Give INEC free hand

The current INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, was hailed to high heavens upon his appointment. Lately, however, the euphoria has died down because many of his admirers have seen many doubtful election results go the way of crooks. Most recently, political analysts have watched Professor Jega completely ignore massive spending incurred by third parties on […]

The current INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, was hailed to high heavens upon his appointment. Lately, however, the euphoria has died down because many of his admirers have seen many doubtful election results go the way of crooks. Most recently, political analysts have watched Professor Jega completely ignore massive spending incurred by third parties on behalf of the ruling party. Well before INEC has given the go-ahead for electioneering, a group called Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) has been going round the country campaigning for President Goodluck Jonathan through the use of unemployed and other hungry Nigerians.
Professor Jega also watches helplessly as the electoral process is increasingly being hijacked from the commission. Witness the massive deployment of security forces during the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states, including hooded personnel! It was extremely disturbing watching hooded security personnel claiming to be on election duties. Unless they have sinister motives, official security personnel should not hide their faces while performing their constitutional duties. The moment they hide their identity, citizens get the impression that they want to commit crime under the cover of official duties without being identified.
A few days ago, President Jonathan, totally misunderstanding the commission’s sacred mandate, instructed INEC to print its ballot papers and other very sensitive materials with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) Plc. According to him, “we cannot give approval for any printing whether passport or anything except the Mint say they cannot produce that. As far as Mint can produce it, we must produce everything in this country”.
The president said Nigeria could not lay claim to being the giant of Africa while it continues to export jobs. The president thinks printing sensitive election materials outside the country is about creating jobs for foreigners. Here, the president fails to understand that it is not the business of INEC to create jobs for anybody. The business of INEC is to organise credible elections that produce acceptable results; and if this requires that important documents are printed abroad, so be it. It amounts to tying the hands of INEC officials to instruct them on where they should print their documents and where they shouldn’t. Now, everyone knows that elections in Nigeria and their results are combustible; therefore, there is danger in the president openly attempting to influence where or how INEC processes should be conducted. There is clear trouble in suggesting anything that circumscribes the ability of INEC to solely determine how it wants to perform its national assignment. No, it is not a matter of naira and kobo, it is about the electoral empire remaining independent and having free hand to deliver the 2015 elections rancour free.
The president also said “we must change our institutions; we must strengthen them to move to the direction we want.” Unfortunately, in recent times, our national institutions are weak; they are increasingly being compromised and this is the reason why it is disturbing to limit INEC’s manoeuvrability. In the last few months, aviation authorities have impounded planes belonging to people considered adversaries of the president; others had been recalled midair. Police have stormed venues of meetings called by serving governors with a view to illegally dispersing them. Federal Capital authorities have demolished properties belonging to people regarded as opponents of the current administration. People have been detained and others killed for no just cause. Things are fluid and there is a whole lot of frustration about why these institutions have become pawns in the political chess game. So, when the president categorically says NSPM should be trusted to print something as sensitive as the 2015 election ballots, it raises questions about free and fair polls. INEC should be given free hand to print election materials wherever they choose, if only to preserve the integrity of the 2015 elections. The question of where they print these sensitive documents should be off limit for politicians, whether incumbents or in opposition.
Rather than select printers for INEC, the president should be ready to provide INEC with the financial, material, political and moral support to maintain the inviolability of their process from the beginning to the end in order to retain the confidence of voters. Imagine the furore that would have been generated if someone in the opposition had recommended where INEC should print their ballot papers.
It is up to the president to instruct Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Army and hundreds of other government parastatals to create jobs for whomever. It is up to Professor Jega to fully exercise INEC authority, demonstrate its independence and discharge his responsibilities faithfully and without fear or favour, by printing election materials where his conscience tells him they will be secure.