Appointment Of INEC Chair…Protests, Matters Arising

The key essence of the Federal Character provision in the Constitution of Nigeria is mainly to ensure social integration and give all sections of the country a true sense of belonging. It is also to prevent a situation whereby a winner in any election takes all to the exclusion of others.
With this in mind, even military administrations over the years demonstrated true care in ensuring that no section of the country feels short-changed. That was why at every step of the way, they tried to ensure reasonable balancing of appointments into key positions.
For instance, deliberate efforts were made by successive administrations to ensure that the three arms of government were not concentrated in the hands of one zone or a section of the country. They were often balanced at least to a large extent.
This is why the prevailing political situation which leaves the three arms of government in the hands of the Northern part of Nigeria is attracting criticism. Though not as loud as it should be, public resentment of the situation is real and should indeed worry the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
Similar protests attended Buhari’s appointment of his kitchen cabinet which many said was lopsided in favour of the North. Then followed the appointment of Mrs Amina Zakari as acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
That too attracted criticism from many quarters on the grounds that the appointee was indeed the President’s relation. That, many feared could affect Zakari’s required neutrality in superintending the affairs of the nation’s electoral body.
General expectations were that since the former Chairman of INEC under the Jonathan Presidency, Prof. Attahiru Jega is from the North, his successor under President Buhari should come from the South, as has been the case even during military rule.
This is indeed why it came to many as a huge surprise when President Buhari appointed Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, from Bauchi, another Northerner as Chairman of INEC. One of those not happy with the turn of events is Ekiti State Governor Mr. Ayo Fayose who criticized President Buhari’s discretion on the matter. Describing it as insensitive to the yearnings of other sections of the country, Fayose said the appointment was not proper.
In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication’s and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose described the “appointment of yet another Northerner, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as Chairman of INEC as a vindication of my position that President Muhammadu Buhari is a sectional leader”.
Fayose said the Presient still sees himself mainly as leader of the Hausa/Fulani, and not that of the entire people of Nigeria. He had expected the new INEC Chairman to be chosen from one of the three Southern geo-political zones, especially the South-western part of the country, being the only zone yet to produce Chairman of the nation’s electoral umpire, lamenting, “Nigeria has entered a one chance bus and it remains to be seen who will save the country from its sectional President”.
These may indeed be very strong words, but stronger are the likely consequences of concentrating power and all appointments in a section of the country. When people feel deprived, short changed, discriminated against and indeed isolated from the line of governance, they are often pushed to avoidable rebellion that very often blossooms into insurgency.
Nigerians may be quiet, but they are averse to the doings on. The appointment of INEC Chairman from the Northern part of the country while, the President is also from the North, is indeed a miscalculation that paints the picture that Buhari has no trust for any other Nigerian for that job except his kinsman. This is further fuelled by existing structures on ground.
There are in Nigeria, three arms of government: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The Executive has President Muhammadu Buhari, a Northerner as head. The Legislature has two arms: the Senate and the House of Representatives, headed by Alhaji Bukola Saraki and  Hon. Yakubu Dogara, both Northerners, as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively.
The third arm is the Judiciary which has as its Head, the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mahmud Mohammed (CFR) also of the North. He succeeded Justice Aloma Muhktar who retired November 20, last year. The second arm of the Judiciary, the Court of Appeal is headed by Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, another Northerner as President of the Appeal Court.
This means all three arms of government, the executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary are firmly under the control of Northern Elements to the exclusion of other sections of the country.
That is indeed why many consider the choice of an INEC Chair, also from the North as an over-kill and crass insensitivity to the yearnings and aspirations of other geo-political zones in the land.
Even with their desperation to hang on to power, in the Second Republic, members of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) with a Northern President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, did not appoint a Northerner to head the electoral body. Instead, Shagari appointed late Justice Victor Ovie-Whisky.
Even the Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha regimes appreciated the sensitivity of the issue and so went across the divide in choosing electoral umpires, since they were Northerners.
That is why Fayose is asking, “How can we have a President from the North and at the same time have INEC Chairman from the Hausa/Fulani Northern Nigeria?” . And thus concludes, “Obviously, what is being witnessed is more like a situation where, it appears, the President is more interested in having someone malleable to him than serving the interest of Nigeria and its people”.
Comments of this kind can be avoided if the new administration is a little more paintaking, objective and impartial in the choice of individuals into positions of trust. If sectional balancing, equity and fairplay indeed influence such appointments, there will be very little to worry about.
For instance, like all humans, Prof. Attahiru Jega was not perfect. Even as electoral umpire he was a member of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) which endorsed President Buhari as preferred candidate in the last election. Confronted, Jega accepted membership of the body but said he was not in the meeting where such endorsement was made.
A desperate President Goodluck Jonathan could capitalise on that and replace him, preferably with another lecturer from Otueke, in Bayelsa, the President’s hometown but he elected not to, apparently because of the need to ensure the long known balancing that existed long before the Second Republic.
Secondly, leadership of the second arm of government, the legislature, was in the hands of Northerners, mainly because the President was of the South-South. Why is such balancing now difficult?
What is indeed baffling is that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) appears comfortable with the goings on, that tend to confirm pre-election comments that the party is an entirely Northern one. That the South-West was merely a tool used to actualise victory. We hope not.
But the right things should be done to carry everyone along. Let every section of the country have a sense of belonging and not isolation, because the journey of change in the country cannot succeed if many are left behind.
More importantly, every effort must be made to deepen democracy in the land. We must not forget so soon that the legitimacy that the last elections enjoyed was drawn from former President Jonathan’s disposition to the outcome, which for the first time prevented long litigations and if possible violence.
The Presidential election, like others before it, was far from perfect. But that singular statesmanly act, gave it an extra stamp of perfection and which for the first time, resulted in the enthronement of an opposition party over a ruling one.
But with the way key appointments are going, it is very doubtful if similar level playing-ground could be sustained for true democracy to thrive. That is the first and last responsibility of the incumbent President, and beneficiary of a relatively free and fair  electoral process.
My Agony is that it is not often the habit of ‘great’ politicians to leave the ladder, after climbing to the top. They often take it up with them so no one drags the top with them.