Kogi, Bayelsa elections as defining tests for INEC boss

With countdown to the Kogi and Bayelsa gubernatorial elections ticking inexorably, JOHN NWOKOCHA articulates that the polls are first major tasks for the INEC boss, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and maintains he is equal to the task.

“Our responsibility is to ensure that in whatever we do, we are guided by the letter and spirit of the Constitution. And these, we are going to do with courage. Whatever we need to do, we will ensure that this is done courageously and according to the law…. In between is the privilege to serve. We will never ever fail this nation.”
The above is a declaration of a patriot with a strong zeal to serve his nation.

This was a commitment by Professor Mahmood Yakubu, national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Electoral Commission (INEC) during his inauguration by President Muhammadu Buhari a fortnight ago. Professor Yakubu exuded confidence and determination in the discharge of duties. Speaking earlier, President Buhari charged the new dispensation of INEC to be truly independent in the discharge of its responsibilities and stressed the need for a comprehensive overhaul of the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs)” to enable their true independence and discharge of their duties without fear or favour.”

President Buhari’s charge to the electoral body to adapt to change is against the backdrop of the change he and his party the All Progressives Party (APC) promised Nigerians during his electioneering campaigns.
The President said: “The APC government has promised Nigerians Change. In electioneering, this change should be all-embracing. It starts from change of attitudes, change of work ethics, and change in attitude to corruption and corrupt practices, change of party political conduct-right from primaries to the emergence of candidates and finally the conduct of elections.

“In the conduct of elections we promised to respect the independence of our electoral body, INEC. We promised non-interference in its activities and above all we promised to encourage them to conduct transparently free and fair elections. I hereby pledge to keep that promise.”
The President also commended the media  as well as various local and international monitoring groups for their support of the country’s electoral management and operation, hoping  such cooperation will continue.”
Furthermore the President stated: “I am aware of the federal government’s constitutional constraints in its engagement with the state’s electoral bodies. But the government has a social responsibility to protect the democratic rights of all. I am of the view that it is totally unacceptable to hide under the cover of the technicality of law to deny the citizens’ rights.

“Accordingly, the federal government is considering a different strategy of engagement with state governments on how to make state electoral commissions much freer than many are today.
“In almost all the states, the party of the sitting government wins all the council elections – while there is nothing wrong with that if it is the true wish of the people, but majority of Nigerians more often than not think it is not, hence has little respect for the outcome of our council elections. This is responsible for questioning the integrity of such election winners throughout their tenure.”

As if to declare war against the old way of conducting general elections Buhari said: “Perpetrators of electoral violence and thuggery should not be spared. Unless our system stops covering up all forms of electoral malpractices we can hardly get it right. No system endures with impunity.
“It is long overdue that our justice system addresses these shortcomings. It is not just enough for an election to be cancelled and a new one ordered.

It would be much better if all whose actions or inactions led to the cancellation of such election to be investigated and if culpable prosecuted whether they are individuals as candidates or party agents, institutions such as political party, electoral body, or public officers as electoral staff or security agents.”
There is no gainsaying that electoral malpractices and irregu¬larities marked the past elections and the nation’s post elections era became suffused by election petitions before electoral tribunal across the country despite the standard set by the immediate past national chairman of INEC Professor Atahiru Jega.

With just a few days to the Kogi state governorship election slated for November21, all eyes are on the new INEC boss to prove the stuff he is made of. It is being expected that Yakubu will use the Kogi and Bayelsa elections to commence the much expected reforms in the commission.
In what looks like a suggestion an analyst recently said “Much is being expected from the new chairman in terms of better improve¬ment in institutional, sys¬temic and legal reforms for quality operations and de allignment from fraudu¬lent politicians who might want him to affiliate to un¬dermine the significance of the good legacy left behind by the Jega administra¬tion”.

“Election impunity has persisted because of INEC seeming indifference, be¬cause election malprac¬tices and irregularities are committed by certain electorate who are left to go scot free without ac¬counting for their acts of commission and omission during elections and it will be difficult to eradicate this Impunity when offenders are not brought to book to serve as deterrent to oth¬ers”.
But already Yakubu has reinstated his commitment to drive the process to the satisfaction of all Nigerians. He promised to be just to all and never to fail the expectations of Nigerians in his new roles, declaring that he is a lover of hard tasks. This is not a mere hype for anybody who knows Yakubu’s pedigree.

He is equal to the task as they say and will not compromise his position. Judging from his previous service to the nation at various times in different capacities he will surpass the legacy or record left by his predecessors. As a patriot the INEC boss knows how crucial both Kogi and Bayelsa elections are to the nation as these elections are equally litmus test for him as the helms man of the electoral umpire. Interestingly many are optimistic that he will deliver in his first major task.

And to allay fears still being held by cynics the INEC boss recently re assured the commission’s non- partisan stance in the coming elections. He maintained that that the polls would be conducted free, fair and credible. Speaking on security arrangement Yakubu declared that security arrangements for the elections could not afford to go below the standards set in the 2011 and 2015 elections.

Speaking in the same vein but this time specifically on Kogi Yakubu reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to peaceful conduct of the poll.
The INEC boss who was in Lokoja Monday, November 16  for a Governorship Election Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the commission , noted that INEC  attaches much importance to the conduct of the Kogi election especially being the first poll under his watch.
He said he was not unmindful of the bar of electoral process in the country raised by Jega and assured Nigerians to expect nothing short of that other than improvements in the Kogi and other subsequent polls.