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Tag: Jega

  • Jega, Ekiti-Gate and the highly suspicious election results from the South-south and the Southeast

    Jega, Ekiti-Gate and the highly suspicious election results from the South-south and the Southeast

    In response to last week’s column, I got a long email from one of our country’s most respected professors of law and an eminent voice for egalitarian democracy in Nigeria. In essence, in his email this legal and civil rights luminary expressed great dismay at the praise I gave the INEC Chairman, Atahiru Jega. He drew my attention to the murderous violence and charade of the elections in Rivers State. How could Jega have accepted the results of the elections in that state, my dismayed interlocutor asked me? And what of the open, crude and barbaric rigging of votes in Akwa Ibom states, as shown in many video clips that have indeed gone viral on the internet? What of the absurdly inflated results from many of the South-south and Southeast states that gave PDP winners million-plus votes and opposition parties losers a few hundreds or thousands of votes? As a final expression of his great dismay, the writer of this email to me posed the following question : given these happenings and circumstances in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states in particular and many other states of the two identified zones in general, how could I have gone ahead to shower praise on Jega in last week’s piece in this column? In this piece, I am making public and expanding the scope the response that I gave to this passionate email that raised many issues concerning the recent presidential and gubernatorial elections that we cannot ignore.

    In the first place, the column last week quite deliberately linked Jega with the late Senator Uche Chukwumerije, thereby – I had hoped – giving an indication that the piece was dealing with an issue that is much bigger than the 2015 election cycle. In essence, that issue is this: how have Nigerians who have let it be known that they belong to the Left and have committed themselves to values and practices that work selflessly for equality, social justice, peace and unity between our peoples and communities, and the interests of the majority of the looted and disenfranchised in our country, how have such Nigerians actually behaved when they have found themselves in the moral and psychological wasteland of our political elites, especially since the end of the Nigerian-Biafran war? My unequivocal answer to this question was that consistently, such Nigerians have found themselves isolated in the morass of the values, attitudes and behavior of our political elites. As a result of this isolation, these otherwise idealistic and dedicated Nigerians have often been overwhelmed by the problems and crises that they have confronted.

    This was the essential issue that I explored with a great deal of moroseness in last week’s column. Thus, everything that I said both in praise and in criticism of Jega concerning his performance before and during the recent elections was framed by my concern with this larger issue. Permit me to now concretely and specifically deal with how this very broad issue pertains to the specific issues of murderous violence and blatant and crude election rigging that took place in some parts of the country during the recent elections. Specifically, we might ask the following questions: What could or should Jega have done about the violently murderous election charade in the Rivers State? Why was Jega not only silent about the revelations in the Ekiti-Gate scandal, but actually went ahead to assure the nation and the world that the 2015 elections would be free, fair and credible when the revelations of Ekiti-Gate gave clear indications that the same electoral malpractices and atrocities would be repeated in 2015? Finally, why was Jega silent about the crude voting charades involving collusion between INEC officials, the police and PDP thugs that the whole world saw on the internet in the Akwa Ibom elections, with the INEC Chairman actually accepting the results declared by the Resident Electoral Commissioner of that state?

    In a literal understanding of the term responsibility, the only person who can and perhaps hopefully will one day answer these questions is Jega himself. While we await that possibility, we can only speculate. For myself, I divide my speculation philosophically between the imperatives of “ought” and the actualities and limitations of “could”. In life, in lived experience while we are constantly and forever beset by the imperatives of what we “ought” to do, we often settle for what we “could” do among a variety of options. For the most morally upright among us, this constitutes a real dilemma. Unfortunately, most human beings of past and living generations easily settle for options available to them beyond the imperatives of what they “ought” to do. In societies dominated by political elites who operate with impunities of brutal, callous and cynical predatoriness, the scope for doing what one “ought” to is severely restricted to the point that it becomes almost non-existent in official or institutional settings. Which country in the world typifies this state of affairs in which “ought” has been almost completely eliminated from official affairs than the Nigeria of the PDP era?

