EMEKA NZE examines the precarious nature of the job of chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) and zeroes in on Rivers state as a test case in violent elections as the current INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu himself explains
The job of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is indeed herculean, to say the least. Its constitutional role of election management is such that pitches it against partisan members of society who expect nothing but victory on their own side in every election conducted.
But election is a contest which involves more than one candidates and all the candidates expect to win irrespective of the degree of popularity they enjoy. This is more so in a society like ours where politicians are so desperate that they cannot take accept a defeat for an answer no matter how clear it seems. Yet imperatively, election must go either side- victory for one and defeat for the others.
No wonder, those who were at one time or the other appointed to spearhead INEC as Chairman or Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), in the states, no matter their level of integrity, were viewed and still viewed with some sort of scheptism or cynicism in the discharge of their functions.
No matter how creditably they performed their duties in other spheres of their careers, the electorate would prefer that a nominee to the position does not take up such appointments as taking it bears an ulterior motive. Yet there has to be an umpire appointed from among Nigerians.
To the members of the public, the moment you are nominated for the plum job of INEC chairman, you are a man who have been tipped to do dirty job- rig election for the president or those in his party.
Although you might have come to make a difference according to the dictates of your impeccable career, discipline, integrity and sense of devotion, the members of the public still give and address you in the hue of a pretender who act out a well doctored script written by your master (the President).
In the Prof Maurice Iwu era as INEC chairman, he was said to have acted and strictly adhered to the script by former President Obasanjo.
That is the dilemma and precarious nature of the being at the helm of affairs of election management in Nigeria. There is no trust, no commendation, no thank you by the direct beneficiaries of your legitimate actions. Even among you staff, you are contending with some unscuplous elements whose actions will deliberately undermine your job.
Among your workers, their mindset seems to be to make the ‘best’ out of the opportunity because their chief executive is already serving himself at that level. That is why sometimes, the well thought out strategy to be adopted is exposed and compromised with reckless abandon.
Those who appointed him (INEC chairman) also view him with some degree of suspicion. When it matters most and sometimes, not out of their own making but out of pressures from their accolytes and henchmen who feel that the man up there must use his powers to help his brothers, friends, acquaintances, political associates and party men and women.
Those who were in the inner circle of the presidency in the President Goodluck Jonathan days still narrate how close associates of the immediate past President continuously pointed out to him how Prof Attahiru Mega, the then INEC chairman had ditched Jonathan at the eleventh hour and was ready to play by the rules. When Jonathan eventually lost, it was as if the holders of the view were vindicated.
It is no easy job and the current INEC chairman understands the daunting nature of the job when he stated at the recent retreat organised by the commission for INEC correspondents that inconclusive elections anywhere were due to violence and other issues against the electoral laws.
The 2015 Rivers state elections and subsequent reruns paints scenario which makes the job of INEC an uphill task. The INEC chairman said at the opening of the retreat: “In the aftermath of the 2015 General Elections, the Election Petition Tribunal for Rivers State virtually nullified all the elections conducted in the State. Elections in 3 Senatorial Districts, 12 Federal and 22 State Constituencies conducted in 2015 were cancelled for reason of widespread irregularities mainly caused by violence.
“On 19 March 2016. the Commission returned to Rivers State to conduct re-run elections in 37 Constituencies which was again marred by violence. In spite of our best efforts, we could only complete the elections and declared winners in 15 constituencies, necessitating the latest elections on 10‘h December 2016 to lill vacancies in 22 outstanding Constituencies.
“The re-run elections last weekend were therefore intended to conclude the process that was started on 19‘J1 March 2016. So far. winners have been returned in 20 Constituencies comprising 3 Senatorial Districts, 7 Federal and 9 State Constituencies.
Apart from the issue of violence and its attendant effect of incluclusive elections and effort by the commission to conclude elections, the commission is also faced with high level of uncooperative attitude by the political actors.
The INEC helmsman at the retreat lamented the negative utterances of the politicians: “INEC would like to place on record that since the March 2016 re-run elections, the scale of negative utterances, hate speech and violence has been unprecedented.
“Public officers on whose shoulders the peace and security of people and communities rest, from both sides of the political divide, continued to ratchet up violence and threats of violence. Indeed, from both sides, media exchanges that heightened tensions continued until the eve of the elections.
