Jega in the eye of the storm

I am quite certain this is not the best of times for the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, because of the renewed criticism of his person and office by the media and aggrieved politicians, particularly after the controversy surrounding the request for the registration of three APCs as political parties.

Indeed, the promoters of the ‘authentic’ APC (All Peoples’ Congress) have openly accused Jega’s INEC of bias in the whole affair. Even as INEC has turned down the request of the amorphous African Peoples’ Congress (APC) for registration, the controversy is yet to abate. The ‘authentic’ APC (All Peoples’ Congress is yet to get any greenlight from INEC either. Nobody knows, for sure, when the issue will be resolved.

The resounding approval and euphoria that greeted Jega’s appointment as the helmsman of the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2010 is steadily waning – giving way to continued criticism and condemnation of his commission. His rating before his nomination by President Goodluck Jonathan was so high that many people had thought that a final solution had been found to the myriad of problems besetting the smooth conduct of elections in Nigeria.

Sincerely speaking, I was among those who thought Jega was going to perform some magic, including sacrificing everything (including his life, if necessary) to ensure that free and fair elections were conducted. Although I cannot blame him personally for any specific sin, I do not think his performance in the past two years has gone down well with majority of Nigerians, especially the opposition who accuse his commission of partiality, unsteadiness, and tardiness.

One particular critic allegedly described the commission as an agent of the ruling party. According to him, Jega should have done better than he had so far, considering the enormous confidence Nigerians reposed in him at inception. There have been other critics, found majorly on the social media platforms, who have taken on Jega in recent times. Their grouses vary just as their expectations do.

As stated earlier, the massive support his appointment received from Nigerians and the usually critical press could be traced to the reputation he built over the years as a fearless social critic and civil rights activist. As a fiery university don, he was in the forefront of the agitation for the end of military rule and enthronement of democracy in Nigeria. He waged countless wars against oppressive military regimes that held sway in Nigeria’s political life in the period between 1985 and 1993.

His role in the protest against the annulment of June 12 presidential election was phenomenal and raised his perception by the public to the rafters. Indeed the name Jega made treasury-looters and other social misfits shiver. It was not, therefore, surprising he was chosen to redirect INEC on the path of rectitude, efficiency and integrity. I could recall vividly the positive and wide media reviews his appointment enjoyed then. The rate of approval for him by a cross-section of Nigerians became so high that I began to doubt how he would be able to discharge his duties as fearlessly as was being ascribed to him in view of the fact that Nigerians are very difficult to satisfy.

I also knew that repositioning INEC was akin to cleansing the Augean stable. The first sign that Jega was not going to have it too easy came when he could not get the money his commission needed to turn around its operations and position it for the monumental task of conducting the 2011 general elections. The National Assembly then was skeptical of releasing all the billions his commission asked for, which amounted to over N89 billion, because of the shoddy performance of the commission in the past.

But Jega had his way at the end of the day. The political space was literally thrown into chaos when the commission announced the postponement of the 2011 Presidential and National Assembly elections, a few hours after they began, for what it called ‘logistics reasons’. The rescheduling of the elections caused so much tension that it was miraculous that the elections eventually held. By this time, the confidence in Jega by the Nigerian political class had drastically reduced.

I wonder if the confidence has been restored, because subsequent events have continued to portray the commission as very controversial and inconsistent. As far as I am concerned, INEC was not ready to deliver free and fair elections in 2011. It went ahead to conduct the elections, despite visible flaws, in order to fulfill all righteousness. There was no serious preparation on ground to guarantee free and fair elections. I was a player in that election and knew what transpired. Security was virtually non-existent. Where it was scantly provided, it was hijacked by the high and mighty.

Violence and intimidation of voters were the order of the day, especially in my Senatorial Zone. I was virtually locked in and barred from going out to cast my vote in an election I was a candidate. Many INEC officials on duty that day could not perform efficiently, because they were intimidated, harassed and harangued by security agents and thugs. It was under this chaotic condition that the National Assembly election was held. I am sure the same sorry situation obtained in many parts of the country.

At least, that much we learnt from the media. The preponderance of petitions that trailed the 2011 elections was a clear demonstration that all did not go well with the elections. There was no state that did not witness at least two petitions against the governorship election. The presidential election was the only election that had a popular mandate. This was so, because even opposing political parties cast their lot behind the winner.

In fact, it would have been difficult to beat the winner when the popularity he enjoyed in every geo-political zone in the country is brought into consideration. But the other elections were not totally free and fair. And this has cast a question mark on the efficiency of INEC. Why is Jega being criticized in recent times? The answer is simple: There is fear that his commission might not be fair and just in prosecuting the 2015 elections.

The critics also fear that INEC must have been infiltrated by fifth columnists and agents of political parties in preparation for the 2015 elections. This could be responsible for a recent allegation by a pressure group that Jega is working conscientiously to further the interest of the North in 2015. Though some critics allege INEC is working for the ruling party, nobody knows exactly which of the stories to believe. The veracity or otherwise of each of the stories can only be confirmed by Jega and his commission.

