Abuja — Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu remains one of the most controversial public figures today. Perhaps, because of the position he currently occupies, many public commentators have different views about him. DAN ONWUKWE takes a critical look on Iwu and his critics.

Having a chance to participate in a cause larger than oneself is something few people have successfully done. And positions that thrust one upon public view is one hell of a job only few people want to subject themselves and their families to.

But according to Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United State, "until you have been part of a cause larger than yourself, no man is truly whole". Indeed, life can, and sometimes seems unfair to some people. However, it's good when such unfairness toughens one in the job he or she currently holds. In this regard, every one's life experience can be a lesson learned the hard way.

Being the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have been a humbling experience for Prof. Maurice Iwu. He has, right from the day he was appointed INEC boss, said that he does not like politics, and won't like to be called a politician. Perhaps his time as deputy president of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the University of Nigeria , Nsukka in the 1980's (a period I was an undergraduate student there), must have toughened him, in spite of the raw deal he had in the hands of the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. But being at INEC as the Chief Electoral Officer must be a different experience entirely for Prof. Iwu.

For him, accepting the INEC top job must be a talent joined with an opportunity to break a jinx and prove a point that Nigeria can transit from one civilian administration to another through the conduct of a credible election. Sadly, Iwu's unflappable zeal to do his job according to the dictate of his conscience has not gone down well with many, including the media. As a matter of fact, in the last one year or even more, Iwu has been at receiving end of many people. Some of these criticisms and incendiary comments of his person are full of half-truths and outright lies.

There have also been, according to Iwu, death threats to his life. The overall aim is to create a gradual but sustained negative perception of Iwu, and consequently, erode public confidence on him. All of these appear to be a well coordinated and sustained campaign to force him to quit. It is in this connection that I find the recent opinion of Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo on the back page of This Day of April 3, 2008, quite interesting. His opinion on his THURSDAY REPORT entitled: On Iwu's contrition, is a non-partisan, balanced commentary on the cross that the INEC boss currently carries on his shoulders. Bello-Barkindo captures the issues very succinctly when he said, "everything that Iwu has done has been turned topsy-turvy by circumstances beyond Iwu's control. For these reasons we rubbed Iwu's nose in the sand, called him names and asked for his immediate sack. We rebuffed the circumstances under which Iwu worked and refused to see the dabbling hands of former president Obasanjo whose do-or-die declaration had threatened everybody to do or to expect to die". You can begin to see why Iwu is not getting a fair hearing in the media these day.

The question is: What is fueling the fire? There is no doubt that 2007 elections were the sore points. As it is always the case in Nigeria 's election, losers are always up in arms against winners. In the aftermath of last year's election, INEC has been severely criticized, and Iwu portrayed as a "sinner" in the world of "saints". In recent weeks, the attack on INEC and Iwu has intensified, and there appears to be no let up. For instance, The Guardian newspaper in its editorial of March 6, 2008, called for the immediate resignation of Iwu. It wasn't the first time that The Guardian would be doing so. It has every right to comment on issue of public interest, but such comment must be grounded on fact, not fancy. The truth is that most of the comments in the media in respect of the 2007 election and INEC's role are not well thought out, many of the comments have taken a partisan and extremely and incendiary view of why the elections didn't meet general expectation.

Also, the civil society group has not played its role as unbiased body in analyzing the outcome of the last election. At the time of writing this opinion, the Civil Liberty Organization (CLO), in collaboration with another body that calls itself Civil Society Coalition Against Rigging, said it has started legal action to get Prof. Iwu removed from office. According to a report in The Guardian of April 5, 2008, Chairman of CLO, Mr. Ibuchukwu Ezike, the group has filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Lagos to achieve its objective- that is, to pressure Iwu to quit. However, the group acknowledges it is on a mission that it is not likely to accomplish. According to Ezike, if the court finds Iwu not guilty of the charges and allows him to continue as INEC Chairman, "we have no option".

