THE POWER SHOW JEGA CAN AVOID (1): 2015 general elections in jeopardy!

By Jide Ajani

This is the exclusive story of a growing power tussle between Professor Attahiru Jega, National Chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and his national commissioners who feel sidelined by a strange messianic mentality that once, almost, destroyed the general elections of last year; but which, today, appears to be laying a foundation for what might turn out to be  shambling general elections  in 2015.

In this report, you will read the seemingly innocent but deliberate steps of Jega which insinuate him into an agenda that is at once manifestly dangerous and subtly inappropriate. Whereas he may have convinced himself that he is on the right path, this report would attempt to prove otherwise.

SETTING THE TONE
INEC, under Professor Attahiru Jega, is becoming jagged, true or false?
To arrive at a safe conclusion, yet, consider!

November, 1987. Dateline: Lagos (old Senate Building, Tafawa Balewa Complex, Race Course)! That was the national headquarters of the then National Electoral Commission, NEC.  Its chairman was  a septuagenarian professor of political science, one of the very first produced by Nigeria, Eme Onuoha Awa. With him as national commissioners at that time included but were not limited to Madam Eno Irukwu, Ambassador Ijewere, Chief Oyeyemi, Professor Adele Jinadu and Alhaji Ahmadu as the commission’s secretary.

The enabling law for the commission at that time stated that decisions to be arrived at by the electoral body must enjoy the benefit of consensus.

An example of that presented itself in the very early days of NEC in its preparations for the December 12, 1987 local government election – the election was to be on no-party basis.  At one of the commission’s meetings with Awa as chairman, the commissioners debated the option of going for paper-made boxes (like cartons of beer), to augment the remnant of the ballot boxes used before by the Federal Electoral Commission, FEDECO, of the Second Republic fame.

At the end of the day, the commissioners and the chairman agreed after debates and meetings that the option would not only save money, but that it was also the only one open within the context of conducting the election on time. The elections was conducted. That was in 1987.

FALTERING FAST
Fast forward to Jega’s INEC.
April 2, 2011. Dateline: Otuoke, Bayelsa State. Nigeria’s demure demeanour President and Commander-in-Chief, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, had just cast his vote in the federal legislative election.  He had returned to his country home, after the fanfare of media attention heaped on him.

Mind you, this was the very first time in his life that he would be savouring the moment as the country’s Number One citizen who had just cast his vote – he never had the opportunity to vote as the Number One Citizen in Bayelsa State, even though he served as the state’s governor.

It was while receiving visitors that he heard the news like a common citizen to wit: That the election in which he had just voted as President and Commander-in-Chief had been canceled, rendered null and void and of no effect by the pronouncement of Nigeria’s Chief Electoral Officer, Jega. The chaos and confusion that greeted that announcement even in the presidential household knew no bounds – you can then imagine what happened in other climes.

*Jega

What led to the sudden postponement of an election that the whole world had primed itself for?
Whereas the surface level reason was “the need to get it right”, beneath that veneer was a cesspit of intrigues and bitter undertone regarding the activities of the commission, occasioned by the actions and inaction of its chairman on the one hand, and the deliberate actions of some fifth columnists within the commission – because of the process of contract awards which did not fly with some.

THE LURE OF CONTRACTS
Fresh pieces of information available to Sunday Vanguard point to the suggestion that whereas Jega cruised on the back of accumulated goodwill to become INEC chairman, that cruise control has been experiencing hiccups. The non-delivery of election materials from the contractors on time as stipulated by the terms of contract was the consequence Nigeria had to suffer because of the choice of contractors.

It was learnt,  last week, that from the frenzy to carry out a new voter registration exercise to the requests for materials for last year’s elections, these needs were fed by the desire to award contracts. But even in awarding contracts, there were fault lines.

