INEC, Polls And National Sacrifice

Nigeria’s contemporary political history impresses on even the most casual of observers an element of repetition, a readiness in certain quarters to recapture a discredited  past and a persistence in seeking to present such villainy as a virtuous struggle for a better, greater tomorrow.

Ever so ready to thwart genuine and painstaking efforts at reaching national aspiration, some mindless Nigerians and their conspirators masquerading as patriots, usually as a rule, prove clever by  half and eventually fail to learn nothing and forget nothing about our chequered past. These schemers, most of whom work for the electoral  umpire at every critical moment in the nation’s political history, are ever so single-mindedly committed to their narrow goals that they spare no thought for the wider, greater interests of the nation.

It is a tragic pity that these elements have now resurrected in Prof. Attahiru Jega’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to scuttle the electoral process.

It is most unfortunate that Prof. Jega met and maximally utilized an INEC staffed by elements adept at corrupt practices of the past and conversant with late delivery of ballot boxes, dysfunctional equipment, infrastructural bottlenecks and rigging, up till last Saturday’s botched polls.

Hardly had the long awaited polls begun on Saturday than the Prof. Jega announced the postponement of the 2011 polls scheduled to take place over three weekends. He told a bewildered electorate that the shift was caused by late arrival of result sheets. Consequently, he re-scheduled the national assembly polls for last Monday, regrettably without due cognizance of the fact that there cannot be any electoral miracle in two days, especially with the use of the same staff and structure, moreso when it turned out that he characteristically understated the problems that trailed the botched polls. It was not just result sheets that were delivered late. Infact, some states on the day of the polls, had not even received any election materials whatsoever. In addition, even states that had received materials faced logistics problems in transporting electoral officers to polling units. Worse still, in a few instances, even ballot papers meant for the Saturday polls either did not have the logo of some parties or they had the logo of an inexistent party. Yet, in many polling units in some parts of the country mammoth crowd of eligible registered voters could not find their names in the register, thereby facing possible disenfranchisement.

Thank goodness! Wiser counsel had prevailed as Jega has again shifted the postponed elections by a week following strong pressure from the political parties.

While still believing that Prof. Jega’s integrity which earned him the rather onerous task of fixing the nation’s political process is still intact, The Tide thinks that it is time the renowned university don came to grips with the demand and exigencies of his assignment to avoid embarrassing the beleaguered people of Nigeria for the second time and submerging his much –orchestrated integrity in the furious lava of the nation’s political volcano.

As it is, Jega must get it right this time around despite being largely surrounded by staff and other accomplices that are determined to blight his vision for a truly independent INEC and destroy his puritanical mission there. The buck certainly stops on Jega’s desk, and he must ensure that all necessary logistics and assurances by his lieutenants translate into a hitch-free poll on April 9 by perfecting a mechanism of verifying claims by his men to avoid plunging the nation into another electoral tragedy. For, if a congregation errs in prayer, it is the imam or the priest leading it that must be held responsible.

The Tide believes that the postponement should be sufficient to address last Saturday’s problems. Party symbols and names must be accurately reflected on ballot papers while those ugly infrastructural inadequacies are quickly redressed. And on the day of election itself INEC must first consider the vast nature of the country and its different terrain and ensure that electoral officers and materials are promptly transported to polling units and by all means of transportation.

The modality of the elections may also be reviewed. INEC should consider combining accreditation with voting in order to gain time and ensure efficiency. In other words, the mistakes of last Saturday should serve as dress rehearsal for the April 9 poll. Prof. Jega, ipso facto, has a gargantuan task that must be done between now and Friday night. For one thing is to have the courage to cancel an election and quite another to avoid a repeat.

The postponed polls, though symptomatic of the national malaise we have ignored for far too long, should offer some lessons in national sacrifice, particularly in our efforts to deepen democracy in Nigeria. The advise by Rivers State Governor Rt. Hon.  Chibuike Amaechi and Ogoni Rights leader, Ledum Mitee that Rivers people should not be discouraged by the postponement must be heeded by all as no sacrifice, as they rightly noted, is too much to have credible election. And as the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogic has succinctly put it: “We have laid our hands on the plough to define a new Nigeria, we cannot look back now. Nothing good comes without some sacrifice. If this is the sacrifice needed from Nigerians to get it right and make history this time, we must all be ready to offer it”. We cannot agree more.