The former chairman of National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), Professor Okon Uya, has said no election ever conducted in Nigeria, including the much talked about June 12, 1993, election has ever been free, fair and credible. Uyah, who was also in the Electoral Reforms Committee headed by the former chief justice of the federation, Justice Muhammadu Uwais, has equally revealed that since the first election was conducted in Nigeria, every election in the country has been rigged, with that of 2007 being the worst election ever.

The professor of history and former Nigerian ambassador to Algeria, told Daily Sun that though June !2, 1993 election came close to being a free election but still fell short of most of the ingredients of a free, fair and credible election.
“The problem in Nigeria, we cannot in all honesty, say that there has been anytime, even the First Republic we talk about, where the government in Nigeria has been the reflection of the wishes of the Nigerian people.

“I was shocked in the Electoral Reform Committee in which I played a very important part, to discover through historical research, that since 1922 where the first election was held in Nigeria, there has not been any election in Nigeria which has not been rigged. Every election has been rigged.

“That is to say it has been prevented from reflecting the wishes of the people. The only difference is that some are more rigged than the others. That is a statement of fact – even June 12. I was chairman of INEC (NECON). I took over from Humphrey Nwosu.
“I have refrained from talking about June 12. I have my reasons. I don’t think it is time, as a public servant, to begin to talk about things which came to your possession by virtue of being in that office. That is a violation of the very principle of oath of office. That is my position and I stand by it.
“But let me put it this way: June 12 came nearest to acceptable election in Nigeria. But it wasn’t free, fair and credible. I don’t want to say more than that. I had the records for those months I was there.

“The election could be said to have been free because people cast their votes. But it was not credible in that very few Nigerians voted; about only 13 percent. You have made me to talk about it; but I don’t want to. What it means is that about 14 million out of a possible 60 million people voted.

“So you cannot say it represented the wishes of the people. There were so many other technical problems which I don’t want to bother you with. Votes were cast; votes were counted in only 14 states out of the then 30 states. So the votes were not fully counted. I don’t know why; I wasn’t there. I inherited the problem. I don’t know what happened, but the reality was that the votes were not counted everywhere.
“We needed the votes to be counted in at least 25 states to satisfy the constitutional requirements which said at least two thirds of the states in the country. But we had 14, was that two thirds? So the election did not satisfy that constitutional requirement.

“Election is not all about voting; it involves voting; the votes counted and the votes counted satisfy every laid down constitutional requirement – political action, constitutional action and there is a legal action. Those three elements must be present to declare an election successful.
“What was present was a political aspect in the June 12 – the legal aspect? Problematic. The constitutional aspect? Problematic. So there are issues involved which is not to say what was done was right or wrong. It is just to say that by the laws of Nigeria, these are technical things which were not satisfied. So even June 12 fell shot of being credible.

“Now what is painful for me in that whole exercise was to find that the 2007 election was the worst. In order words, here we are starting from 1922, instead of progressing, solving some of the problems, we are adding new dimensions to the problem to the extent that the very last one became the worst.”
Uya said the scenario has become frightening for a country blessed in so many ways such as people who are known around the world as intellectuals.
The former NECON helmsman said the problem was not only on the electoral body which midwifes the election, nor the legal framework put in to guide the conduct of the election nor on the electorate, but on all on them.

“You know the mistake Nigerians make is that if you get the chairman of INEC who is credible, honest and a person of integrity, they believe that the thing would work. It is a lie. Attahiru Jega is a very thorough man. But the day he was appointed I told him welcome to being abused by Nigerians, because that’s what we have suffered.

“It is important for the chairman to be somebody who is independent minded; who cannot be intimidated. But the success of election is beyond that.”
Uya warned Nigerians to ensure that they get the next election right as it would mark the turning point in the nation’s socio-political existence, stressing that the political upheaval happening in the Arab world was possible in Nigeria, “because this election is about the sole of Nigeria. If we don’t get it right, we will have a very difficult time in the years ahead, if at we will survive. “

He also talked about his controversial appointment as NECON chairman, claiming he was not consulted by the Babangida administration before his appointment, else he would have rejected the job even as he said he was happy to have served the nation in those few months.
Uya who is now an ordained pastor, and senior pastor of Leaders Love Life Ministry Calabar, explained that the only regret he has was that the wasn’t allowed to conduct the next round of election before General Sani Abacha sent him packing, but revealed that most of the programmes that INEC took off with in 1998, were drawn up in his brief tenure.
source: http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/mar/01/national-01-03-2011-015.htm