    From these abstract musings, let me come to very concrete observations. Let us not be complacent in our thinking on these issues. The most that we can say in criticism of Jega’s effective non-response to the violent and fraudulent electoral charades in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states is that he “could” have stated his regrets and dismay about them more forcefully than he did. Beyond that, if he had rejected the results from these and other states “won” by the PDP where the “victories” were laughably suspicious, he would have played into the hands of the PDP hawks that had control of the party and wanted nothing more than the scuttling of the entire cycle of the 2015 elections. The organized calls by official PDP spokespersons and paid hacks, the protests and demonstrations all alleging Jega’s partiality against the PDP and asking for his removal were deliberately calculated to make use of any “blunder” by the INEC Chairman. And nothing would have served more as a “blunder” than Jega’s rejection of the victories claimed by the PDP no matter how absurdly improbable the “victories” were. The Ekiti-Gate revelations constitute the ultimate proof of this assertion. Didn’t Fayose admit that his voice was the one heard in the audio clip of Ekiti-Gate and didn’t he declare that there was nothing anyone could do about the rigging revealed in the audio clip?

    For me, one of the most crucial fictions of the recent elections was the belief, the faith that Jega, as INEC Chairman, was in control of things and as such would or could completely deliver on his promises and desires for clean, fair and credible elections. How much Jega himself believed in this fiction, I do not know. But INEC was and is not located in a netherworld in which the institutional bases exist for delivering promises made for credible and fair elections; INEC was and is still located in PDP’s Nigeria in which the entire institutional order is in an advanced state of decay. This was reflected in many of the surprising shortcomings of INEC in its organization of the recent elections, especially the considerable delay in production of the PVC’s and glitches that occurred with the card readers. To this day, I am still in great shock as to why Lagos, one of the world’s most populous cities with an estimated population of 21 million, recorded votes that were fewer than the votes returned in many states that have less than a quarter of the population of Lagos. These are all signs of the fact that INEC is a part of the dysfunctional institutional order in PDP’s Nigeria. And in a way, most of the things that baffle us about what Jega could do and did not do as INEC Chairman pertains to this perverse institutional context.

    I have been deliberately using the term “PDP’s Nigeria” in this piece. This is because I believe and hope that significant institutional reforms should and can be made in a post-PDP Nigeria. As part of such wide-ranging reform, INEC can and should become completely insulated both from control by incumbent governments and intimidation by the police, the army and their agents. This in fact will be one of the cardinal indicators of the genuineness of the APC’s promise for change and reform: will it let go of all forms and expressions of control or manipulation of the electoral process in our country or will it stick to what every single government in this country has always done, that is use incumbency in one way or another for electoral advantage over its opponents?

    Meanwhile of course, there remain the concrete and unacceptable cases of what happened in Rivers State and the revelations of the Ekiti-Gate scandal. They must not be allowed to stand as evils that we have to live with as relatively tolerable prices we had to pay for the overall victory of the sound defeat of the PDP. I suggest that their cancellation, through due judicial processes, should be first signs of the reforms that we demand and hopefully will get in the months and years ahead.

    Erratum:

    In last week’s column, I erroneously stated that I arrived at the University of Ibadan as an undergraduate in 1968. 1967, not 1968 was my year of matriculation. I have no idea where this error came from as my class of 1967 is actually the most dynamic and vibrant among all the sets of the alumni of UI. It was my friend, Dr./Chief/Chairman Yemi Ogunbiyi who arrived at UI in 1968. Perhaps I was thinking of him because he has been accorded honorary membership of our class of 1967 through sponsorship by his wife, Mrs. Sade Ogunbiyi and myself. Apologies to my co-members of the class of 1967; I have not migrated to the class of 1968!

    Biodun Jeyifo

    bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

  • Jega’s forbearance and Awo’s curse

    Jega’s forbearance and Awo’s curse

    Four years ago, I almost gave up hope that the curse laid on this country by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo that Nigeria will never experience any credible election in my life time will ever be lifted. The great man laid the curse in a newspaper interview after he lost his 1983 presidential bid to Alhaji Shehu Shagari for the second time, the first time being 1979 after 13 years of military rule, which followed the first coup on January 15, 1966.

    As if to prove the efficacy of the great man’s curse, the army struck against President Shagari on December 31 that year, barely three months into his second term. This time the soldiers held on to power for 15 years.

    During those 15 years, we had three military regimes and at least two failed coups in between. In the last of those military regimes which started in November 1993 and lasted five long, brutish years, the head of state, General Sani Abacha, had almost succeeded in transforming himself into a civilian president at the end of three years of a self-serving transition politics he initiated in 1995, when he died mysteriously in June 1998.

