AFTER five years in the saddle as Chairman of
the Independent National Electoral
Commission, Attahiru Jega bows out today.
Not a few would regard his tenure as
remarkable; indeed it was, as the outcome of
the 2015 general election was largely a true
reflection of the will of the electorate. For the
first time in our electoral annals, a ruling party
– the Peoples Democratic Party – was ousted
from power by the opposition All Progressives
Congress. Truly, in the pantheon of public
service heroes, Jega has an assured place.
The radical swop in the country’s political
evolution from this year’s polls came on the
heels of previous parodies. Votes were simply
allocated to candidates in the 1999, 2003 and
2007 elections, with that of 2007 grabbing the
notorious distinction of the biggest electoral
fraud globally, from international election
observers.
Jega first captured public imagination in the
early 1990s during the military regime of the
dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, when he was the
president of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities. The union fought that fiendish
regime to a standstill as Jega resisted all
overtures to compromise the struggle.
Besides, his membership of the Justice
Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reform
Committee that produced a well acclaimed
report further opened his eyes to the
challenges bedevilling Nigeria’s electoral
process.
It was from this milieu that Jega emerged on
June 30, 2010 as INEC chairman. A calm and
calculating left-of-the-centre intellectual, Jega
is also a professor of political science and
former vice-chancellor of Bayero University,
Kano, who came to that office with a rich
pedigree in public service. He was mindful of
his reputation at all times.
Although he conducted the 2011 general
election, which lacked a patina of credibility in
some respects, its rough edges, rather than
weigh him down, provided him a vista for
reforms, which climaxed in the use of the
Permanent Voter Card and Card Reader
machines in the March–April 2015 polls. These
innovations were hitherto alien to our
electoral process. As a game-changer, the card
reader improved the integrity of the last
elections, with its mechanism to authenticate
a voter and match his/her fingerprints with
the code on the chip of a card.
However, despite the watershed these two
electoral devices inaugurated in Nigeria’s
electoral contest, the 2015 general election
still had the ills of those before it in terms of
poor general preparations. This was evident in
the shambolic distribution of PVCs, which
began barely three months to the
commencement of elections.
INEC offered no reason for that shoddiness. A
task it had four years to perform ought not to
have been mired in such tackiness. The
aberration was almost exploited by anti-
democratic elements to sabotage the entire
election as they relied on insecurity in the
North-East region to demand an adjustment in
the election timetable. Thus, the presidential
and National Assembly elections earlier billed
for February 14 were shifted to March 28, and
those of governorship and state assembly to
April 11.
“The period of the extension has offered us an
opportunity to further perfect the electoral
process for the delivery of free, fair, credible
and peaceful elections to the satisfaction of
the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians,”
Jega had said.
As the D-Day came, it was still the same old
tune: logistics nightmare emblazoned in lack
of vehicles to convey polling officials to their
units; late arrival of electoral materials;
shortage of materials and poorly-trained ad
hoc staff. In some areas, accreditation of
voters could not begin by 1 pm, whereas the
official time for voting to start was 1.30 pm.
But for the generators volunteered by some
public-spirited voters, to illuminate polling
centres in some cases where voting went far
into the night, the situation would have been
irredeemable for the electoral body. In fact,
the shortage of materials forced INEC to
postpone the House of Representatives
election in the entire Jigawa State and two
federal constituencies of Ethiope-East and
Ethiope-West, in Delta State.
Now, with Jega gone, with almost all the
electoral commissioners, leaving INEC heavily
denuded of its statutory personnel,
rejuvenating the body is a duty the
Muhammadu Buhari government should not
take lightly. As a matter of fact, we should not
be blinkered by INEC’s outing in 2015; there is
still room for improvement. If anything, the
last election should serve as a stepping stone
to a slew of electoral reforms and institutional
consolidation required before the 2019
general election.
Indeed, strengthening our democracy will
come to naught if electoral reforms are not
deepened. This is why the use of card reader
and PVCs should be included in the Electoral
Act. Such irreducible minimum guarantee of
integrity will put chronic election riggers, who
fought tenaciously against the adoption of
these devices, in check.
Who succeeds Jega is a critical matter. To
avoid the problems of the past when some
INEC chairs and State Resident Electoral
Commissioners could not rise above
partisanship in doing their jobs, or were paid
agents of the ruling political party, a broad-
based approach that recommends their
appointments to public scrutiny has become
imperative. Integrity or character of the
appointees is of essence here.
For making Nigeria to join the rest of the
democratic world by ensuring that the 2015
polls were credible, Attahiru Jega deserves our
gratitude. www.punchng.com/editorials/inec-as-jega-bows-out-today/

geja

Useless mallam

This man is the best thing that ever happened to INEC. Farewell Mallam

One of the true patriotic we ve in Nigeria

God bless you jega.. That is our 2023 president

olamonsor2:
God bless you jega.. That is our 2023 president

I pray so but TANOIDs too hate the man

Ok

Jega... I knw saay all d TANOIDS no like u at all. Bt all d same,my brother rest well.

** jega i go come ur house, oya leave my own share of d party weh dem go do 2day**


** irons shirt and brushes teeth for d reception**

Happy retirement sir. History will forever remember you.

a

starlingslimnet:
Useless mallam

Yes he is a useless Mallam.


Where is your father who is useful? I bet he always pray to be a gatemam to the useless Mallam.

For a man who was not ready to conduct elections on Feb 14th but insisted on going ahead irrespective of who is disenfranchised..... until the FG stepped in to halt his planned damage

A man who supervised 85% of PVC in violent north but could only distribute 60% in the peaceful south.

Good riddance to utter rubbish

JEGA? The only legacy you left was giving us solid elections, na only that 1 you sabi! But as an ex INEC man, since you refused 2 approve our tasty welfare package contained in the memo sent from the presidency throughout your tenure, it shows a blatant disregard 4 staff motivation and welfare! After all you and all your commissioners were chilling on "ebeles bill" so una no send my people! Due 2 this singular reason, I say _FUCK OFF! No be only election dem tell you 2 come do!

funlord:

JEGA? The only legacy you left was giving us solid elections, na only that 1 you sabi! But as an ex INEC man, since you refused 2 approve our tasty welfare package contained in the memo sent from the presidency throughout your tenure, it shows a blatant disregard 4 staff motivation and welfare! After all you and all your commissioners were chilling on "ebeles bill" so una no send my people! Due 2 this singular reason, I say _FUCK OFF! No be only election dem tell you 2 come do!

what is this one saying?

mailadedamola:
what is this one saying?

mailadedamola:
what is this one saying?

And who is this "INBRED DUNCE" that does not know the 1st thing about "reading between the lines"?

IdisuleOurOwn:


Yes he is a useless Mallam.


Where is your father who is useful? I bet he always pray to be a gatemam to the useless Mallam.

another miscalculated and complicated seed of a thousand father...your foolishness does not take me by surprise since you are a nephrimity of stupidity,an embodiment of scatiness and madness.