Jega, for the love of country

Attahiru Jega, a former vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, recently bowed out of office as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after a stormy tenure that lasted for five years. He was appointed chairman of the commission by former President Goodluck Jonathan on June 30, 2010. He presided over two general elections – 2011 and 2015.

It is beyond argument that Jega brought some credibility to the electoral process in the country. As former Vice President Atiku Abubakar pointed out in his tribute to Jega, the former INEC boss left an enviable record. The successful conduct of the 2015 elections, especially with the introduction of the card reader machines and the permanent voter card (PVC), tremendously boosted Jega’s reputation and earned him the respect of Nigerians and the international community.

We are inclined to agree that the last election was the first of its kind in the history of the country, particularly as a ruling party at the centre was sacked from power by the opposition. The usual thing would have been for the electoral umpire to align with the ruling party to truncate the wish of voters. 

Indeed, Nigeria’s electoral experience since the return to civil rule in 1999 had been that of imposition and interference of a ruling party in the electoral process for its own good. From 1999 to 2007, the voting masses never decided who won in any general election. Votes were just allotted to candidates. This faulty method of choosing public office holders attracted opprobrium to the country from international election observers. 

However, Jega’s tenure was not without controversy. Up till this moment, some critics believe that the former INEC chairman was not very transparent in the discharge of his assignment before and during the last elections. These critics point to the rather surreptitious attempt by INEC to create additional 30,000 polling units, majority of which were allotted to the Northern region, including the North East from where many residents and indigenes had fled over the prevailing security challenge. The electoral umpire was also accused of registering minors in the North and giving them PVCs so that they could vote against President Jonathan.

Furthermore, despite a near-credible election in 2011 and few other off-season gubernatorial polls for which Jega received high commendation, the governorship election in Anambra State in November 2013 was nearly marred by malpractices, for which Jega apologised profusely for disappointing Nigerians.

However, in 2014, INEC under Jega tried to redeem its image when it delivered a seemingly commendable election in Ekiti State on June 21. The feat was also repeated in Osun State on August 9, even though there were earlier concerns as to whether the commission would be unbiased.

In the run-up to the 2015 elections, the Kebbi-born INEC boss drew the ire of some Nigerians, particularly members of the PDP, through his insistence on the use of the PVC and the card reader machines, even though he had on several occasions and at various fora explained that the innovations were to check electoral malpractices by ensuring that people did not use cards belonging to others or fake voter cards. Despite the plea by the PDP to allow for the use of temporary voter cards available to majority of voters and the deafening complaints across the country over the difficulty associated with attempts by many people to collect their PVCs, Jega and INEC went ahead as planned. 

All considered, there is no doubt that Jega has bequeathed to Nigeria a better INEC than he inherited from Maurice Iwu in 2010, but more needs to be done. 

In our opinion, the government of Muhammadu Buhari must not only sustain and improve the innovations introduced under Jega but must work consciously towards strengthening INEC as an institution that can stand the test of time and deliver results no matter who is at the helm. Perhaps a good place to begin is the appointment of a substantive INEC chairman with high morals and patriotic hue to sustain the tempo of achievements recorded in the Jega era.

Ultimately, we would like to see an INEC that is truly independent in name as well as in deed.