    His Chief of Defence Staff, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who succeeded him promised to return power to civilians in 11 short months. He kept his word. Thus emerged the current Fourth Republic in May 1999 under a civilian General Olusegun Obasanjo, the man who, as military head of state, ushered in the Second Republic in 1979.

    The general election through which Obasanjo emerged was generally regarded as free, fair and credible even though there were suspicions that the authorities could not have been completely disinterested in the outcome of an election in which their former boss and military commander-in-chief (Obasanjo) was a candidate.

    However, even if the authorities favoured their former commander-in-chief, it could be argued that the 1999 elections were credible enough to make one hope that Awo’s curse was over for good.

    Unfortunately, President Obasanjo soon dashed that hope when he rejected calls from home and abroad to do a Mandela – i.e. serve for only one term and heal the wounds 15 years of military rule and its dubious transitions to civil rule had inflicted on the nation. Instead, an Obasanjo determined to serve a second term superintended over elections in 2003 which lacked credibility.

    His success apparently made the man even more daring as he soon plotted to amend the Constitution to remove its two-term limit. Mercifully, he failed. But then in an election in 2007 which himself said was a “do or die” affair, he succeeded in imposing on the country an ailing president and his clueless vice. The 2007 election was so bad that no less than President Umaru Yar’Adua, its highest beneficiary, admitted nearly as much in his inaugural speech and promised electoral reform as a priority.

    However, less than half-way through his presidency his deteriorating health led to a serious constitutional crisis of succession, when a protective cabal around him sought to stop the vice-president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, from taking over, even though it had became obvious that the president was no longer in possession of his faculties.

    A “doctrine of necessity” invoked by the Senate, following massive civil society demonstrations against the president’s cabal finally resolved the crisis in favour of the vice-president and he took over in acting capacity. Shortly after that the president died and Jonathan became substantive president.

    The insistence by some Northern PDP chieftains that Jonathan should only serve out the remainder of Yar’Adua’s first term and make way for a Northern presidential candidate in the next election in 2011, based on the party’s power rotation arrangement, led to a serious rift with the ruling party. Predictably, Jonathan used his incumbency to prevail and win his party’s ticket.

    As president he promised to deliver on the promise of his predecessor to reform our electoral laws. And as if to prove he meant what he promised he replaced Professor Maurice Iwu, whose disastrous handling of the 2007 elections was almost universally condemned, with Professor Attahiru Jega on June 8, 2010, to universal acclaim, given Jega’s antecedents as an indefatigable and perpendicular president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the late eighties.

    Less than a year after his appointment, he conducted his first general election on April 9, 2011. This was after the initial date of April 2 turned into a fiasco because of late arrival of materials from the printers abroad, so late that he had to make a national broadcast postponing the election. This rescheduling led to a week’s delay in conducting the presidential election which then held on April 16.

    The aftermath of that election has since gone down as probably the single bloodiest in Nigeria’s electoral history, with the dead put at 800, at the least. Depending on which side you are, the culprit was either provocative threats by leaders of the opposition party which lost the election or the widespread perception that it was rigged by the ruling party in cahoots with INEC.

    However, whoever was to blame for the post election violence of that year, it must have created a widespread concern that a free, fair and credible election was simply impossible in Nigeria. If someone with Jega’s fabled character, with all the public goodwill he enjoyed at the time of his appointment – not to mention the fact that the National Assembly made sure money was not his object in conducting the elections – couldn’t do it, most Nigerians must’ve wondered who else could.

    The answer, it has now turned out was Jega himself. The election he has just conducted has been widely acclaimed as the most credible in Nigeria’s history. Certainly, it is as much a final vindication of the public’s initial trust in him, in spite of the crisis of the 2011 election, as it is, hopefully, the end of Awo’s curse.

    Jega was, of course, helped tremendously by technology, mainly the use of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and Smart Card Readers (SCRs). The technology, however, was merely a tool and it would never have been deployed if the man did not resolutely stand up to the powerful forces that did all they could to discredit the PVCs and SCRs.

    Not only did the man stand up to those against the use of technology to check election rigging, his courage and forbearance in the face of all moves by the same powerful forces to impugn his personal integrity was difficult, if not impossible, to match. Certainly, without such courage and forbearance the last ditch plot by these same powerful forces to disrupt the announcement of the result of the presidential election when their defeat seemed imminent, as displayed by former Niger Delta Affairs minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe’s shameful tantrums against Jega on live television on March 31, would have succeeded.

