INNOCENT DURU examines the contributions of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, to the sustenance of electoral democracy.
PROFESSOR Attaihiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), proved he was an incorruptible umpire with his sterling performance during the general elections. He combined tact, political sagacity and sincerity of purpose to give the country an election that was adjudged to be free and fair locally and internationally. By this feat, he saved the country from the political conflagration that was waiting to consume it had the elections gone awry.
The successful conduct of the elections against all odds, justified the confidence reposed in him by Nigerians when he was appointed in 2010 by President Goodluck Jonathan.
His resilience and avowed commitment to making sure that the elections were free and fair, sharply contrasted with the performance of his predecessor, Prof Maurice Iwu, whose tenure was characterised by overt electoral fraud that totally diverted the country from the path of political glory and made it a laughing stock among the comity of nations. Iwu simply did the bidding of his pay masters instead of carrying out the demands of his office.
Avoiding Iwu’s mistakes
Prince Tony Momoh, the former Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), had this to say about him during his tenure: “ Maurice Iwu will go down in history as the most controversial INEC chairman Nigeria ever had and may ever have. If Nigeria has an Iwu again, that is an embodiment of the negative part of the Iwu phenomenon, there is little doubt that his tenure would be the sharp knife that would cut that tenuous chord that had held Nigeria together over the years, come rain or shine.
“ Iwu so personalised the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission chairman that his name will remain, in its negative connotation, a synonym for electoral malpractices.For five years now when Iwu took office at INEC, he has done a great deal to grow the institution, but he has done much more, in the opinion of many, to bring shame to Nigeria as a country that cannot meet the simple requirement of conducting elections by ensuring that people vote, that the votes are counted, and that their votes count in the choice of those who govern.
“The world, and Nigerians, minus Iwu and his collaborators, knew there were no elections in 2007. An election in which ballot papers were printed and delivered after the swearing in of those who are supposed to have won the election, cannot be said to be an election, nor to describe it as free and fair.
“An election in which compilation of results took place before the day of elections, on the day of the elections, and even after the day of the elections, without regard and respect for the people who were lined up to cast their votes and waited in vain to do so, cannot be said to be an election, nor can it be described as free and fair. We need someone who can look people in the face, however powerful they are or claim to be, and tell them what the law says and his responsibility to apply its provisions.
Jega turned out to be the person that Prince Momoh and Nigerians were looking forward to, to take over the commission and sanitise the electoral process in the land.
Jega’s profile
Born on the 11th of January, 1957 he attended Sabon-Gari/Town Primary School, Jega, where he obtained his Primary School Leaving Certificate from 1963 to 1969 ; and the West African School Certificate (WASC) and the General Certificate of Education (GCE) O’ Level in 1974 at the Government Secondary School, Birnin-Kebbi. On leaving secondary school, he was admitted into Bayero University College, Kano (ABU, Zaria) for his Advanced Level Certificate studies; after which he proceeded for his undergraduate studies. He graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science Degree (Hon) in Political Science.
In 1979, after the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in the then Cross River State, he took up appointment with Bayero University, Kano (BUK). He thereafter proceeded to Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA, where he obtained his Masters (1981) and Doctorate (1985) degrees in Political Science – specializing in Political Economy. While at Northwestern, he also obtained a Certificate in African Studies.
Professor Jega’s rich academic career saw him serve at various times as Visiting Research Fellow, University of Stockholm, Sweden (Swedish Institute Fellowship), 1994; Visiting Research Fellow, St. Peter’s College, University of Oxford, 1996; Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Bayero University, Kano, 1995-1996; Acting Director, Centre for Research and Documentation (CRD), Kano,1998; and Director, Centre for Democratic Research and Training, Mambayya House, BUK, 2000-2004. He attained the pinnacle on September 6th, 2004, with his appointment as Vice-Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano – a position he occupied until his appointment as the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in June 2010.
His appointment as the INEC boss was widely applauded by various political parties, professional bodies and individuals.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary , Prof. Rufai Alkali, hailed Jega’s appointment believing that he would bring his wealth of experience as a professor of political science to bear in the performance of his new assignment. He did so.
Also congratulating him, the ANPP called on Jega to create a “re-branded INEC by flushing out all bad eggs” in the commission as soon as the Senate ratified his appointment. He wasted no in doing that.
The speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Hon. Onofiok Luke said the academic’s antecedents as ASUU chairman foretells a great era in the nation’s electoral system, adding that Jega’s sheer commitment to public interest, his uprightness and consistency as ASUU chairman all justified his choice.
The then president of Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), described him as a man of a high pedigree that Nigerians were looking up to, to deliver credible elections in 2011. He lived up to this expectation.
He did not only deliver credible elections in 2011, he also went ahead to successfully conduct elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states before faithfully conducting the just concluded elections.
Sanctity of ballot box
The journey towards conducting the 2015 elections was, however, not a roller coaster drive for the INEC boss. For him, it could be best described as a torturous assignment as he was vilified, insulted, hounded and pushed to the point of giving up the job by the disgruntled forces that were bent on discrediting the exercise. Instead of pandering to their whims and caprices, he remained resolute to the cause of saving the country from the electoral ditch his predecessor had plunged the country into.
