INEC: The profile of Jega’s successor

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. Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega 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. Jega-cartoon-2015There 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.