The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must have learnt one or two lessons from the events of the last few weeks leading up to the postponement of the 2015 general elections earlier scheduled to hold on February 14 and 28. Now, it is our belief that the major task before the Attahiru Jega-led INEC is to urgently restore the confidence of many Nigerians who had complained aloud that the chief umpire’s body language was as partisan as it was ominous.
There have been allegations and counter allegations over who was indeed responsible for the shift in election date. Although the commission tried to claim it was “substantially ready” to conduct the election in line with the earlier schedules, it is very difficult to wholly buy into such claim with the realities on ground. Some critics say that the blame heaped on the military by INEC over the postponement amounted to hiding behind a finger.
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At the time the elections were postponed, even though the commission claimed that it was ready for the exercise, truth was that INEC was far from ready. It was the claim by the commission that it was ready and that the elections were purely shifted only on security front that warranted critics to accuse the INEC of trying to blackmail the Nigerian military and the Federal Government.
On Thursday, February 5, 2015, Jega was invited to brief the National Council of State on the level of the commission’s preparedness. There, he told the gathering that for matters under its control, INEC was substantially ready for the general election as scheduled, “despite discernible challenges being encountered with some of its processes like the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by registered members of the public”. He also informed the meeting that INEC had been doing everything it could to facilitate the collection of the PVCs by registered members of the public, and that as at February 5, 2015, the total number of PVCs collected was 45,829,808, representing 66.58 percent of the total number of registered voters put at 68.8 million across the country.
According to him, “In the delivery and deployment of electoral materials, INEC is also at a comfort level in its readiness for the general election as scheduled. The commission’s preparations are not yet perfect or fully accomplished. But our level of preparedness, despite a few challenges, is sufficient to conduct free, fair and credible elections as scheduled on February 14th and February 28th.”
What appears incongruous is that at the time Jega was sounding the bugle of readiness, the commission was yet to distribute about 23 million PVCs to registered voters; it was yet to conduct training for about 700,000 ad hoc staff on the card reading; there were not sufficient training materials for the elections; and it was yet to deploy enough card readers to the states and the FCT.
Given the extra time provided by the postponement, we are inclined to believe that the commission is now much more ready for the election than it was a week ago. For instance, from the day of postponement and now, many more people may have collected their PVCs. It is also our belief that INEC has put some measures in place to address some of the noticeable lapses. The allegations of favouritism being levelled against the INEC chief may have been sorted out and the impression erased. Issues bordering on training of the ad-hoc staff, deployment of the card-reader machines and others around the conduct of the election may have been addressed.
So, whatever the reason for the postponement, we believe it may have turned out a blessing in disguise. INEC must now do everything within its powers to ensure that every registered voter has his or her PVC to avoid post-election litigation. It is better that the commission ensures that the right thing is done. It is better that people collect their PVCs and decide not to exercise their rights than deny them of their PVCs.
Furthermore, we urge the commission to avail itself of the ample opportunity provided by the extension to perfect its systems and processes to ensure successful conduct of the 2015 general elections. Anything to the contrary will further drag its name in the mud.
