flawed and he set up the Mohammed Uwais
Electoral Reforms Committee.
The conduct of the 2015 general elections became
very decisive because many observers both from
within and outside the country saw it as a
watershed to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
This even became more problematic going by the
vicious campaign which the political class brought
into the electioneering campaign.
Before now, some international analysts had
predicted that Nigeria was going to disintegrate in
2015 and the way and manner the main two
political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives
Congress (APC) went about their campaign added
to the apprehension that ushered in the elections.
Therefore all eyes were on Jega and his INEC to
conduct an election that will be generally
acceptable to everybody.
Members of the international community were
equally interested in what was happening in
Nigeria with special reference to the polls.
Planning for the 2015 polls
In order to ensure that the usual electoral frauds
were at least brought to a reasonable check, INEC
introduced the use of the Permanent Voter Cards
(PVCs) and the Card Reader Machine for the
verification and accreditation of voters. From the
beginning, INEC brought all the registered
political, parties into the picture of what they
intended to do to eliminate the flaws and they all
gave their seal of approval.
The PVC made it difficult for people to vote with
voter cards that do not belong to them, it also
rendered useless the idea of buying off the voter
cards of some people by desperate politicians.
Before now some voter cards used to trade from
about N5,000 to N10,000 naira. And to use the
PVC, there must be a Card Reader that will
authenticate it.
Low point of the 2015 polls
However, it must be noted that despite the
outcome of the election and its endorsement by
both the domestic and international observers,
there were a lot of areas where INEC failed to tidy
up prior to the conduct of the polls.
The Commission could not carry out enough voter
education and enlightenment of the voting public
so as to know what was expected of them during
the exercise. Most of the voters did not know
where to place their thumb hence the prevalence
of void votes at the general elections.
There were a lot of issues with the PVCs as well as
the card reader. Granted they were good
innovations aimed at ending electoral fraud, the
Commission again failed in educating the people
on their usage. It is on record that the
demonstration of the workings of the card reader
which took place in 12 states of the federation
was only done after the postponement of the
presidential election from February 14 to March
28.
There were a lot of child voters in some parts of
the country even with the use of the PVCs. This
means that NEC failed or refused to ensure that
only Nigerians who were 18 years of age and
above got on the voters register which INEC had
at various times preached. The question should
be why INEC registered these under-aged children
in the era of the PVC and card reader machine?
Again INEC is yet to get its logistics arrangement
right hence the usual story of electoral materials
arriving at polling units late which equally affected
the credibility of the elections in a no small way.
In fact in some places the materials reportedly
got to the voting points in the afternoon when the
accreditation of voters ought to have ended.
It also goes to show that the staff were not
properly trained because in some places they
proved not able to operate the card reader
machines, another factor that affected the
credibility of the entire exercise.
The remuneration of the ad-hoc staff was equally
shabbily handled in most places because even
after the polls we have continued to hear of some
groups of the staff demonstrating and calling on
the electoral body to pay them the stipend
approved for them for taking part in the elections.
Challenges
Now the big challenge that has continued to
bedevil INEC is what to do with the numerous
electoral offenders. The electoral body has
shouted it clearly that it does not have the
financial base and time to prosecute these
offenders hence the request for the
establishment of an Electoral Offences Tribunal
but so far little or nothing has been done in that
regard.
Many analysts have also argued that to be really
independent, INEC should be made to be drawing
its funds from the first line of charge instead of
the present practice where it draws its funds from
the presidency which could expose it to some
undue manipulation by the government in power.
The man for the job
With the relative success recorded by Jega, it goes
to say that his successor must be able to raise the
tempo from what it is currently or at worst
maintain it. Care must be taken that somebody
who will even lower the standards was not foisted
on the nation because it has been shown that
getting the electoral process right is the first step
towards the development of the country because
that will make the politicians to really understand
that power truly resides with the people.
The new INEC boss must be a man or woman who
truly sees himself or herself as a Nigerian in truth
and indeed and ready to work for the entire
country. An ethnic or religious jingoist (there are
many of them) must not be given the most
sensitive job in the land.
Apart from having the necessary academic and
professional qualification, the man for the job
must be passionate and ready to ensure that he
contributes his quota to the growth of the
electoral system by not secretly working for any
politician or political party to the detriment of the
others.
In the out-going era, there were issues about
lopsided appointments and promotions, such
should not be a hallmark of a true nationalist
because merit must always be respected and
protected from the altar of regionalism.
He must also be ready to take the welfare of the
staff very seriously because that is one sure way
of stopping them from colluding with desperate
politicians to manipulate the process..
of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Muhammadu
Jega will be leaving office as the nation’s chief
electoral officer.
By Jude Opara
The question now is not whether the erudite
scholar will be bowing out because he has said
that he will not even accept reappointment by the
government. So what matters now is who will be
taking over the baton from Jega and what type of
person is he?
