The Post Express (Lagos)
Emma Anyigor
4 July 2000
Lagos — These were the words of Dr. Abel Ibude Guobadia, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) immediately after the confirmation of his nomination as INEC chairman by the Senate on May 17, 2000. He was stating the herculean task of heading a body whose onerous task is that of midwifing elections in a politically heterogeneous society like Nigeria.
Again, on Monday, June 26, 2000, Guobadia in his maiden meeting with all the resident electoral commissioners and administrative secretaries nationwide, restated, without mincing words the gravity, of the task before him.
Addressing the capacity-filled conference hall of the electoral umpire that day, the 68-year-old INEC boss enthused.
"Our vision of a future INEC is that of a dynamic and respectable organisation that is a major force in the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria. This vision demands of us individually and collectively to manage the elections process with complete impartiality, dedication, transparent and integrity." This encapsulates the raison de'etre of establishing an electoral body, which is expected always to be an unbiased umpire.
Unfortunately, overtime in Nigeria, this expectation has always been elusive, as no sooner have elections began than bitter agitations of manipulation trail them. This has made election management one of the albatross of democracy in the country.
In fact, one of the most difficult jobs in Nigeria is that of heading the nation's electoral body. It is so much so that almost all the eminent Nigerians who had headed the commission in the past had come out with their reputation badly battered.
Indeed the history of electoral process in Nigeria is replete with complaints of irregularities and often times, rejection of election results by people who feel shortchanged in the process. Each time, the central theme of agitation against election results has always been allegation of rigging through the inflation of figures to favour certain candidates and disfavour others, as well as gerrymandering (or manipulation of electoral constituencies).
During the first republic, the first chairman of the then Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN), late Mr. Eyo Esua, organised the regional and parliamentary elections of 1964/65. The rejection of the election results by the defunct Western Region precipitated a series of crises in that region. Many argue that the spillover of those crises immensely contributed to the bungling of that republic.
Nor were the two elections in the Second Republic devoid of crisis. First, the 1978 elections conducted by the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), headed by respected and accomplished civil servant, Mr. Michael Ani, was faulted by the Obafemi Awolowo-led Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). The UPN contended that Alhaji Shehu Shagari (NPN) did not win the elections because he fell short of the two-thirds majority required to be declared winner. FEDECO chairman, Michael Ani was accused of partiality. He resigned his appointment, paving the way for Mr. Ovie-Whiskey who conducted the 1983 elections. The 1983 elections were trailed by vociferous allegations of massive rigging. The crisis and wranglings following those elections helped in no small way in truncating the Second Republic.
Not much would be said of Ibrahim Babangida's National Electoral Commission (NEC) under late Professor Eme Awa who was removed before any election could be held. His removal came as a result of his refusal to be manipulated by the self-confessed evil genius - IBB
But after a very windy and rigorous electoral process, Professor Humphrey Nwosu, who succeeded Prof. Awa, came out with what has been seen as the freest, fairest and most transparent series of elections in Nigeria.
This outstanding success made possible by Nwosu's innovation, the open ballot system popularly called the Option A4. This system reduced to the barest minimum the manipulation of election results. Sadly, however, the results of the 1993 presidential election which utilised this method, and which is believed to have been won by multi millionaire businessman, cum politicians, Chief MKO Abiola, was criminally annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida, the military president of that time. This singular act brought about the June 12 crisis which nearly tore Nigeria into shreds.
Professor Okon Uya, who replaced Prof. Humphrey Nwosu went as soon as he came; after being heavily scathed over alleged corrupt practices.
Conversely, when late Gen. Sani Abacha became head of state, he changed NEC to National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), Chief Summer Dagogo-Jack was appointed chairman. During his tenure which was heavily teleguided by Abacha's self-succession bid, selection replaced election of officers to elective positions. NECON was tailored towards achieving the Abacha for president bid by fraudulently sidelining all genuine contenders to elective positions but who did not receive the blessing of the Abacha government and/or his cronies.
This state of affair persisted until the demise on June 8, 1980, of the iron-fist dictator.