    And had it succeeded, the story would have been totally different from its happy ending for a country that has longed for a universally adjudged free, fair and credible election since Independence in 1960.

     

    Re: Death of a quiet mystic

    Sir,

    A small oversight in your article of April 15. MD Yusufu was a grandchild of Muhammadu Dikko and not a great grandchild. His father, Yusufu Lamba, as he was popularly called, was the son of Dikko and the Magajin Garin Katsina at the time of Dikko’s death.

    +2348033498639.

    Sir,

    I beg to differ on MD Yusuf’s so-called heroics. It was clear that Abacha only used him as a kite or red herring to deceive the Western nations that there was some form of opposition, no more, no less.

    +2348024607919.

    Sir,

    You are a mischievous being. You tried to demean OBJ by attributing his handing over power to civilians (in 1979) to northerners around him. You are a tribal bigot!

    +2348037607722.

    Sir,

    M. D. Yusufu was a true democrat with a passion to serve the people not to serve his pocket.

    +2348055594567.

    Sir,

    You goofed last week when you wrote that OBJ was the first African military ruler to hand over power to a civilian regime. Contrary to the historical inaccuracy, it was General Akwasi Afrifa, a military ruler in Ghana, who handed over power to Dr. Kofi Busia in 1969. That was ten years before OBJ did so in Nigeria!

    Femi Falana, SAN.

    Sir,

    This is just to respectfully observe that the political party which MD Yusufu founded in the Abacha transition era was named Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ) and not the Grassroots Democratic Movement as your article recorded.

    Julius Ogar

    Sniperj2002@yahoo.com

     

    •MDJ was during OBJ’s Third Term bid between 2003 and 2007. MD Yusufu’s party during Abacha’s transition was GDM.

  • INEC helpless over Rivers’ result – Jega

    INEC helpless over Rivers’ result – Jega

    The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Tuesday said his agency was helpless in the face of calls for the cancellation of some election results.

    Foreign and local election observers, including civil society organisations (CSOs) have queried the credibility of results of last governorship and House of Assembly elections in Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Rivers States.

    Specifically, a coalition of CSOs – the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room – in its post-election analysis on April 13, said reports submitted by its members, who monitored elections in the three states, revealed that the elections were “lacking in credibility and fraught with irregularities.

    It expressed concern “about the overall conduct of the elections in the three states because there are grounds to question the credibility of the elections results.”

    The Situation Room urged INEC to urgently take steps to authenticate the final collated results from the three states against the polling unit results and make a reasoned judgment about them.

    But Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja at a dialogue session put together by the Situation Room, Jega justified why his commission could not cancel election results from the states as being requested by many.

    He blamed this on some inadequacies in the Electoral Act.

    Jega decried the fact that the national office of INEC in Abuja has weak control over the state offices, noting that Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), currently wield enormous powers owing to the inherent lacunas in the Electoral Act.

    He noted that once a Returning Officer declares any election result, “whether the result is false or doctored, there is nothing else we can do about it than to ask the candidates to go the tribunal to challenge such result.

    “There is nothing in the legal framework that gives the INEC Chairman the power to cancel results from anywhere over alleged irregularities. We have no power to cancel elections results once returns have been made.”

    He said his commission also lacked sufficient evidence to support claims about irregularities in the Rivers’ election.

    “On the petition against election irregularities in Rivers State, the commission sent three national commissioners to the state to investigate it. Some people don’t want elections to hold, they are the ones calling for cancellation. We investigate the allegation of fake result sheets in Rivers, our reports showed that there was nothing like that,” Jega said.

    He said there was no way INEC could have successfully conducted the run-off election within seven days as provided for in both the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

     

  • ‘Jega should supervise rerun personally’

    ‘Jega should supervise rerun personally’

    The Abia State government has requested the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, to  personally conduct the rerun election.

    Commissioner for Information Dr. Anthony Agbazuere said only Jega’s presence could ensure a credible rerun.

    He said the political atmosphere had been filled with intrigues since the Returning Officer Prof Benjamin Ozumba declared the March 28 election inconclusive.

