Protest letter-
Among those who appear to be in the running for the office are some national officers who, rather than make genuine contributions to meetings, would simply cow-tow and flow with the tide. Because of the nature of the nominations to the Commission – some state governors actually nominated most of the commissioners – it is very important that President Buhari remains mindful of the need to allow merit take precedence over relationship and patronage.
The Commissioner, being pushed by the Emirs, once worked with PMB when he was the Chair of Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund, PTF. As a Commissioner in INEC, the individual had been reported severally in the newspapers of a breach of oath of impartiality in respect of a political party. During the 2011 presidential election, specifically, the individual was reported to have encouraged a protest letter from a campaign organisation to INEC during collation of the results with a view to stopping the exercise. Even at that time, the out-going Chairman stopped collation and set up a committee to carry out investigation relating to the contents of the petition. This development, Sunday Vanguard gathered, unknown to most Nigerians, almost returned the country to the June 12 debacle. It was the protest of other National Commissioners, one of whom confirmed the story to Sunday Vanguard, that averted another annulment as report had it that a court injunction was already being procured to stop further collation. This was in 2011. In the build up to the 2015 elections, the Commissioner featured prominently with a few others, also from the North, who pushed for the implementation of the criminally lopsided 30,000 polling units’ allocation that put the whole of southern Nigeria almost at par with North-West Zone where the said Commissioner hails from – such an individual is not fit to become INEC Chairman. Appointing such an individual would engender loss or erosion of public confidence, a clear reversal of public trust in an umpire that needs to work harder to gain more public trust. National; interest This is even more imperative because the 2015 presidential election, free and fair as it appeared, suffered some discounts which Nigerians were willing to overlook. Apart from having worked with PMB, the president is perceived as an uncle, from the same North-West, which boils down to the Nigerian problem of nepotism – that is if the individual is appointed. This all important decision of PMB would show whether he is a statesman or a regional champion. President Jonathan acted statesmanly and in the national interest and set an unprecedented record of appointing Prof. Jega, from the North-West, the first northerner since independence, to the position of the Chairman of INEC. His appointment was made despite the fact that northerners, mainly from the North-West, opposed President Jonathan from assuming the office of the president even in acting capacity and equally opposed him in the 2011 elections by not voting for him. The appointment of Prof. Jega by Jonathan was based on merit devoid of ethno-religious or political considerations and party interest as most members of PDP were opposed to the decision. But Jonathan placed the national interest of credible elections above his party interest. Would PMB fall below the standard set by Jonathan by putting his regional, APC and his personal political interest above that of the nation in the choice he would make of who succeeds Jega in the light of the disturbing reports? As Professor Jega and several national Commissioners bow out of INEC next week, with many Nigerians expressing concern that the higher benchmark they are leaving behind, regarding the conduct and credibility of elections may fall drastically. This fear was heightened during the week as the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) and its members displayed undisguised desperation for political offices at the National Assembly. With such unresolvable tendency to win at all cost and disregard for any form of conciliation, many fear that the days of “do or die” elections may be upon the country again come 2019. To assuage the fears of Nigerians that the electoral ambiance will be conducive for both ruling and opposition parties, to contest and win elections fairly and acceptably, heightened curiosity and anxiety now pervades the expectations of Nigerians on the caliber of people who will succeed the outgoing election commissioners. Appointing people with questionable competency, integrity and credibility, will do untold and foreseeable damage to the election integrity which the Jega team have toiled to build since 2011, and which Nigerians now come to expect to get better. The anxiety that attends the exit of Jega and this crop of commissioners is worsened by the fact that, by next week when Jega and most of the team at national and state levels would have gone, will leave the Commission under the leadership of two National Commissioners, both of whom were appointed under controversial conditions. One of them was accused of partisanship, because he had been an obvious beneficiary of the former ruling Party the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), as a former ambassador and the other recently appointed retired vc just before the election regarded as too old for the strain of leading such a dynamic organization. Hence, insiders within the Commission question how these men can meet the often high pressure tasks that is often required of the Commission’s leadership given these limitations. These issues of doubt were raised against the background that one of the national Commissioners that will be left is too old, and is described by insiders as “narcoleptic” meaning that it is not uncommon to find him asleep even in public engagements, in full glare of media Kleiglights which has prompted hurriedly arranged “public relation positioning” of the Commissioner in some public engagements to avoid such embarrassing incidents. Given the current atmosphere of political uncertainty that is creeping into the party structures at national level, it is believed that the 2019 electoral firmament may present new formations and possible party restructuring, in the light of post-election developments, hence it is expected that much more consideration will be given to the abilities of those who will man the Commission further down the road, to ensure that they will be people that are widely accepted by the Nigerian public as independent and competent, but that can be trusted by all stakeholders not to be unduly unctuous to political interests. Given this scenario, many have set their sights back to a short-list of people who have been described as independent, competent but not politically unpredictable. Who are the men and women that will fit this description and meet the expectations of Nigerians? Answers to these questions are now more germane as Nigerians are currently beginning to doubt the sincerity of the ruling party to institute credible changes to national institutions. Hence, Nigerians are eagerly waiting to see how these appointees will emerge. Maintaining the autonomy of the Commission means that a significant quality of Professor Jega’s successor will be the ability to be assertive of the Commission’s independence, which, therefore, requires an individual who will not return the Commission to the era when it was the smarmy appendage of the executive. In addition to such flare for independent thinking, sustaining the current momentum in INEC will require someone with requisite knowledge, strength of character, integrity, untainted by electoral scandals, vibrant and energetic enough to meet the physical strain the office requires, and can demonstrate courage to take tough decisions without being needlessly emotive.
Culled from Vanguard news.
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