The succeeding regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, established the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with renowned jurist, Justice Ephraim Akpata as chairman. INEC succeed in midwifing the elections that ushered in the present democratic government. The resounding successes INEC recorded in handling the elections in particular and the Abdulsalami Abubakar transition programme in general was made possible to a large extent by the integrity of Justice Ephraim Akpata, the commission's chairman and his ability to carry along his officers and men.
Even though INEC's success was not anything near the Professor Humphrey Nwosu-led NEC election of 1993, INEC could be excused on the basis that it did not have enough time to do its work from the foregoing, the common denominators of electoral processes in Nigeria had been the issues of corruption, rigging and non-transparency. The challenges before Guobadia's INEC, therefore, is the elimination of or at least minimising to the barest minimum these hydraheaded problem. This is a prerequisite for attracting the respect and goodwill of Nigerians. The modicum of respect which the commission now enjoys from Nigerians is a direct fallout of the honesty and dedication of late Justice Akpata and co. Like Guobadia rightly pointed out during his maiden meeting with his officers, "this achievement was the result of honest efforts, and dedication of all of you here assembled Resident Electoral commissioners and administrative secretaries, under the leadership of Hon. Justice E.O.I. Akpata.
The first task is to ensure a high level of integrity by INEC personnel, Guobadia, no doubt, insists on his own integrity saying he is highly regarded by a widespectrum of the Nigerian elite. This was shown in the speedy way the Senate confirmed his appointment as INEC boss. The standing ovation he got from the Senate goes a long way to show the goodwill he enjoys from the Nigerian People. (But as it is said, a tree cannot make a forest). The transparency, honesty and dedication of Guobadia must be matched with those of all his staff if the commission is to achieve success.
As he said "the success of any human organisation depends very largely on the activities and the interpersonal relations of the men and women who make and run the organisation. Their mutual co-operation and understanding as well as their collective commitment in the pursuit of the primary goals of the organisation are essential prerequisites for success in all its forms." This can only be achieved if the right calibre of staff, the right conditions of service and motivation are put in place. Presently, INEC has number of problems to contend with. Inadequate staff, difficult working environment, inadequate facilities, among others must be remedied immediately. Also, training and retraining services must be periodically embarked by INEC to enable its staff keep abreast with current electoral practices. With all these in place the commission will be in a good stead to tackle other problems that hamper its operation.
Apart from the human angle, the electoral body must also remove the conditions that make it possible for electoral irregularities to occur in this issue, proper delineation of electoral constituencies must be undertaken, using criteria that must be fair to all concerned. This will remove complaints of manipulation of electoral wards to favour a group of people or political parties.
This should come immediately after a concerted review of the voters register. Strident efforts must be made to ensure that the voters register is comprehensively revised to eliminate the names of dead people and those who had moved away from given localities. This is central to INEC's success as dubious, fictitious names fraudulently and deliberately left in the registers in the past had been used to pepertrate electoral misdeeds.
Again, the disparities in the time election materials are delivered and the time election proper start in different locality give room for manipulations which render the process unfair. This gap must be bridged to forestall such fraudulence.
In the history of elections in Nigeria, one of the most frequent recurring decimals, has been inflation of election results. Experience has shown for instance that where a candidate scored say 10 votes and it is properly recorded as such at the election venue (Polling booth), that same figure is changed to about 1000 (after adding two zeros infront) at the collating centre. This is possible because of lack of hitech machines for recording results right from the polling booth level. INEC must aspire to acquire the necessary hitech machines (say computers which have a central unity which can be used to eliminate this problem.
Most importantly, the biggest roadblock to the conduct of free and fair elections in the country is what has become known as the incumbency factor. By this, incumbent office holders insist that they must be returned. They therefore go to any length, including interfering with the independence of the electoral body to ensure that they achieve this. This is the most herculean task facing Guobadia's INEC.
The ability of Guobadia to overcome this obstacle will go a long way to make him a saint or otherwise, since he has enough time at his disposal, Guobadia should press for a constitutional protection, through which the body will draw its powers and finances from the constitution and not from any arm of government.
As said in a popular parlance, identifying one's problem is a major step towards solving it. In his meeting with his officers on Monday, the INEC boss had clearly identified the above factors as his major challenges. How far he goes to solving them will be seen soon.
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