In addition the Action Congress (AC) has launched a legal offensive at a Federal High Court in Abuja to unseat Iwu as INEC Chairman. This latest move is based on his purported double nationality of both Nigerian and American Citizenship. In the same vein, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), comrade Abdulwaheed Ibrahim says the Congress is pushing for the removal of Iwu, and has urged the National Assembly to help it realize this plot.

All these plots from the civil society, the media and politicians as well, can be liken to a poison prepared for an enemy in repeated doses that create an image of consumption. That is exactly what propaganda does. And as that is what Iwu is currently up against. Put together, it is a rolling barrage of provocative stories of what is called dysjournalism. What does this mean, you may ask. It is a media creation that denotes a phenomenon that is "abnormal, diseased, faulty, impaired, bad and unfavourable". In the end, all of this is to achieve one grand aim-to force the INEC boss to leave office in disgrace, the way Richard Nixon left office as the president of the United State.

Ironically, a lot of issues concerning INEC and Iwu in particular can be seen from two perspective. They are either as a result of lack of knowledge by those plotting his downfall, that is lack of knowledge of the larger issues that shape the elections, or the critics are simply out to do mischief, or better still, they are working for a higher force that is calling the tunes at the background.

My defence of INEC and Iwu is because I know for sure that they are being lynched in the media unfairly and because many of us who are against INEC and Iwu don't know or are in denial of the larger issues that shaped the elections. First, unknown to many, INEC was denied funding by the Obasanjo presidency for voter registration and indeed, at a point, gave INEC a dud cheque. The reason is simple: Obasanjo did not want the election to take place. It was his grand plan for the aborted third term.

Also, at this time were politicians representing two opposing camps- one in support of OBJ, the other in sympathy with former vice president Atiku Abubakar. The fact that Iwu was able to surmount these two power blocks and still conducted the elections was something only few people know and many people have refused to give him credit. The additional fact that Iwu remains up till date the only chief electoral officer in the country who faced many challenges and was able to overcome them, thereby giving Nigeria the first real opportunity to transit smoothly from one civilian government to other, is something many people want to deny him that honour he well deserves.

Beyond that, the problem of personalizing an office, rather than separating it from the individual who occupies it has become the occupational disease of many of our people. It is a systemic problem. It does not show a public that is discerning and ready to change. Since after the 2007 elections and the imperfections in them, we are oblivious of the problems Iwu's INEC met in the run up to the elections. It was a big mess that needed to be cleared. As Iwu himself acknowledged recently, "it's amazing how much ground the nation has gained within a very short time and how gracious God has been to us as people in consistently lifting us beyond such challenges that wreck many other countries. It's from this sobering perspective that the real success of the 2007 election will be appreciated"

It is in this context that the current attack on Iwu should be moderated. I agree completely with comrade Adams Oshiomhole in a recent interview with The Guardian (April 5) that "the issues involved in electoral system go beyond one man". According to Oshiomhole, the weakness of INEC, the imperfections and crisis of confidence require a more profound analysis. "I don't think it can be reduced to one person" he said.

For me, the current volley of attack on Iwu stems from the bad public of our electoral commission, past and the present inec. This poor public image can be likened to mending a broken egg; it is like fighting the demons that had held Nigeria down for decades. The trickle down effect as it concerns Iwu, is that there is, and there has always been this sickening tendency to see the image of INEC instead of the man who runs it. That largely accounts for the present misjudgment of Iwu even when his integrity is not in doubt.

Over all, I see the present problem facing INEC, that of credibility crisis as good for Iwu. Reason: it will enable him gauge public perception of the commission, and how to chart a new course for future elections. Already, re-run election in Kogi state has proved that INEC has learned some lessons from the 2007 poll.

All these poisonous lies flying to make Iwu resign won't achieve the ultimate grand design. Instead, the campaigners have destroyed the very foundation of championing their selfish desire, because, in the first place, Iwu's appointment has a constitutional tenure, and any move to scuttle that must of necessity, follow such laid down procedures. That's where Iwu's detractors have lost me.

Mr Dan Onwukwe, is a former Editor, Sunday Champion Newspaper.