Lagos — A major challenge, which Nigerians have come to acknowledge as militating against the conduct of a free and fair election in the country, is the inability of appropriate governmental institutions to prosecute electoral offenders. Reports have shown that several activities of politicians and their agents, before, during and after elections, usually constitute electoral offences, for which they were neither prosecuted nor punished.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Attahiru Jega, showed his appreciation of this very draw back few days ago when he pledged his commission's readiness to prosecute electoral offenders in the coming 2011 elections. He made this disclosure during a visit to the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) headquarters in Abuja, where he had gone to solicit the support of the intelligentsia for the conduct of the election.

Speaking to the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Julius Okojie, Jega stated that part of the problem with the nation's electoral system is that people always do things with impunity without any sanctions. He therefore promised that anyone who commits electoral offence, either during the registration of voters exercise or during the election proper, under his headship of the current electoral body, would be prosecuted. "We will ensure that such a person is prosecuted" he said.

He went on to reveal the commission's readiness to fashion out strategies with security agencies, in terms of gathering of evidence, so as to make prosecution possible.

Jega incidentally, is among Nigerians that are recognized as men of honour. He has been doing everything to keep his integrity intact. In apparent continuation of his integrity profile, he recently ordered state residential electoral commissioners not to receive funds from state governments for their operations as they go to their locations. He also raised budgets for the conduct of the election and pledged that the fund would be used judiciously.

INEC chairman is not new in transparent handling of public office. While as President of Academic Staff Union of Universities, Jega, a professor of Political Science and former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University Kano (BUK), made waves in the country from 1988 to 1994, as he piloted the affairs of the union, successfully. On many occasions, he had put his life on the line in his efforts to secure improved conditions for Universities and University workers across the country.

After the heroic struggle, he took a principled exit from the public eyes for years before he was appointed INEC Chairman in June this year.

With numerous publications in academic journals to his credit; many speeches on democracy, good governance, anti-corruption, federalism, conflict resolution and electoral reform, many readily agreed that he was the right man for the job.

This notwithstanding, analysts insist that the issue of the success of INEC in the coming election, or any other election for that matter, goes beyond the integrity of Jega and his reading the riot acts to prospective electoral offenders. This in fact, is the position of President of ASUU, Ukachukwu Awuzie.

With his antecedent as an outspoken analyst, Awuzie has warned Nigerians on the dangers of hinging their hopes on INEC conducting a free and fair election simply because Jega is a man of integrity. He rather warns that Jega may not have an answer to the election malady since he is not the only one in the Commission. "We hope Jega would be able to do the right thing, but we should not delude ourselves of having a free and fair poll with the characters on stage right now. The environment for creativity for credible polls has not been created" he said.

Added to the fact that an INEC chairman does not have the power to sack a resident electoral commissioner in the states, and could not hire and fire at the states, many Nigerians have had to agree with Awuzie.

In similar vein, Yinka Odumakin, Secretary of Reformed Afenifere, explained that the issue of punishing electoral offenders has become overdue in the country. He believes that it should no longer be a case of believing public officials on noble proclamations they make but a case of holding them on those proclamations.

He goes on to explain that the reason successive Nigerian election gets worse than the one preceding it is because electoral offenders have always gone unpunished. "If we are able to punish up to five per cent or eight per cent of electoral offenders, you will begin to see that each subsequent election will begin to get better than the one preceding it.

Jega, who holds the national Award of the Officer Of the Federal Republic (OFR), bagged his Ph.D in Political Science from Northwestern University and became a professor in that field at BUK, where he incidentally commenced his tertiary education as a Preliminary Studies student. He was a member of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee, whose report has been generally acknowledged as a road map for attaining electoral reforms in the country.

The 54-year-old activist from Kebbi State was educated in BUK and the United States of America (USA). Described by his admirers as 'an unrepentant optimist', he is the founding coordinator of the Nigeria Research Group, and the Centre for Research and Documentation (CRD) in Kano.