    The commissioner said they requested Jega’s presence because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) passed a vote of no confidence in the state INEC

    He said INEC did not cancel results of Obingwa, Osisioma, and Isiala Ngwa North, as claimed in some quarters.

    “We are here to remind the people that the results of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North were not cancelled.

    “As a government and party, we are ready to stand for the supplementary election, but we demand that Prof. Jega supervises the election personally.

    “But if this is not convenient for him, let him send a senior commissioner because we have lost confidence in the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and the Returning Officer”, Agbazuere said.

     

     

     

     

  • Jega sues for calm in Benue

    Jega sues for calm in Benue

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has appealed to politicians to refrain from acts capable of truncating the electoral process, by encouraging peaceful conduct of elections tomorrow.

    Jega, who spoke yesterday in Makurdi during a meeting of stakeholders convened by INEC, said the scale of violence recorded in Benue State during the Presidential and National Assembly elections was regrettable.

    “The scale of destruction witnessed in Benue during the March 28 Presidential and National Assembly elections was incomparable with anything in any part of the country.

    “The commission lost over 200 card readers and two of our offices were burnt down with one official.”

    He said the stakeholders’ meeting was necessary to address electoral malpractices and issues capable of causing violence.

    Jega expressed regret over the violence and said the commission had achieved milestones in the conduct of credible elections.

    He urged politicians to support the commission to improve its performance in future elections.

    “It is our desire to have better polls on Saturday; we therefore, appeal for your cooperation and calm during the elections.”

    The INEC chairman assured the state that the 200 card readers destroyed would be replaced and enjoined politicians to ensure the safety of INEC officials and materials during the elections.

    He warned against spilling of innocent blood during elections and advised the politicians to engage in good conduct.

    The Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, urged the electorate to report cases of electoral malpractice to the security agencies.

    He warned them against taking the law into their hands.

    Wakama called on them to use smart phones to document electoral malpractice.

  • Guber elections: Jega appeals for calm in Benue

    Guber elections: Jega appeals for calm in Benue

    INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has appealed to politicians to refrain from acts capable of truncating the electoral process by encouraging peaceful conduct of elections on April 11.

    Jega, who made the appeal on Thursday in Makurdi during a meeting of stakeholders convened by INEC, said the scale of violence that was recorded in Benue during the Presidential and National Assembly polls was regrettable.

    “The scale of destruction witnessed in Benue during the March 28 Presidential and National Assembly elections was incomparable with anything in any part of the country.

    “The commission lost over 200 card readers and two of our offices were burnt down with one staff member.”

    He said the stakeholders’ meeting was necessary to address electoral malpractices and issues capable of causing violence.

    Jega expressed regret over the violence and said the commission had achieved milestones in the conduct of credible elections in the country.

    He called on politicians to support the commission to improve its performance in future elections.

    “It is our desire to have better polls in April 11; we therefore, appeal for your cooperation and calm during the elections.”

    He assured the state that the 200 card readers that were destroyed would be replaced and urged politicians to ensure the safety of INEC officials and materials during the elections.

    He warned against spilling of innocent blood during elections and charged the politicians to engage in good conduct.

    Also, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, called on the electorate to report all cases of electoral malpractice to the security agencies.

    The police chief also warned them against taking the laws into their hands.

    He also called on them to use smart phones to document electoral malpractice.

    A cross section of politicians expressed dismay over the unbecoming attitude of contestants who insisted on winning elections at all costs.

    They called on the security agencies and INEC officials to be neutral in the discharge of their duties and use sanctions against erring staff.

    Two incumbent senators, who were returned in the National Assembly election, Barnabas Gemade and George Akume, appealed to INEC to remain steadfast in declaring credible results.

    They also appealed to security agencies to apply the law on all regardless of positions.

    The PDP Chairman in the state, Mr Emmanuel Agbo, called on INEC to re-consider the posting of the Resident Electoral Officer, Prof Istifinus Dafwang.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was attended by politicians, local and international observers, INEC officials, traditional rulers and academicians.

     

  • Jega’s silence on Akwa Ibom State is killing

    My first physical encounter with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega was on Saturday December 6, 2013 at Ugbegun in Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo State during the burial of former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Festus Iyayi, who was murdered by the reckless convoy of the Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada.

    I had relocated to Edo State for about a week to join other activists, comrades and public-spirited compatriots from within and outside the country to give our slain brother in the struggle “a befitting burial”.

