Elections Under Threat   

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Muhammadu Jega outlines measures the Federal Government must take to ensure that the 2011 elections hold on schedule

Prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC chairman

About four months to the 2011 general elections, indications have emerged that the poll is under threat, and may even not hold. This much was conveyed during an interactive parley held last Wednesday in Abuja between the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, and 62 registered political parties in the country.

At the forum, designed by the electoral umpire to signpost a clear departure from the master-servant relationship between INEC and political parties, a situation that has been one of the sore points of Nigeria’s electoral system in the recent past,  INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, informed his audience about his concerns over the hurdles being placed before the electoral body by the raging controversies surrounding the President’s assent to the amended statutes which will guide INEC to attain success in its mission to conduct free, fair and credible elections based on a dependable and permanent Voters’ Register, as provided by law.

Recently, the National Assembly concluded the process of passing the first set of amendments to the 1999 Constitution. Based on the amendments, the Electoral Act 2010 was subsequently passed. Some of the most important sections of the 1999 Constitution amended by the Legislature were sections 76 (1) and (2), 116 (1) and (2), 132 (1) and (2) and 178 (1) and (2), all dealing with end of tenure and elections for various office holders. The import of these amendments is that elections will now hold not earlier than 150 days and not later than 120 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of that office. This means that the 2011 elections must hold between 30 December 2010 and 29 January 2011.

Jega stated that his commission requested the National Assembly to consider amending some sections of the Electoral Act – which was already under consideration at the time of his inauguration – to give INEC more time to put finishing touches to the Voters’ Register and conduct the upcoming elections. Specifically, the electoral body sought for amendments to Section 10 (5) of Electoral Act 2006 to reduce the time for the end of the registration, updating and revision of the register from 120 days before an election to 60 days; Section 21, to reduce the time for completion of the supplementary list of voters, integration into the existing register and final certification from 60 days before election to 30 days and Section 11(4), which is ambiguous and creates the impression that as soon as the notice of elections is announced, registration of voters must terminate. The National Assembly effected all these amendments.

The commission, according to Prof. Jega, has planned its activities on the understanding that these amendments have been finalised. However, the raging controversy over whether Mr. President has the right to assent to constitutional amendments or not, is standing in the way of the commission. The issue has developed into a legal tussle as a legal practitioner has gone to court over the matter and may further frustrate the commission’s programme for the forthcoming elections.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s awaited assent to the new Electoral Act is the crux of Prof Jega’s fear for the 2011 polls. According to him, “At this time, to the best of my knowledge, Mr. President is yet to assent to the new Electoral Act and this has constrained INEC’s preparations for both the voters’ registration exercise and elections.”

The INEC boss also painted a gloomy picture of the commission’s frustration over the production of a new Voters’ Register for the 2011 election. He stated that in the course of a recent retreat in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, the commission closely looked through the existing Voters’ Register, sampling over 100 polling units from randomly selected 19 states and found that there were massive inadequacies including underage registrants, hundreds of blank or blurred photographs and multiple registration by some persons and that based on that, the commission decided to produce a fresh Voters’ Register if it had the funds and time or to alternatively embark on “cleaning up” of the existing register but that the non-assenting by Mr. President of the amended Act has put the commission in a tight corner.

He said that the commission had thought that it had the time for a new Voters’ Register through the amendments to the Electoral Act and had also thought that it had the required funds following National Assembly’s consideration of the supplementary appropriation bill for INEC, sent by the President a fortnight ago. He, however, lamented that the commission is not sure where it stands at the moment.

Reacting to the scary picture painted by Jega, one of the registered political parties, Freedom Party of Nigeria, called for the extension of the 2011 general elections. In a release signed by the National Secretary of the party and distributed at the venue of the parley, the party called for the re-planning of the election date and the extension of the handover date in view of the realities surrounding the obligations of the new INEC leadership. The party said that conducting a free and fair election in such a short time is quite daunting and has been particularly heightened by the fact that there is no valid and credible voters’ register in place. According to the party, the registration of voters, compilation of new voters’ register, campaigning and electioneering, all aimed at delivering credible, fair and free elections and to handover by 29 May 2011 was unrealistic.

The Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, on his part rapped the National Assembly and the Federal Government over their indifference to the conduct of the 2011 polls, but rejected any call for the extension of the handover date, which he said will spell doom for the country.

According to Musa: “INEC will make a very serious mistake if they try to use the former discredited voters’ register as that will lead to electoral fraud. The National Assembly and the government need to sit up and give INEC what it requires to conduct a credible election. Any extension of this Federal Government and the current crop of legislators beyond the May 29th handover date will spell doom for this country. In case there is no election and no government to hand over to, there may be an Interim Government. Unless the National Assembly and the Federal Government behave responsibly, the 2011 election and our democracy will be jeopardised.”

— Nnamdi Felix/Abuja