Jega was on June 8, 2010 appointed the INEC
chairman by former President Goodluck Jonathan
to replace another university don, Prof. Maurice
Iwu who conducted the election that brought in
the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua
and his then vice, Goodluck Jonathan in 2007.
That election was highly criticized as falling short
of acceptable international standard. To that
effect, Late President Yar’Adua even admitted
that the process that brought him to power was
flawed and he set up the Mohammed Uwais
Electoral Reforms Committee.
The conduct of the 2015 general elections became
very decisive because many observers both from
within and outside the country saw it as a
watershed to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
This even became more problematic going by the
vicious campaign which the political class brought
into the electioneering campaign.
Before now, some international analysts had
predicted that Nigeria was going to disintegrate in
2015 and the way and manner the main two
political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives
Congress (APC) went about their campaign added
to the apprehension that ushered in the elections.
Therefore all eyes were on Jega and his INEC to
conduct an election that will be generally
acceptable to everybody.
Members of the international community were
equally interested in what was happening in
Nigeria with special reference to the polls.
Planning for the 2015 polls
In order to ensure that the usual electoral frauds
were at least brought to a reasonable check, INEC
introduced the use of the Permanent Voter Cards
(PVCs) and the Card Reader Machine for the
verification and accreditation of voters. From the
beginning, INEC brought all the registered
political, parties into the picture of what they
intended to do to eliminate the flaws and they all
gave their seal of approval.
The PVC made it difficult for people to vote with
voter cards that do not belong to them, it also
rendered useless the idea of buying off the voter
cards of some people by desperate politicians.
Before now some voter cards used to trade from
about N5,000 to N10,000 naira. And to use the
PVC, there must be a Card Reader that will
authenticate it.
Low point of the 2015 polls
However, it must be noted that despite the
outcome of the election and its endorsement by
both the domestic and international observers,
there were a lot of areas where INEC failed to tidy
up prior to the conduct of the polls.
The Commission could not carry out enough voter
education and enlightenment of the voting public
so as to know what was expected of them during
the exercise. Most of the voters did not know
where to place their thumb hence the prevalence
of void votes at the general elections.
There were a lot of issues with the PVCs as well as
the card reader. Granted they were good
innovations aimed at ending electoral fraud, the
Commission again failed in educating the people
on their usage. It is on record that the
demonstration of the workings of the card reader
which took place in 12 states of the federation
was only done after the postponement of the
presidential election from February 14 to March
28.
There were a lot of child voters in some parts of
the country even with the use of the PVCs. This
means that NEC failed or refused to ensure that
only Nigerians who were 18 years of age and
above got on the voters register which INEC had
at various times preached. The question should
be why INEC registered these under-aged children
in the era of the PVC and card reader machine?
Again INEC is yet to get its logistics arrangement
right hence the usual story of electoral materials
arriving at polling units late which equally affected
the credibility of the elections in a no small way.
In fact in some places the materials reportedly
got to the voting points in the afternoon when the
accreditation of voters ought to have ended.
It also goes to show that the staff were not
properly trained because in some places they
proved not able to operate the card reader
machines, another factor that affected the
credibility of the entire exercise.
The remuneration of the ad-hoc staff was equally
shabbily handled in most places because even
after the polls we have continued to hear of some
groups of the staff demonstrating and calling on
the electoral body to pay them the stipend
approved for them for taking part in the elections.
Challenges
Now the big challenge that has continued to
bedevil INEC is what to do with the numerous
electoral offenders. The electoral body has
shouted it clearly that it does not have the
financial base and time to prosecute these
offenders hence the request for the
establishment of an Electoral Offences Tribunal
but so far little or nothing has been done in that
regard.
Many analysts have also argued that to be really
independent, INEC should be made to be drawing
its funds from the first line of charge instead of
the present practice where it draws its funds from
the presidency which could expose it to some
undue manipulation by the government in power.
The man for the job
With the relative success recorded by Jega, it goes
to say that his successor must be able to raise the
tempo from what it is currently or at worst
maintain it. Care must be taken that somebody
who will even lower the standards was not foisted
on the nation because it has been shown that
getting the electoral process right is the first step
towards the development of the country because
that will make the politicians to really understand
that power truly resides with the people.
The new INEC boss must be a man or woman who
truly sees himself or herself as a Nigerian in truth
and indeed and ready to work for the entire
country. An ethnic or religious jingoist (there are
many of them) must not be given the most
sensitive job in the land.
Apart from having the necessary academic and
professional qualification, the man for the job
must be passionate and ready to ensure that he
contributes his quota to the growth of the
electoral system by not secretly working for any
politician or political party to the detriment of the
others.
In the out-going era, there were issues about
lopsided appointments and promotions, such
should not be a hallmark of a true nationalist
because merit must always be respected and
protected from the altar of regionalism.
He must also be ready to take the welfare of the
staff very seriously because that is one sure way
of stopping them from colluding with desperate
politicians to manipulate the process..
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