    Throughout his stay during the interment, Prof. Jega neither uttered a word nor exuded emotions except the occasions he exchanged pleasantries with other sympathisers who came to greet him. As I observed Mr. Jega closely, I could see a well cultured, quiet and decorous personage that does not easily give in to the vicissitudes of life. My admiration for him soared afterwards.

    It was therefore not eccentric to me when he exuded equanimity on Tuesday, 31st March, 2015 when Mr. Godson Orubebe sought to undermine his hard earned reputation with his thoughtless, shameful and baseless allegations of bias and compromise during the collation of the presidential election results at the International Conference Center, Abuja.

    With the successful conduct of the presidential election on 28 March, 2015 which has been applauded by Nigerians and the international community, the reputation of Prof. Jega has further improved. However, I’m very worried that the respect presently being accorded the INEC Chairman may be short-lived owing to his worrisome disposition towards the evident, widely reported and verifiable compromise of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Akwa Ibom State led by the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Austin Okojie.

    It is sickening that despite the public outrage that has continued to trail the fraudulent conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom State, the INEC Chairman has not deem it pertinent to respond, even laconically, to the concerns and grievances expressed by residents of the State, political parties, the media, election observers and other Nigerians. One is tempted to ask whether the INEC Chairman has a special interest in Akwa Ibom State?

    It is on record that petitions has been sent to the INEC Chairman by interested persons, particularly by one of the leading political parties in the State, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in respect of the March 28 elections in Akwa Ibom State. Yet, there is no indication at the moment that the leadership of INEC has given a fair hearing to the petitioners.

    While it is true that politicians do make baseless allegations against the staffs of the Commission for political gains, it is not true that there are no bad eggs in the Commission. According to the results of the presidential election in the State as presented during the declaration of results by the State Collation Officer, Prof. James Ekpoke, Akwa Ibom State has 1, 644, 481 registered voters. Of this number, 1, 074, 070 voters were said to had been accredited while 1, 017, 064 reportedly voted. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was said to have scored 953, 304 votes while the All Progressives Congress (APC) allegedly scored 58, 411 votes.

    For God sake, where on planet earth did INEC get such alarming figures? Certainly not from the same Akwa Ibom State that no elections properly so-called took place. It is note worthy that the results of the March 28 elections were not announced at the State level until about 10 am of Tuesday, 31st March, 2015. Also, Prof. Jega had to stand down the announcement of the results by the State Collation Officer owing to discrepancy in the summation of the results until the figures were reconciled.

    During the March 28 elections, eligible voters were denied their franchise due to the willful and premeditated refusal by the INEC to release sensitive election materials, especially result sheets, to its ad hoc staffs. In most polling units, voters waited endlessly for the arrival of ballot papers and result sheets to no avail. In some places, elections actually took place but there were no result sheets to record same. In other places, known appointees of the State government went about with police and military escorts harassing voters and hijacking materials with reckless abandon.

    The rigging was so badly and carelessly done that result sheets were not even supplied at the polling unit of the APC gubernatorial candidate in the State, Mr. Umana Okon Umana in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area. It took protest by the candidate for the result sheets to be brought allegedly from the home of a former legislator from the area. The story was the same in most parts of the State.

    Surprisingly, the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission led by its Chairman, Prof. Jega has not deem it proper to react or investigate these documented, cogent and verifiable facts and evidence of massive fraud, rigging and subversion of the electoral process. At the moment, the State is literally in flames owing to the fear that the embattled State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Austin Okojie whose actions and inactions smacks of partisanship will still be the one to oversee the forthcoming gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections in the State.

    Late in the night on Sunday 5th April, 2015 information went viral on social media that the gubernatorial candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel was having a meeting with INEC Returning Officers in the entire State. The nocturnal meeting was leaked by one of the Returning Officers (a lecturer) who attended the meeting. An Akwa Ibom State Correspondent of one of the national newspapers has confirmed to this writer that he drove passed the Babangida Avenue where the meeting allegedly took place and that he saw hundreds of vehicles and people at two places. These are serious allegations that shouldn’t be treated with kid gloves by the Chairman of INEC. The State Resident Electoral Commissioner cannot be trusted to conduct credible polls on April 11 in the State.

