Tunde Sanni
10 November 2009
Ibadan — Director of Votes and Civic Education, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Alhaji Ibrahim Biu, yesterday said free and fair election may be a mirage in 2011 and beyond, if problems such as godfatherism, money politics, electoral violence, among others, continue to dictate political tune.
Biu said the rank of the agency's ad hoc staff is always infiltrated by politicians leading to the compromiseof the agency's electoral duties.
The INEC chief, at a one-day workshop to sensitise politicians in Oyo State, said the country may be chasing shadows if she thinks she will have a free and fair election in the nearest future.The workshop, with the flame.
"The Need for Internal Democracy Within Political Parties," was organised by the electoral body in its bid to educate politicians in the state to shun violence, intimidation, thuggery and other electoral malpractices.
Biu said for Nigeria to have a free and fair democracy, there was the urgent need for the nation's political class to address these issues on time, rather than making use of INEC as the scapegoat.
"INEC cannot conduct elections alone without other stakeholders playing their expected roles. I want to say that there are some fundamental issues we have to tackle to have a free and fair election, the most fundamental of this are the environmental problems of money and godfatherism in our political system, " he said.
He said over 500,000 people were needed to conduct election in the country, but out of these, a paltry five per cent were from INEC, while others were ad-hoc staff, adding that the agency has discovered that majority of the ad-hoc staff used by INEC were those on the pay roll of politicians, thus frustrating efforts at conducting free and fair polls.
Meanwhile, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),Professor Maurice Iwu, and three other officials of the commission risk going to jail if they continue to disobey judgment of the Court of Appeal in Calabar. The appealate court had ordered that Emmanuel Obot be issued with the certificate of return as a member of the House of Representatives.
The appellate court had ordered that a member, representingUyo Federal Constituency in Akwa Ibom State in the House of Representatives, Elder Bassey Etim, should vacate his seat and Obot, who was declared winner of the April 2007 election by the court, be sworn-in immediately.
But since the court sitting as an appeals tribunal made the pronouncement since February 12, 2009, Obot has neither been issued a certificate of return by INEC, nor Etim asked to vacate his seat.
The other three officials of the commission facing contemptproceedings are Mr. Philip Umeadi (jnr.), Mr. Victor Chukwuani and Prince Adedeji Goyebi.
In a contempt proceedings instituted against Iwu and threeofficials of the commission, Obot asked the appellate court to compel INEC to obey the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Calabar, which had on February 12, 2009, ordered that Etim should vacate his seat as a member of the House of Representatives.In form 48, being notice of consequences of disobedience to order of Court, the appellate Court in Abuja warned Iwu and other INEC officials against any form of contempt to its order.
To achieve credible results, he said INEC had concluded plans to engage the services of youth corps members and lamented the rush at upbraiding the electoral body over perceived lapses in the nation's electoral system without minding theroot cause of the problem.
He advised politicians to turn a new leaf by shunning allacts that are anti-thetical to democratic principles, adding thatthe purpose of the workshop may not be achieved immediatelybut could be achieved in 20 or more years and urged politicians to be self disciplined, to bring stability into ourdemocracy.
Head of Department, Political Science, University of Ibadan, and guest lecturer at the workshop, Professor Bayo Okunade, said instability sets in when politicians are not reasonable in the way they comport themselves during election.Also, Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mr. MartinsOkunfolami, said political parties are expected to act as agents for mobilisation and sensitisation of political agenda, galvanise citizens' political consciousness, provide platform for articulation and analytical presentation of government policies and also proffer alternative views in some cases.Okunfolami charged the 19 political parties represented at theprogramme to acquaint themselves with the demands of what political parties stand for.
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