It is to the consternation of Nigeriana
at the early hours of February 16th 2019 that the Presidential and
National Assembly elections were postponed for another seven days. Who
does that? I don’d know of any country that has ever resheduled
elections for one week at the twilight of that degree of five hours to
the commencement of the scheduled aforesaid elections.
The Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) had almost four years to prepare and deliver fair,
free and credible elections in 2019. There is no alibi to absolve INEC
umpires and managers of this all important exercise to a positive and
acceptable state.
All necessary tools, instruments and
logistics were sought by INEC and delivered in return sufficiently and
timely by the executive organ saddled with this responsibility.
I’m particularly exasperated that INEC
misled and chagrined the President by giving the assurances of its
readiness to conduct the elections without rancor which invariably made
the President to address Nigerians on Thursday evening approximately
thirty six hour before the scheduled elections. On the same day, the
Presidential candidates of the parties signed the peace accord which had
in attendance eminent Nigerians and International observers. Up till
that moment, the INEC electoral commissioners were so confident that all
logistics were already in place and that the elections will proceed as
scheduled.
The amount of resources and sweat that
may not be quantified are so enormous. Of course, the voting apathy is
looming. There is anger out of frustration in all nooks and corners.
I’m not a fan of bad pratice and the
philosophy I embrace always is not to undertake or do what I cannot
defend. I wholeheartedly expect anyone holding this exalted office of
the Chairman of INEC to espouse this always.
Let me state here lucidly that it is
time for us to stop having the conviction that only Professors can
deliver a credible election. Where did we get this impression from? A
professor is expected to impact knowledge and engage in research or
design policy and by extension to possess oratory or, eloquent prowess.
I’m not swayed that they are the most efficient managers of men and
resources. All we need is a non-partisan, apolitical and credible
individual with unquestionable character. In other words, a person of
high intergrity with proven record of managerial skill and with no moral
turpitude. Above all, someone with valour for the assigment. It’s a
serious albatross to always zero down to a Professor as the number one
qualification or prerequisite to be the INEC Chairman. Let’s dissuade
from this archaic choice.
Further to my dismay is the comparisons
of failing areas of Professor Jegas’ postponement of elections and that
of Professor Yakubu. That’s flagrant disappointing and odious to be
making such comparisons. In 2011, it was the National Assembly Elections
that Professor Jega postponed at this much twilight not the
Presidential, and in 2015 he gave sufficient notice and reason of
insecurity as National Security Adviser was the proponent.
I have the empathy for President
Muhammadu Buhari because of his imminent triumph which will invariably
be blemished that the positive outcome of the election in his favour
will be attributed to the postponement. That is incontrovertible.
Apparently because there is this belief that the Presidency remotely
controls INEC is the reason many people think that the All Progressives
Congress (APC) Government is behind the postponement. Even though the
President and APC National Chairman have both distanced themselves from
this unfortunate and sad development, and in fact utterly condemned it
still, a good number of our citizens considered their actions theatrical
and a charade. A way forward regarding this false impression is to
remove the word ‘INDEPENDENT’ from INEC. In real sense, how independent
is INEC? INEC is in Presidency. It is the President that recommends the
appointment of the Chairman and members of INEC to the National Council
of States which is ordinarily an advisory body before the confirmation
of the Senate. I believe INEC should just become National Electoral
Commission NEC. This will give the body a real sense of independence in
mental disposition. The National Judicial Council (NJC) is independent
whereas it is NOT know as the INJC.
By happenstance and with humility, I’m
privileged to be the Presidential agent for President Muhammadu Buhari,
inLagos, hence I had the opportunity to be present at the Central Bank
of Nigeria in my Locality in Lagos and waited around the vicinity to
ascertain the effective distribution of materials till wee hours of the
night preceding the election and vehicles were loaded and left for
different locations. I believe strongly that we have too many candidates
on the ballots. It is time to review our laws of the electoral act
regarding the numbers of candidates. My position on this is, in order to
minimize the number of Presidential candidates we need to enshrine in
our electoral act that forany party to field a presidential candidate it
should have been able to win a seat in any State of our Federation or a
seat in the National Assembly. This will prune the number of unserious
candidates with little or no National appeal. Too many unserious
candidates actually made Logistics cumbersome. A party ought to have
presence in a State or National Assembly in order to earn a spot for
Presidential candidacy at the General Elections.
Simultaneously, a party must have a
Councillor at the local government election before it may earn a
Gubernatorial election. The plethora of candidates for Gubernatorial and
Presidential Elections has made logistics very inimical hence efficacy
may not be met. I hereby appeal to ease of enabling laws to be well
enshrined in our electoral act.
Meanwhile, the INEC Chairman claimed
logistics as the reason for postponement. That’s unacceptable. It’s
rather tantamount to incompetence. In a civilized country, the chairman
will voluntarily resign by taking responsibility because the balk stops
on his table. I’m glad to know that the President said further findings
would be made on why the postponement took place.
Going forward, let’s re-examine our
stance on INEC’s composition in particular the Chairmanship and the
entire ease of operations in order to carry out an effective election
exercise. We are in a better position to avert and prevent an encore of
such plight in the future before it erupts. We have to continually be
ambitious to deliver a credible election at all times but ambition
without knowledge and vision is like a boat on a dry land.
-Demola Seriki, Former Minister Defence/Interior/Agriculture/Water Resources/Mines/Steel.