    This is the same REC that refused to accredit local journalists in the State claiming that they were working for the opposition. It took three days of vigil at the State INEC Headquarters by the insistent local journalists before the REC bowed to pressure and accredited them. So why is Prof. Jega still silent and unconcerned about the despicable, volatile and precarious situation in Akwa Ibom State? Is it that Akwa Ibom State is not significant to warrant a decisive action by the INEC Chairman?

    I humbly advice Prof. Jega to make sweeping changes in the commission before the April 11 gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections in the country. It is only right and expedient for the INEC Chairman to redeploy REC’S and other senior staffs of the commission from States that the March 28 polls were marred by irregularities and controversies. Anything short of this may spell doom for our nascent democracy and may greatly bastardize the reputation of the Commission.

    The media, human rights community, local and international observers should take note and follow closely the troubling situation in Akwa Ibom State. Prof. Jega should rise above any primordial consideration and defend the integrity of INEC and the electoral process in Akwa Ibom State.

    The time to act is now!

    • Inibehe Effiong is the Convener of the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders (COHRD).

     

     

     

     

  • Aondoakaa: INEC, Jega must not succumb to blackmail over Card Reader

    Aondoakaa: INEC, Jega must not succumb to blackmail over Card Reader

    A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mike Aondoakaa, yesterday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, not to succumb to blackmail to drop the use of Card Reader for Saturday’s polls.

    He said the Card Reader has added credibility to the nation’s electoral process.

    He said those opposed to the device are troublemakers, who used to rig elections in the past.

    Aondoakaa, who spoke with The Nation in Abuja, said he would soon announce his next political move after leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

    He advised security agents not allow themselves to be used.

    He said: “INEC and Jega must not succumb to blackmail by troublemakers to drop the use of Card Reader for governorship poll.

    “Card Reader works well, it gives credibility to the electoral process and it tells accurate number of accredited voters in any polling unit. The era of rigging, over voting or stuffing of ballot boxes is gone in our electoral history.

    “To succumb to pressure is to return this nation to the dark days when votes did not count. Those who are asking for discontinuation of the use of Card Reader want to disrupt the electoral process.

    “If President Goodluck Jonathan can accept the use of card reader, no one can come now and ask for its drop for governorship poll.”

    Aondoakaa added: “Where election cannot hold as a result of disruption of the process against card reader, INEC should postpone the poll till the following day.”

    On security agents, he cautioned them against being used to tamper with the electoral process.

    His words: “Security agents should not allow themselves to be used. They should continue to be vigilant so that this process will make us to stand tall in international community.

    “That is what President Jonathan has done and no one should come below him to lower our democratic standard.”

    Responding to a question, Aondoakaa said: “I have left PDP, but I am still consulting with my people on my next political move”.

  • Jega, Jonathan, Buhari heroes of democracy, says Bakare

    Jega, Jonathan, Buhari heroes of democracy, says Bakare

    Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Ogba, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has named Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, President Goodluck Jonathan, and President-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as heroes of the presidential elections.

    In what he termed as the ‘congratulatory part’ of his sermon titled: “Chances, Choices, and Consequences”, at yesterday’s Easter service, Bakare said Jega was deserving of the honour because of the role he played in delivering credible elections and not yielding to provocation.

    For graciously conceding defeat, the lawyer-turned-pastor said President Jonathan has defended Nigeria’s democracy.

    “You acted when it mattered most.  You are one of the heroes of democracy, and we thank you,” he said.

    For his patience and tenacity in seeking the presidential ticket since 2003, Bakare said Buhari, whom he called Mr. Integrity, was worthy of mention.

  • Jega: electoral process ‘ll continue to improve

    Jega: electoral process ‘ll continue to improve

    THe Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has reassured Nigerians that the electoral process will continue to improve.

    Jega, who spoke when  chairmen of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Andy Uba, and his House of Representative counterpart, Jerry Manwe, paid him a visit in Abuja yesterday, said last Saturday’s  presidential election was a tremendous improvement in the electoral process, despite challenges.

    He, however, assured that all the shortcomings noticed in the election would be factored into the commission’s preparation towards the governorship election on April 11.

    Jega also applauded the lawmakers for their commendation about the success recorded in the election, and expressed appreciation to all Nigerians for their support and understanding with the commission.

    Earlier, the chairmen of the committees said they were in the commission to express their happiness and commendation about the success recorded by INEC in the conduct of the election.