Professor Attahiru Jega’s Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to chalk up questionable
competence in every election its has conducted in the country in its over three
years of existence.
It set an ugly tone in the 2011 general
elections when it became the first electoral regime to cancel a general
election midway and start all over again. But because Jega, who was highly
touted as a credible person for the job of INEC Chair was still new on the job,
Nigerians were willing to forget that show of shame.
Since then, elections have been held in
states like Ondo and Edo. In each case, the old bedevilling factors that make
Nigerian election nototrious for failure to meet basic standards of credibility
continued to shadow the performances of Jega and his Commission.
The just-concluded governorship elections
in Anambra State provided yet another platform to test-run the competence of
INEC, but alas! Rather than improving on the Edo and Ondo exercises, the
elections fell way below the expectations of many stakeholders, such as a cross
section of the political parties and their candidates, local and international
observers and the electorate.
Though the election was generally peaceful
and devoid of incidences of ballot snatching, much of its drawbacks centered on
the INEC’s shoddy preparations and deployment of electoral materials,
especially on November 16th 2013.
It was so bad in polling stations across 16
local governments that the INEC had to reschedule to November 30th. By then,
the damage had been done.
Political parties such as the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP) and Mr Tony Nwoye, the
governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) boycotted it. The
election was marred by massive apathy, and less than 30% of the electorate were
able to cast their votes.
We are calling on the INEC and all
stakeholders to learn from the lessons of the Anambra elections and make sure
that the impending governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun States are conducted
above board.
We table this warning, cognisant of the
fact that the contests are going to be much more sensitive, given the tense
religious atmosphere depicted by the style of the Governor of Osun State, Mr
Rauf Aregbesola and the murders that have already presaged the election in
Ekiti.
We want the two elections to be dress
rehearsals for a free, fair, credible and acceptable general election in 2015.
The 2015 election must be handled with extreme care.
Apart from being the year many have
associated with the possible breakup of Nigeria, we also have a war on terror
on our hands, as well as two rival political parties that are now almost equal
in size: the PDP and the APC ready to go at it.
We cannot afford to get it wrong in 2015.
We must brace up to get it right. But is it possible to get it right in this
country? That’s a question 2015 will answer but before then, what do you think?