The commission was not resting on its oars but was seeking ways to counter the call for violence and war by politicians in order to enable the rerun elections hold in a peaceful environment which Prof Yakubu, while relating his experience to the journalists not noted could not yield the desired results:
The INEC chairman said: “It was for this reason, and given the implications of these negative utterances for peace, security and free conduct of the re-run elections in the State that the Commission began to actively mobilize and engage all stakeholders to sue for peace.
“We also sought the intervention of the Chartered Institute of Mediators and Conciliators of Nigeria as well as the National Peace Committee to engage with leading political figures and community leaders in Rivers State with a view of scaling down the rhetoric and creating the atmosphere for peaceful elections.
“Our attention was also drawn to a concurrent effort by the security agencies to bring together the principal political personalities in Rivers State to commit to peaceful elections. Unfortunately, these efforts did not yield much fruits.
Despite these efforts the INEC chairman said the Rivers state political actors defied all measures to curb violence and still had their way as was explained by the INEC chair thus: “The overwhelming blight on the 10‘h December 2016 elections is the level of violence and thuggery. There were no less than 70 incidents of deliberate obstruction of the electoral process.
“Election duty personnel were harassed, abducted and physically assaulted. On election eve, thugs disrupted the delivery of election materials to the Registration Area Centres (RACs), a situation that prevented early deployment to the Polling Units on Election Day.
“Indeed, in many instances, we had to deploy directly from the Local Government Areas to the Polling Units (PUs), contrary to our plans. Amidst heavy shooting by political thugs, vehicles transporting materials and personnel to PUs were hijacked. Voter registers, ballot papers, result sheets and Smart Card Readers were brazenly snatched at gun point.
“The Commission has documented all these instances of violence and wishes to assure Nigerians that we shall carefully scrutinize them and take appropriate action under the Law as well as our guidelines and regulations.
The spate of violence in elections seems to have left the INEC chairman in a helpless state essentially since he does not have control over security agencies.
More worrisome to Yakubu is the trend of snatching of electoral materials and killing of personnel and security agencies deployed for election duties and he is still not relenting in the search for solutions. This he stated clearly at the retreat with journalists when he embraced the investigation instituted by the Nigerian Police on the recent Rivers rerun.
“We welcome the ongoing effort by especially the Nigeria Police, as the lead agency in election security, to investigate the circumstances leading to the gruesome murder of DSP Alkali Mohammed and his Orderly for which we understand that some arrests have already been made.
He also regrets the recurring decimal of condoling with families of slayed personnel deployed for the conduct of elections: “Our sympathy goes to his family, as well as the families of all those who lost their lives in the violence that has unfortunately become synonymous with electioneering and elections in Rivers state.
“We are confident that the security agencies will investigate all violations of the nation‘s laws before, during and after the last re-run elections in Rivers State. including the alleged unsavoury roles played by actors in uniform.
“INEC will work with the security agencies to uncover and punish those who disrupted the distribution of election materials in Okrika and Gokana. the heat y shooting reported in Biata and Bodo, the hijacking of material in Andoni. Oyibo and Ogu-Bolu.
“The hostage taking in Akoku Toru, the physical attack and kidnapping of election personnel resulting in the loss of ballot paper consignment for Ward 16 in Khana LGA and the unmasking of the identity of the thugs that threatened to burn down our personnel inside the vehicles conveying them to polling units in Etche resulting in the massive disruption that made it impossible for elections to be conducted in a substantial part of the Federal and State Constituencies in the LGA.
“We are also in contact with the security agencies to secure the release of 3 of our Collation Officers whom we are reliably informed have been detained in a security facility in Port Harcourt for almost a week.
Working under extremely difficult and often life-threatening conditions, our electoral officials. both ad hoc and regular, discharged their duties dispassionately.
The INEC chairman has also shown sincererity in dealing with the involvement of some INEC staff who compromised their legitimate functions during elections and in Rivers, he has not minced words how the commission would wield the big stick.
“However, the Commission is also aware of reports of infractions by some of INEC staff ranging from absence from their duty posts to partisanship in the discharge of their duties. We also acknowledge that in Ahoada East and West, a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO) unsuccessfully tried to abscond with ballot papers and result sheets. We are also investigating the allegation of bribery involving other staff, particularly those deployed to Etche and Ikwerre.
“We wish to assure all Nigerians that the Commission is instituting an administrative inquiry as part of a comprehensive review of the Rivers re-run elections. Needless to say that any INEC staff that is found to have disobeyed clear rules and regulations will be appropriately sanctioned”, the INEC chairman assured.