7th April, 2011
Barring unforeseen circumstances and poor coordination of logistics, the National Assembly election will take place across the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, in the next 48 hours. Although we still hear discordant tunes from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that it is still facing logistics challenge, we hope and pray that Prof. Attahiru Jega and his team will move fast and address this problem that has always undermined our elections.
It was unacceptable that INEC staff had not arrived at polling units last Saturday as at 11 a.m. whereas accreditation was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. They blamed the delay on logistics. Some said there were no vehicles to transport them and the elctoral materials to the polling units. A situation like that could create problems at polling centres as voters could become agitated, unruly and even become violent.
The mix-up that characterised the distribution of electoral materials last Saturday should be avoided during subsequent elections. The manner in which last Saturday’s election, which was postponed, was handled suggested that staff of INEC were working at cross-purposes. Why should materials for the governorship election be distributed to some states on a day parliamentary election was taking place? Why was there a disconnect between the leadership of INEC at the headquarters in Abuja and the resident electoral commissioners in the states? Are there fifth columnists at INEC trying to sabotage the entire process?
INEC must redeem itself this Saturday in order to restore the confidence of Nigerians in the electoral umpire. Many voters are yet to recover from the shock of last Saturday’s election fiasco. Some are so despondent that they still doubt if Jega will deliver on his promise to get it right this Saturday. Their pessimism stems from the fact that Jega had assured Nigerians on Friday, 1 April that INEC was ready to give Nigerians Grade ‘A’ election the following day. This turned to be the biggest April fool joke of the year and Nigerians didn’t find it funny at all. They are still smarting from that monumental disappointment.
We believe that if INEC bungles this opportunity again this Saturday, the repercussions may be too grave to contend with. Those saddled with sensitive public duty should perform such duty in a manner that will portray the image of our country in a positive light. What happened last Saturday has turned Nigeria into a laughing stock within the global community. Why not? If a country like Niger could print ballot papers and conduct free and fair election, why won’t other countries laugh at us for the kind of false start witnessed across the country last Saturday?
We appeal to the electorate to remain steadfast and conduct themselves properly. The security agencies should also exhibit the same friendly disposition we saw last week so that INEC will not have any excuse for failing us again.
