Onyekakeyah: INEC: Focus on sound logistics

THE long awaited 2015 general election has finally come. Exactly one week and five days from today, being February 14, the first leg of the elections, comprising the presidential and National Assembly polls will hold. Thereafter, the second and last leg comprising the governorship and state assembly elections will follow on February 28. Nigerians are ready for the polls. The stage is set for the contest. This is irrespective of the bickering, mudslinging and blackmail being thrown from the right, left and centre across political divides. We are in injury time. Nigerians are used to acrimonious political campaigns. Character assassination rather than issue-based campaigns stinks. 

   Unfortunately, some parties are unwittingly promoting/advertising their opponents by engaging in character smear. The smear campaigns could engender sympathy voting! Why are the parties not addressing the social and economic problems facing the country? Why is nobody telling us how they intend to tackle the problems of mass unemployment, epileptic power supply, the poverty trap, infrastructural failure and others? It is not enough to say I will create employment? How is that possible under the epileptic power supply situation? No employment programme would work in this country without steady power supply. The truth is that lies against opponents attract sympathy for the opponents. Nigerians know who is telling the truth and who is lying. Truth always stays above lie. 

  Having said that, the question is whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is ready for the elections in terms of logistics. Is INEC really ready as the Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega keeps assuring? After all said and done, the success or failure of the elections would largely depend on the logistics on ground. Quite often, it is poor logistics that raises apprehension and engenders strife at the polling stations. Late arrival of materials at polling stations, especially, in areas deemed to favour certain political parties, is recipe for strife.

   As a matter of fact, such development provides the ground for rejection of election results and by extension suits at the election tribunals. Voters should not be made to wait for materials to arrive at any polling station. The materials should be on ground with the appointed personnel on ground before voters begin to arrive. There should be enough personnel to man the polling booths. One or two persons cannot do the job. Enough personnel, depending on the population of voters at a particular polling booth, should be provided. The computers should be made functional with standby power supply to avoid disruption, which triggers anger. 

   INEC should do everything possible within its power to ensure that every polling booth receives all the necessary materials at least two days before the election date. Distributing of election materials on the Election Day should be ruled out. That is a recipe for crisis. Anything can happen. It has never worked before and won’t work on this occasion. Hijacking and snatching of such materials by thugs cannot be ruled out. INEC should learn from past mistakes in the recently conducted elections in Anambra, Edo, Ekiti and Osun, and do the needful on time. I don’t want to speculate that INEC is handicapped in any way that would prevent it from distributing election materials at least two days ahead of time. 

   The Federal Government is not in short supply of vehicles and manpower that could be mobilized to do this critical national assignment. I believe that INEC has made necessary arrangements to augment its manpower needs. Reports say INEC is recruiting no fewer than 750,000 ad-hoc staff for the elections. Is that enough to man the about 111,078 polling booths tallied by the West African Non-Governmental Organisations Network (WANGONET)? The crisis in the Northeast may have reduced the usually cited 120,000 polling booths. Whatever is the number, there are millions of unemployed Nigerians that could be mobilized for the elections. Members of the National Youth Corps are also available. These personnel ought to have been trained by now and ready for deployment. 

   As a matter of fact, no excuses would be entertained. No good reason would be accepted for failure. We have gone through this road several times and ought to have leant our lessons. We are not stupid as not to be able to learn. My people say, first fool no be fool; second fool na proper foolish. I don’t want to conclude that we are stupid, having made the same mistake several times. But this might be the last straw that breaks the Carmel’s back. We can’t afford to toy with this most critical and all important election. We should not play into the prediction of those who say Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015. If we are given a bad name and we come to the public to exhibit that name, then, it is a pity. In what follows, I would like to look at some aspects of the election preparation that are already contentious.

  First is the issue of Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC). The failure of many prospective voters to get their PVC many months before now is raising much dust. INEC is at the centre of the storm. The problem is not that the cards are not ready but certainly a matter of poor logistics in the distribution chain. A situation where millions of prospective voters cannot get their PVC, even after going to their appointed collection points is certainly frustrating. That has given room for suggestions in some quarters for the postponement of the elections. 

   But postponing the elections cannot solve the problem. In fact, it would create more problems that could plunge Nigeria into crisis. If the election is not held and no president is elected, who will be at Aso Rock from May 29? A Constitutional crisis would ensue and it would be enormous to handle. Although, there are constitutional provisions as to who takes over in the absence of a president, it might not be easy sail under the present circumstances. On the other hand, shifting the election by two or three weeks would be meaningless; for, if INEC is unable to distribute the PVCs more than a year since the election timetable was released, it would not be able to do it in two or three weeks either. The way out – nothing should stop the elections from holding as planned. Good that INEC has extended the PVC collection till February 8. If possible, INEC should allow those with the temporary voter’s cards to vote since the data is the same on both cards.

   The issue of security during the polls is another contentious issue. Providing security during the polls is not the duty of INEC but that of the armed forces. What is needed is a strong collaboration between INEC and the various arms of security forces. The police are the first port of call as far as security is concerned. The police should do their work. The Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) should also be fully mobilised to work with the police. Under normal circumstances, soldiers are not supposed to be used in a civil election as this. But we are not in a normal situation. We are in war with Boko Haram. As a result, soldiers should be engaged in the provision of security, especially in the three Northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

  It is not that soldiers would take over the duty of the police. As the INEC Chairman, Jega, explained recently during his visit to The Guardian, shortly after the Osun State governorship election last August, soldiers were used at the state frontiers to check infiltrators. The same soldiers should be stationed at strategic places to check the movement of thugs and other disgruntled elements, who may be out to foment trouble. Using the soldiers in this way, for me, does not contradict the reported ruling by a Federal High Court in Sokoto, that soldiers should not be deployed for the elections. Nigeria cannot afford to fail in this election. Therefore, we should use what we have to achieve our desire.

   Finally, it is remarkable that INEC has put in place a voting process that is hitch-free if followed. The process of accreditation, whereby the number of available voters is announced at every polling station prior to voting is laudable. Consequently, only those accredited can vote. At the end of voting, the votes are counted right there at the polling station to the glare of everybody and the number announced to the hearing of all present. The number cannot be higher than those accredited. Party agents there and then would sign the tallied votes. The days of all-night vote counting at dark corners are over. As it were, voters are encouraged to standby their votes so that nobody would change it. If this process is followed, with different voting papers used at different polling stations, the elections are bound to be free and fair. And, those banking on rigging would be totally disappointed.