Very little will be served at this stage in blaming the Chairman of INEC for the huge disappointment of Saturday. The most important point to be made is that INEC now shows a weakness and a failing which has cast a major doubt over its organizational ability, and these weaknesses must be addressed in such a way that they are not further exploited by those whose interests will not be served by free, fair and credible elections in our country. In our news analysis of Friday last week, one day before the ill-fated elections of Saturday 2nd, and which we titled “why tomorrow is important”, we mentioned that the National Assembly elections will test the readiness of INEC and the veracity of all claims that it has put place every arrangement to ensure that conducts free, fair and credible elections. Most Nigerians are bitterly disappointed but are willing to allow Professor Jega another chance to make up for his disappointing failure. His apologies are accepted by most Nigerians, but we will not forgive him if he does not learn from these mistakes and plug all loopholes in the arrangements for the elections of the 9th, 16th and 26th of April.
Now that the elections have been shifted by one week each, we will expect Professor Jega to work with his Commissioners and his staff to make sure that they are hitch-free. INEC and the world have seen how tens of millions of Nigerians turned out to vote, and how they accepted the excuses and apologies of Professor Jega, in spite of the hardships and disappointments they endured. No one should take the people’s patience and tolerance for granted. Even if arrangements for the three elections are near-perfect, Nigerians will be suspicious that some people will use INEC’s setbacks to perfect a system which will exploit the logistic and administrative lapses we are witnessing to rig the elections.
The few days left for INEC to improve on its performance should be utilized well. Even without the botched elections of last Saturday, it was obvious that old problems of past elections were evident, in spite of INEC’s assurances that it has learnt the right lessons from the past. Officials and materials arrived much later than the voting public in many places. Many voters could not find their names on the Register of Voters and had little or no assistance in terms of where else to go and vote. The arrangements for separate accreditation and voting processes failed due largely to late arrival of officials and or materials. Crowd control and security arrangements failed in many polling centers and the few security personnel on the ground maintained their distance from the voting process.
There is also the need, now that INEC has a few more days, to authoritatively address the issue of what is the correct position for the public in terms of staying behind in or around the polling unit after they cast their votes. Nigerians went to last Saturday’s botched elections with a lot of tension around conflicting directives on staying behind at the polling unit after voting. INEC Chairman says voters who want to, can stay behind after voting to witness the counting and declaration of votes. The National Security Adviser, the Police and the Military say that the law is clear that voters must leave the polling centre after voting, and if they choose to hang around, they must be at least 300 meters away from the polling unit. There has been some rather public and angry exchanges between INEC and the security agencies, and right up to the ill-fated Saturday elections, the correct position remained unclear.
Many Nigerians believe that there is a sinister motive behind the demand that they must leave the vicinity of the polling unit once they vote. They think it is a ploy to rig the elections behind their backs. Those who have responsibility to tell Nigerians what the law says, and the responsibility to enforce it should take cognizance of the public’s concern, and engage INEC and the political parties in the next few days so that a position that both satisfies the law and protects the public against breaching it and ensuring that their fears are addressed, is arrived at. Nigerians want to know how they can both respect the law, and protect their votes, simple. Mercifully, we did not reach the stage last Saturday, when the voting public will decide what it wanted to do, irrespective of what the Electoral Act says. It is vital that some serious discussions are held between INEC and security agencies between now and Saturday, so that these issues are sorted out, and the public is informed.
There are also legitimate concerns regarding the specific roles of security agencies, particular the military. Now that we have a few more days to the first election, there will be the need to inform the public more adequately, what exactly they are supposed to do. INEC also needs to ensure that it replaces all used sensitive materials, and takes steps to stop any of its staff from disclosing any voting results from last Saturday’s incomplete elections. Election officials who failed to perform to expectations last Saturday should not be sent to the field. In many States such as Kaduna, where there were reports that N.Y.S.C were replaced at the last minute by politician’s nominees as ad hoc staff steps must be taken to correct this. Nation-wide standards must be maintained; and if NYSC people are available, they must be given preference over other ad-hoc staff.
The only way Professor Jega will make up for our bitter disappointment is by making sure that the elections he is now going to conduct are hitch-free, and credible. Even at this moment there are people out there who are thinking of new ways to rig these elections. Professor Jega’s failure to conduct last Saturday’s election will encourage them into thinking that he is human after all, and his weaknesses can be exploited. Everything must be done by the INEC Chairman and the Commission to ensure that the elections we will have on the 9th, 16th and 26th of April are acceptable and credible.
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