The PDP, which had earlier hailed his appointment, turned his arch enemy, ruthlessly attacking him at every given opportunity.
The party unleashed its anger on Jega over his insistence that the commission would use the Permanent Voter Cards for the election and plotted to remove him.
The plot to remove him thickened when the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDPPCO) alleged that he was working with the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the elections.
The Director of Media of the PDPPCO, Femi Fani-Kayode, who made the allegation however, declined to provide evidence, noting that he was aware that the allegations were weighty and would expect Jega to react.
This was followed by despicable protests and call for the sack of Jega by members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB), in Ebonyi State, and the Gani Adams-led Oodua Peoples Congress, in Ebonyi and Lagos States.
Failed bid to sack Jega
After failing in its bid to sack him before the presidential and National Assembly elections, the PDP saw the collation centre of the election results as their its opportunity to throw the blow that would break the camel’s back. Apparently acting the party’s script, a former Minister of Niger Delta, and representative of the party, Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe, hijacked the floor, provoking Jega by calling him all sorts of names without giving him the chance to respond to his allegation. Instead of losing his temper as expected by Orubebe and the directors of his script, Jega remained calm and absorbed all the insults thereby saving the country the crisis that would have followed the anxiety generated by the public show of shame displayed by the disappointed Elder.
Chief Ladi Williams, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the INEC boss did excellently well in the manner he conducted the elections, noting that he displayed maturity and political sagacity in the way he handled Elder Orubebe’s invective during the collation of the results. He suggested that Czar of the electoral body should be given a national honour.
“Jega did brilliantly well and the nation should be grateful to him. The likes of Orubebe belong to the Dark Age and should be confined to the dust bin of history. We were lucky it was Jega who was in the steering wheel, if not; the nation would have been set on fire. Today, Nigeria can sit in the comity of nations and hold its head high.
“I will suggest that the Federal Government should give him national honour on October 1. With due respect, it would be degrading to compare him with Prof. Maurice Iwu. The only person that comes close to him is Prof Humphrey Nwosu. If we have 10 people like Jega in the leadership of the country, the nation would be better for it.”
He did not however support any idea to retain Jega for the job, saying: “ He has played his role and did his best. He should be allowed to go at the end of his tenure so that another person can take over from him. Instead of retaining him, the government should fund a programme in the university where he lectures to groom the younger ones.”
Prof Itse Sagay, a prominent lawyer, had mixed feelings about Jega’s performance. He said: “He is a highly principled person. He demonstrated a fair degree of integrity conducting the election. His conduct of the elections were better than what we had under Iwu and Goubadia. He did well in other parts of the country but failed in the South-south and the South-east. There was no election in these two areas, yet Jega accepted it. There was no presidential election in these areas and Jega allowed it to go. He really failed in these two regions.”
Triumph of technology
TECHNOLOGY played a crucial role in the success of the elections, which produced the officials taking over today; it rekindled the hope of the electorate in the electoral process in the country.
It birthed the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and Smart Card Reader (SCR) that became an albatross for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The deployment of the devices checkmated the culture of monumental rigging that characterised previous elections in the country and gave the people a fresh hope that their votes, which previously did not count, would begin to count.
The SCR, an electronic accreditation system which verified the biometrics of voters replaced the manual accreditation of voters while the PVC that carried biometric data for each voter, replaced the Temporary Voter Card (TVC) that encouraged all forms of manipulations and electoral fraud in the past.
In the course of rolling out its plans for the elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said its decision to deploy the SCR for the election was to verify the PVCs presented by voters at polling units and ensure that they were the genuine ones issued by it. The second objective, according to the commission, was to biometrically authenticate those who presented PVCs at polling units and ensure that they were the legitimate holders of the cards.
Thirdly, the body also aimed to, through the instrumentality of the device, provide a disaggregated data of accredited voters in male/female and elderly/youth categories for local and national research and planning purposes.
Lastly, it said, the technological device was deployed for the purpose of sending the data of all accredited voters to its central server, thereby, equipping the commission to be able to audit figures subsequently filed from the polling units by electoral officials and determine if fraudulent alterations had been made.
In spite of these laudable reasons for which the body announced that the devices were to be deployed for the elections, some of the political parties, spare-headed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), became suspiciously critical of the plan,apparently fearing that it was going to spell doom for them.
Sensing the calamity that the deployment of the SCR could bring to its existence as a party, the PDP at various times launched hydra-headed attacks against the INEC and its chairman, Prof Attaihiru Jega on the one hand and the All Progressives Party (APC) and its leaders, on the other hand.
In its desperation to make sure that the SCR was not used for the elections, the party went beyond public condemnation of the device. It proceeded to the courts and filed plethora of suits against the INEC. The party did not do so in isolation; it also mobilized and sponsored other parties and groups to do the same with the ultimate aim of frustrating the elections.
