WARNING ON 2011 ELECTIONS

A retired federal Permanent Secretary, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has warned that the absence of an appropriate and adequate legal framework for the 2011 elections represent a red flag and a major threat to the coming polls.

Baba-Ahmed, a former secretary in INEC, gave the warning at the weekend while delivering a lecture titled ‘Red Flags To 2011’ at the 25th Annual Conference of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) in Abuja.

He said the manner in which the executive and the legislature resolve the arguments around the amendments of the Constitution, as well as the formalization of the 2010 Electoral Act as the enabling law of the 2011 elections will largely address the concerns around the time the nation needs to conduct elections.

While expressing doubt over the possibility of conducting credible elections in January 2011, he advised President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to deploy a strong and transparent political machinery, and urged him to move the elections to April 2011.

He expressed concern over the reported attempt by the legislature to include provisions prescribing the Order of Elections in the 2010 Act in view of the fact that a Supreme Court ruling is against it.

He said determining the order of elections is a management function and INEC should be free to handle the assignment, and account to the political parties and the Nigerian people for its decisions.

While calling on INEC to engage in a critical self-assessment, and a willingness to restructure itself to achieve the required levels of integrity, competence and reliability, he said staff whose loyalty, competence or integrity is questionable have no place in the new INEC.

He called for the involvement of organized groups like FOMWAM and citizens in the electoral process, stating that INEC and politicians alone cannot deliver credible elections.

While voicing misgivings regarding the suitability of NYSC members for registration and election duties, he said the benefits of their educational levels had tended to be eroded by the tendency to disappear with material and equipment, to introduce widespread restiveness into sensitive assignments and to cost much higher than local, available ad hoc staff.

The former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the guarantee that state organs including security agencies will not be deployed in favor of certain parties must be secured from the government by all political parties.