27th July, 2010
Now that the Presidency has ordered the Federal Ministry of Finance to release N72 billion to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the compilation a new votersâ€
Reports revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the Minister of Finance, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, to release the money demanded by INEC for the compilation of a new votersâ€
The production of a new votersâ€
Many voters who registered at a particular spot could not find their names where the register was displayed at the polling booths and this caused a lot of problems. Thousands of voters could not vote because they could not find their names in the register. Instead of their names being reflected in the register, foreign names were in the register.
In electoral engineering, a credible votersâ€
It is good that Jega spoke out early on what INEC needs to conduct a free, fair and credible election. The provision of the money will also go a long way in silencing the critics of President Goodluck Jonathan who have accused him of not being ready to conduct a credible election next year because of his silence on the production of a new votersâ€
By the provisions of the 2006 Electoral Law (as amended), INEC has between now and November 9 to produce a credible votersâ€
This time around, the commission must make provisions for the inadequacies of PHCN by providing an alternative electrticity supply for the registration exercise. We donâ€
We urge the commission to take into consideration the countryâ€
The INEC boss should also take heed of the criticisms and fears expressed by the opposition parties and activists and factor their expectations into his preparations for the polls. This is the only way to carry everybody along during and after the elections.
We believe it is not too late for INEC to embark on massive enlightenment campaign to sensitise the electorate on the various steps the commission is taking to ensure a free and fair election. Recruitment of electoral officials and training should commence in earnest to avoid a situation where the commission would engage in ad hoc measures that could backfire. Graduates on National Youth Service constitute a pool of enlightened workforce INEC could deploy to conduct the election successfully.