Professor Maurice Iwu’s journey as the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which began five years ago will formally come to an end on June 13, 2010. This is in consonance with Section 155 (1) (C) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which stipulates that the chairman and members of the Independent Electoral Commission shall hold office for five years period.

However, following the continued criticisms by groups and well-meaning individuals across the country against INEC, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan eased Professor Iwu out six weeks ahead of his June 13, 2010 terminal date.

Professor Iwu, appointed INEC Chairman by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo in June 2005 with high hopes was expected to improve on the conduct of the 2003 elections wihich was widely criticized for such electoral malpractices as snatching and stuffing of ballot boxes with thumb printed ballot papers and declaration of wrong results. Iwu’s first challenge was therefore, the conduct of the 2007 general elections. Adjudged as the most massively rigged, the most violent, the most irregular, and the most hotly disputed, the 2007 general elections were seen as the worst polls since the inception of the country. Even the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who was produced by the election as the President of the nation acknowledged that its conduct was flawed.Thus, in his inaugural speech, he stated: “We acknowledge that our elections had some shortcomings. Thankfully, we have well-established legal avenues of redress, and I urge anyone agrieved to pursue them. I also believe that our experiences represent an opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Accordingly, I will set up a panel to examine the entire electoral process with a view to ensuring that we raise the quality and standard of our general elections, and thereby deepen our democracy”.

INEC has conducted several other elections since after the 2007 polls, but  Iwu and his team were not able to redeem their image.

He has tried so hard to absolve himself and the INEC of any responsibility for the poor and disgraceful conduct of the elections but to no avail. He has argued vehemently that it is politicians and not him or INEC that stuff ballot boxes with ballot papers; it is not him or INEC that snatch ballot boxes; and it is not himself or INEC that induces voters with money, trains and arms thugs and creates all sorts of confusion and tension at polling booths. Before he was booted out of office, he asserted severally that excessive use of money by politicians to undermine the system during elections remained the bane of credible polls in the country. But all in all, Iwu believes that the 2007 elections were the best in the country’s recent history. So he did not see any reason for his sack. In other words, he believed in his heart of heart that he deserved a second tenure of five years considering that his appointment was renewable. Thus, as many were pushing for his removal, he was fighting back to retain his job. Refusing to accept the inevitable, he mustered some support including youths to keep him in office.

But based on Dr. Jonathan’s statement while on official visit to the United States that there would be a number of changes in INEC before the 2011 elections, it was clear that Iwu was fighting a lost battle.

Apparently, Iwu was acting like the proverbial dancer who does not see his back. But if the dancer does not see his back, would he not also know when the drum beat stops?

 Iwu’s five-year controversial tenure as the Chairman of INEC is a great teacher. It has taught Nigeria and Nigerians that free, fair, and credible elections are the key to participatory democracy, and that the country’s electoral umpire must be bold, dauntless, heroic, incorruptible, impartial, and patriotic, and must have integrity. The fact that the 2007 elections alone precipitated over 1,200 cases in the tribunals speaks volumes of the incompetence of Iwu and his INEC and the insincerity of government to ensure acceptable polls in the land.

President Jonathan has assured the Nigerian nation that those he selected for INEC Chairman and federal Commissioners are credible people who would deliver credible elections. Though he has kept the list close to his chest, some well-meaning Nigerians have been speculating those being considered as likely successor of Iwu. Some of the names so conjectured for the hot potato job are the former Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr. Bukhari Bello, an academic and Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Prof. Attahiru Jega, a distinguished retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice George Adesola Oguntade and a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Olisa Agbakoba. Others are the former Chairman,  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Alfa Belgore, and the Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyili.

To President Jonathan, once we have credible people on board to conduct free and fair elections, the country will move forward.

Yes, the need for credible persons to conduct elections in the country and electoral reforms based on the Justice Muhammadu Uwais panel recommendations cannot be over-emphasised, but the lesson from the past polls is that government and the key players especially the political parties and their office seekers must see the interest of the nation as sacrosanct. This means that as long as the political parties and their cronies are determined to  pursue their personal interests to the detriment of the nation and rig elections with impunity, it will be difficult to stem the tide of electoral malpractices in the country.

Electoral reform is an exercise of the imagination while its implementation is a struggle with reality. In other words, the beauty of the reforms can be submerged by poor or non-implementation. Experience of the past has taught us that paucity of funds, manipulation and undue influence on the electoral body by the powers that be, weak law enforcement machinery, over-sized number of political parties, lack of internal democracy in the political parties, unreliable voters register and so many logistic problems including late arrival of ballot papers at polling booths contributed to the mess Iwu and his team delivered to Nigerians as election results during his tenure.

Whether or not the political class and the rest of us have learnt any lesson from the five-year sojourn of Iwu as the Chairman of INEC, only time will tell.