At a point, the presidential campaign organisation of the PDP, through the Director of Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, alleged that INEC had colluded with the opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to compromise the card readers.
According to him, the contract for the production of card readers was awarded to companies owned by a friend and supporter of the presidential candidate of the APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
He alleged that: “Our concerns stem from the fact that the moving spirit and a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines to INEC is not only a friend of but also an ardent and keen supporter of General Muhammadu Buhari and the APC.That man’s name is Sani Musa and he is indeed the main force behind the company. The company’s name is Act Technologies Ltd. and the Chairman of the company is one Engineer SK Danladi.
“How and why INEC would give the contract to supply the card readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by the INEC a couple of years ago for sharp practices, needs to be explained. Sani Musa has expressed his undying support for the APC and General Buhari and his hatred and virulent opposition to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan openly and publicly on his Facebook wall.
Reacting, the APC campaign team said the PDP’s rejection revealed a sinister plot by the ruling party to manipulate the electoral process.
Success story
In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, the APC noted that, the INEC’s decision to use the card readers was borne out of the need to ensure the transparency and integrity of the elections.
He said: “Aside the huge financial investment involved in the procurement of the card readers, the PDP’s desire to hoodwink Nigerians on this anti-rigging device is not just subterranean but an affront on the independence of the electoral body.”
Thereafter, a former national Vice President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade George Turnah and five others dragged INEC to court, seeking an order to compel the commission not to conduct the 2015 general elections using the PVC and the SCR devices. They sought an order of interlocutory injunction to restrain the respondents from conducting the general elections with the use of the PVC and the SCR as the only medium for voting pending the determination of the substantive suit.
On another occasion, four other political parties; Alliance for Democracy, United Democratic Party, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria and Action Alliance, believed to have been sponsored by the PDP, also sought to use the court to restrain the INEC from using the devices for the general elections but a Federal High Court in Abuja, struck out their application.
Failed litigations
In the build up to the elections, a chieftain of the party, Waliu Taiwo, feverishly ran to the Federal High Court in Lagos to file a suit seeking to stop the use of electronic devices.
Unwilling to embrace the change which incidentally is the slogan of the APC, the plaintiff said: “This is the first time anywhere in the world where a device such as the Card Reader as proposed to be used by INEC would be used to the effect that it supersedes the content of the register of voters properly compiled by the electoral body.”
Another attempt at frustrating the use of the technological devices by the party, was to get its members in the House of Representatives to endorse the rejection of the use of the SCR and PVC.
No fewer than 100 members of the ruling party in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, who were summoned to a nocturnal meeting in Abuja by the House Leader, Mulikat Akande and her deputy, Leo Ogor, stood their grounds that they would not lend their support to any move that could truncate the nation’s democracy.
The devices, rejected by the PDP, became what the international communities treasured and upheld their use during the elections. In the heat of the reinforced antagonism against the devices by the PDP led government, the United States government saw the value and importance of the devices and threw its weight behind the INEC to use them in the March 28 and April 11 elections.
The American government through its Vice President, Joe Biden, in a statement issued by the US Embassy expressed its support for the INEC and “its work to deliver free, fair, and credible elections, in part through its essential efforts to distribute PVC and help ensure that electronic voter card readers are in place and fully operational.”
Even after the elections were held, the Ambassador of the United States to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, applauded the decision of the INEC to use the technology in the general elections.
He said the PVC involved superior technology which his state of Virginia in the U.S. needed to copy.
”I am very impressed by the decision of INEC to use technology in this election. The Permanent Voter Cards are very high-tech. They are more high tech than my voter card from the state of Virginia in the US.
“My voter card does not have biometric. It does not have my fingerprint. The high-tech gives the process more integrity.I congratulate INEC on taking the part of high-tech. I think we need to come and study it so that we can use it in my country,” he said.
Hiccups
In spite of huge success that greeted the deployment of the devices, they were not without some hiccups. The SCR malfunctioned in different parts of the country during the presidential election. The machines for instance, could not read the finger prints of President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the PDP and his wife, Patience.
Jonathan was issued with Incident Form for accreditation after five SCRs failed to read his thumbprint. The First Lady was also accredited with the Incident Form.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, among others also faced similar challenge.
The distribution of the PVCs also recorded some drawbacks as a number of the people who had the TVC could not get their PVCs before the elections and, as a result, could not vote.
Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubarkar Tsav said the hitches were expected because it was the first time such technology was used in the country.
”It was normal that such hitches would come up because that was the first time such technology was used in our elections. I believe that INEC would make it work perfectly in future elections.
”Aside from the hitches, the deployment of the devices was wonderful. It helped to check rigging. It was good that INEC insisted on using them because they made it impossible for anybody to manipulate the process. The idea of sitting down in one place to cook up figures was avoided with the use of the devices.”
For Prof. Itse Sagay, the devices are the way forward for the country.
“The PVC and the SCR are very important in checking electoral fraud. A lot of this will be exposed at the tribunal especially in some states where figures were cooked up to favour some candidates.”
NATION
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