Between the INEC chairman, some of his national commissioners, the civil servants in INEC, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, some top operators inside Aso Rock Presidential Villa, the acclaimed owner of one of the opposition political parties (there are many individuals who own political parties in Nigeria) and a section of the leadership of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, angling for contracts became a major pastime.

While Jega kept insisting he wanted a transparent process and integrity to protect, some other key players did not see it as such.  Some civil servants in the INEC, Sunday Vanguard was made to understand, had their different categories of contractors  positioned through insider disclosures.  For the PDP and some top operators inside Aso Rock Presidential Villa, their concern was how to make money and more money.

For the acclaimed owner of an opposition political party, Sunday Vanguard was told that arrangements had been concluded with a Canadian company for the eventual possibility of becoming a major contractor with the commission; but that move suffered a terminal injury and the process never clicked.

For the CPC, its support base in the North and the fact that a northerner, for the first time headed INEC, sent signals that it could exploit such sentiments to get things done.  In fact, shortly after the fiasco of the postponement, Sunday Vanguard stumbled on a document which revealed that some proceeds from some of the contracts awarded by Jega’s INEC, found their way into the coffers of a political party.

For some of the national commissioners, the high expectations of making money from contracts upon being appointed was quickly dashed “as Jega ensured that he took charge”, an INEC insider disclosed last week.

In fact, hours before the botched April 2, 2011 election, Jega kept assuring his commissioners that the materials would arrive and the election would hold.

One of the commissioners, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, disclosed that “the chairman did not allow the free flow of information even among us.  If information had flowed freely, may be some of us would have advised on how best to go about it”.

Unfortunately for him, this did not happen and the election had to be postponed.

THE TENS OF BILLIONS FOR REGISTRATION OF VOTERS
Long before the 2011 elections, the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, had been consulted by INEC on how to handle the electoral process with a view to making the process freer and devoid of the perennial poisoning.  In deed, contrary to the massive outcry for an outright cancellation of the old register for a new one, some of those whose cries were the loudest had more than a passing interest in ensuring a fresh registration exercise.

Some of INEC’s commissioners, both at the federal and state levels, told Sunday Vanguard that one of the suggestions by UNDP was that the old register should be updated and cleaned up.  And whereas UNDP attempted to undertake the exercise itself, an agreement was reached whereby the agency’s support “would not be physical but conceptual while Nigerians would conduct the exercise”, a source said.

“But because some of those who were complaining the loudest had prepared some foreign companies for the contract of data capturing machines, the money must be spent – as it was during the Vietnam war when arms dealers ensured the extension of the war, some Nigerians were more interested in winning contracts than the actual register”, a commissioner said.

In fact, a former commissioner disclosed to Sunday Vanguard: “UNDP’s position was that we do a thorough cleaning of the old register and continually update it.  But what happened was that some individuals within the system caused the old register to be corrupted to justify the need for the fresh expenditure.  And because no one wanted to stick his neck out against the grain of public opinion at that time, the almost N100billion  poured into the registration exercise had to be appropriated and spent”.

Just before Jega resumed, the commission had sent one of its staff who headed the Information and Communications Technology, ICT, department to undertake a PhD programme in the field. The staff, Tunji Adesina, returned to INEC after the completion of the programme but to “his greatest shock, he was sent packing via retirement”.  Before he was retired, according to a source, he had warned that going for a brand new register would not solve Nigeria’s problems but all entreaties fell on deaf ears.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK

NEXT WEEK
*Who is Dr. Mahmud MAGAJI, Jega’s Chief of Staff, allegedly usurping the powers of the Commission’s Secretary?

*Whose bidding was Mohammed Adoke, SAN, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, doing when he hurriedly took Jega to the cleaners about the position of CHIEF EXECUTIVE?

*What is the role of PDP in all these?

*Why the opposition parties are still mum over this matter

*The difference between Nigeria’s Voters’ Register and the one in America

*Why Nigeria’s INEC is different from others in the world

*The dangers ahead in 2015