Yes, I can vouch for Jega!

ganrymakeup Haziran 10, 2022

LATEST UPDATE: Yes, I can vouch for Jega!

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BY HABIB ARUNA

Attahiru Jega, professor of political science and Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was supposed to address a world press conference at 5pm on Saturday February 7, 2014, just a week to the all important general elections. The country waited with deep breath for hours for the media parley to hold!

It eventually took place six hours after and Jega, a long respected former President of the Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), took the stage to confirm what has been trending many hours before then, that the much awaited elections would have to be postponed.

The INEC boss told a surprised nation that the elections would be shifted because the security chiefs could not guarantee security on the planned day. He said the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), in a memo addressed to him, asked for six weeks postponement to enable the military deal decisively with the insurgents ravaging the northeastern part of the country. It was implicitly clear from Jega’s tone that the military gave him the option than to call off the polls. They made him realize that voters and electoral officials would be vulnerable if the poll went on.

Now, for a country that was told few weeks ago in far away London by the NSA that the elections should be postponed to enable INEC take care of the problems occasioned by poor distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC), to now be informed that the military would need six weeks to chase away the terrorists from our shores and therefore elections should not take place, is much to be desired.

All the same, Jega was on the hot seat and expected to justify the extension to apprehensive Nigerians who had made preparations for the polls. The INEC boss tried as much as possible to convince the people that the security of lives and property was equally important as holding elections and that we would have to give the security agencies the benefit of the doubt since according to him, they are in a better position to know the situation on ground.

Through his body language however, it was clear that the INEC boss was boxed to a corner to take the decision. It was clear that he has been blackmailed and as some have rightly noted, ambushed to take a decision that was clearly against his wish. The military, in a democracy, was supposed to be subservient to the dictates of the civilian leadership and not dictate the rules; the military was supposed to take directives and orders from the elected representatives of the people and not to unconstitutionally circumvent laid down procedures; and more importantly, the military is not supposed to set timetable for elections as we are now seeing. Their duty is to secure the country against external aggression.

The police are indeed responsible for security before, during and after elections and not the military. It is an aberration for soldiers to be patrolling polling stations on election day. Well, some might argue that it’s part of our political evolution, but we also know that too much involvement of the military in politics may turn out to be counter-productive. The military must not be the body setting election dates! What happens if the military failed to crush the terrorists in six weeks? Are they going to ask for six more weeks? This is where the danger lies, hence, the need to listen to those who have been crying foul that the move was to slow down the momentum that has been on the side of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Expectedly, 24 hours after the postponement, those ostensibly behind the shift went to town with calls for Jega to be sacked, since according to them, he has failed to perform. This group led by Yinka Odumakin and the so called Southwest PDP elders led by Chief Bode George, said they have lost confidence in the INEC boss and that he should be shown the red card.

Indeed, more than casual observers who saw the handwriting on the wall and that the next script would be calls for the sack of Jega, told President Goodluck Jonathan to come out clean on the renewed call for Jega to be sacked.

That was exactly what the President did during his chat with the media when he restated his trust in the capacity of Jega to conduct free and fair elections. It was apparent that Jonathan waved off pressure from his party to sack the INEC chief, knowing fully well that it would be unacceptable to Nigerians and the international community.

My intervention therefore with this piece as a former student of the enviable professor, is to come out and vouch for his integrity and dedication to the Nigerian project. When his name came up before the 2011 general elections as a possible replacement to Professor Maurice Iwu, I never hesitated in telling who cared to listen that the man would make a better electoral umpire than most of his predecessors. I indeed, said on TV and radio that Jega will not disappoint Nigerians. His appointment was a plus for the president and he has not disappointed given the global applause that trailed the 2011 polls.

Four years after, it’s gratifying to note that Jega has surpassed our expectations and even willing to do more this year. There are however many landmines on the way for a credible and transparent election. The postponement without a doubt would affect the outcome since elections are never an event but a process. It’s now left for stakeholders to be pragmatic and look at the bigger picture. The country cannot afford another postponement.

The Jega I know will want to leave behind an INEC that is well structured to ensure that subsequent elections in Nigeria are credible; he would want to make sure that INEC is truly independent; he would want an electoral body that is also financially autonomous and he would want to see an INEC that Nigerians can at any point in time be proud of. That is the Jega I know; that is the erudite professor that taught us ‘State, Society and Economy’ during my final year class at the Bayero University, Kano.