For all I know, there is no smoke without fire. My worry is that these allegations have the capacity of destroying the integrity of our electoral system, if not checked. Why should we still be talking about compromising the integrity of our elections 53 years after independence? Nigeria has reached a level where conducting elections should no longer pose a national problem. Smaller countries in Africa have conducted successful elections, even in recent times. Senegal, Benin, Cameroun, Kenya and Cote D’Ivoire did it.

Why not Nigeria? Just last week, Kenyans elected a new President. Though there were a few dissenting voices, the election was generally successful. Raila Odinga, who lost to Uhuru Kenyetta, has since accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court and thrown in the towel honourably. He pledged to pursue the rest of his political activities thereafter peacefully and constructively. A big lesson for our politicians! I have written on numerous occasions that lack of credible elections is one of the factors responsible for our backwardness.

Can anybody contest that? Look at the calibre of leaders that had been elected in the past 34 years and you will understand the tragedy of our circumstance. Things have continued to get worse with each new republic. The main purpose of election is to offer the electorate the opportunity to choose their leaders without coercion. But are they really allowed to make these choices freely? No! Elections in Nigeria have been reduced to a selection exercise where only the rich, powerful and well-connected are selected.

The electorate are quarantined and left to lick the wounds inflicted on them by ineffectual and lousy leadership. I read a recent article by a distinguished Nigerian senator on the leadership crisis in Nigeria and was baffled by his openness and courage. He described aptly the lethargy of the political class, using Achebe’s books: Things Fall Apart, Man of the People and There was a country to paint a beautiful picture of the crippling corruption and maladministration that are the order of the day.

The undisputable truth remains that Nigeria cannot make any meaningful progress with the character of some of the leaders we have currently. We need men and women that are god-fearing, courageous, open-minded, transparent, incorruptible, creative, energetic and purposeful, with excellent hearts, to take charge of affairs. Some of the current leaders may have one or two of these qualities. I doubt who among them can boast of possessing all of it. For us to move Nigeria forward, we need to develop our electoral system beyond reproach and manipulation by self-serving persons.

People criticize Jega as if he is the real problem of Nigeria. After all, one swallow does not make a summer. Jega, though at the helm of affairs at INEC, is just one man among the over 160 million other Nigerians. The real problem is us – we easily succumb to inducements by greedy and power-hungry politicians. An average Nigerian politician believes the only way he can get power is through the back door.

This is why they flock to INEC whenever election draws near to curry favour. Why can’t they submit themselves to scrutiny by the electorate statutorily vested with the function of electing leaders? It is sad that some of the people criticizing Jega are not even ready to contribute their own quota to sanitizing the system. If we want credible, free and fair elections, we should come out of our cocoons and play a more visible role in choosing who govern us. It is not enough to go to the press to cry wolf, while the problem persists.

We should take our destiny in our hands and chart a new course for our collective survival. 2015 is about two years away, and it still looks like eternity to many active voters who are waiting for the dying minutes to begin to make preparations. As a citizen, it is your responsibility to ensure you are registered to vote, come out to vote on the day of election, and defend your vote. It is useless sitting at home and watching proceedings on television as many of us unfortunately do.

I have participated actively in all the elections conducted in Nigeria since 1991, when I contested election into the House of Representatives. So, I am in a position to properly and objectively construct a true picture of the goings-on on the day of election. The most painful part is that after voting, many voters go home, allowing the ‘hawks’ to feast on the results undisturbed. Since we have a very dysfunctional electoral system, the right thing for voters to do is to vote, wait for the votes to be counted, and accompany the ballots to the collation centre where they are counted, entered and announced.

By so doing, the manipulators will be put at bay. There is no question that very soon INEC will come up with its budget for the 2015 elections. Nevertheless, we need to ask basic questions before releasing money to them. The first and most critical question should centre on the commission’s level of preparedness. Logistics have continued to pose a problem to INEC. It has never failed to mention one obstacle or another as debarring it from delivering free and untainted elections. It must be made to tell us, long before each election, what these logistical problems are to enable us to collectively find a solution to them.

We need to know also how the commission plans to use the money released to it. Again, it may be proper to enact a law to deal with any member of staff of the commission (no matter how highly placed) that colludes with outsiders to compromise its activities. Probably, it is the absence of this law that has emboldened politicians to approach the staff of the commission for underhand deals.

Considering the importance of elections, it may be proper to advocate the election of the chairman of the commission as opposed to the current practice of allowing the president to do so singlehanded. I prefer this responsibility to be entrusted to the National Assembly, which is representative of the peoples of Nigeria. I wish to urge Jega to redouble his effort and ensure that a new INEC emerges before he leaves office.

Posterity will never forgive him if he fails to take the bull by the horns by curtailing the excesses of our politicians who unduly influence his staff before, during and after elections. He must justify the huge confidence reposed in him by Nigerians by ensuring that the 2015 elections are better than any past elections.

Agreed, his commission did very well in governorship elections in Edo and Ondo last year. Can it replicate this in the 2015 elections when elections will hold in all the states simultaneously? Nevertheless, I have one question for Jega: “How would he like to be remembered at the end of his tenure at INEC: as a villain or a hero?” Let him answer. For now, he is in the eye of the storm.

How he rides it depends largely on how deftly and skillfully he is able to manoeuvre his way. In all of these, I do not envy him one bit.