INEC’s Logistic Nightmares: Why Governorship, State Assembly Polls May Face More Hitches Although, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, managed to surmount earlier hitches, it was gathered that the fear of sabotage occasioned by growing suspicions as well as some decisions on procurement of elections materials among some top officials of the commission may pose as another major tests for the March 9, polls.
Besides, the promise of inquiry by the president into circumstances that led to the delay, after the conclusion of the exercise, has further heightened suspicions and fear among the staff with some members hedging against full commitment.
Consequently, it was gathered that the much needed collaborative spirit is currently lacking as some of the staff are rather preoccupied with the assessment of their roles in the botched Presidential and National Assembly elections.
The election has largely been fought on how to jump-start growth in Africa’s biggest democracy and largest economy the country with Africa’s biggest democracy and largest oil producer, which has seen low growth since emerging in 2017 from its first recession in 25 years.
As gathered by the newspaper, exclusively, the ballot papers were printed in South Africa. The practice in INEC is that the commission takes delivery of sensitive election materials like the ballot boxes and papers two weeks before election.
But the materials used for yesterday’s election came into the country on Thursday, 14, leaving the commission with less than 48 hours to push the materials and deploy personnel to various polling units, if the elections were held two Saturdays ago as scheduled. It is unclear if the transnational route the materials took before getting to the country led to the delay, however, news of the printing of such sensitive materials in South Africa was believed to irked the Presidency.
Comments from President Mohammadu Buhari, in the aftermath of the election postponement on the likelihood of a probe of Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman, after the polls, were believed to be as a consequence of printing the materials in South Africa. “The Presidency wonders why INEC has to print outside Nigeria when it can be done at the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Corporation,” explained a presidency source to the newspaper.
Further buttressing why Buhari must have been irked, the source said that the security printing corporation have done remarkably well in recent times. “There are also other privately owned outfits within the country with integrity that could have managed the printing. Some have helped the Ministry of Interior print more sensitive materials than ballot papers,” added the informer. But a national commissioner of INEC who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity, defended Yakubu’s choice of going offshore to print the materials for the elections. “While not refuting or confirming whether the materials were printed in South Africa, you must understand that an election of this magnitude in the country is a sensitive one. Secondly, while not taking away from the integrity of the NSPMC, we must also understand that opposition elements could accuse the corporation of being partisan since it is government concern,” the source said.
While the national commissioner may be right on the need to have INEC maintain neutrality, but further investigation by the newspaper shows that neutrality may not be INEC’s intention for going to South Africa. This fact is buttressed by its decision to contract Activate Technologies Limited, an indigenously owned entity owned to print 112, 218 permanent voters cards, PVCs needed for voting. The PVC is an equally sensitive election material that carries eligible voters’ biometrics. Even more, a certain Act Technology Limited, sister company to Activate, was alleged to have supplied PVC manufacturing machines to INEC.
This revelation was made by no other person than leading opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, last week. According to him, Act and Activate Technology is owned by Mohammed Sani Musa, whose company also supplied the machines used in PVCs. Strangely and to the worry of the opposition candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Musa is also a candidate of All Progressives Congress , APC, for Niger East Senatorial district for yesterday’s polls. Yakubu admitted the truth of these claims.
Atiku’s allegations did not end at that. The former Vice President further revealed details that struck at the integrity of INEC’s procurement and logistics for the election.
The allegations further goes that Musa, has a contract with INEC to supply key voting materials in an election he is participating in, which, according to the opposition party man, is a clear conflict of interest and raises questions of probity and oversight in the issuing of INEC contracts.
“The INEC contract was to ‘upgrade’ the card readers and to print PVC cards. Further investigations have shown that the ‘upgrade’ consisted of pre-programming the card readers to accept fake replica PVCs (copies of genuine PVCs) that the firm printed in Nigeria. These two activities were undertaken so that the APC could boost its vote tally in its strongholds or force votes in Polling Units at PDP strongholds to be null and void by over-voting .
“Our investigation also identified the seven States where this activity was due to take place and we have therefore informed the Observer Community and our own extensive network of over 176,000 Party Agents so that they can forestall this activity by checking cards as allowed under INEC guidelines.
“Given that Mr. Musa’s previous company, Act Technologies, had a contract to supply and install PVC card printers in the INEC Headquarters, it does beg the question why Mr Musa’s new company, Activate Technologies, was given a subsequent contract to print PVC cards itself,” said Atiku, last week.
The politician further alleged that an employee and Director of Activate Technologies and an APC member, Mr. Mohammed Keffi, was filmed at Abuja Airport Domestic Departure Lounge on 29th December opening an official INEC envelope and then handling multiple ballot forms which he was checking off against his mobile phone.
These are grievous allegations, no doubt. But INEC, says that it had to reconfigure its card reading machine 100 percent before commencement of election yesterday, and will also be done for the governorship and state assembly election.
There are also in-house allegations that the logistics unit in the INEC may be working at cross purposes. While INEC commissioner in charge of electoral operations and logistics is Okechukwu Ibeanu, he was only heading the standing committee. For the election proper, Yakubu, the INEC chairman, inaugurated the ad hoc committee for logistics on January 3, 2019. The 17-person committee was specifically for the general election.
The chairman is Ahmed Tijjani Mu’azu, a retired air vice marshal. Other members are: Abubakar Nahuche, Mohammed Haruna (both INEC national commissioners), representatives from CBN, customs service, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Federal Road Safety Corps, immigration service, police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, DSS, army, navy and air force. Others are the INEC directors of electoral operations department, estate works and transport, procurement, and stores.
According to report, Mu’azu was new on the position and did not have any experience to fall upon when it comes to INEC electoral operations. As gathered, commissioners were kept in the dark when things were going wrong, and because of the atmosphere of distrust, people decided to keep quiet so as not to be accused of trying to usurp other people’s jobs. In a report that went viral last week, an online newspaper, Cable, quoted a source in INEC as saying that “Normally, Mu’azu should be giving regular updates to the INEC management on the situation on ground. He did not. The job of the committee was basically to clear and move materials within timelines. Going by the way things worked for us in the past, we should all know that if materials were not at the states by the preceding Saturday, there was going to be a major crisis. But a day to the election, the materials were still at the airports.”
While the election did hold yesterday with minimal logistic hitches, most analysts are in support of the promised probe of the botched elections, especially given the impact on the economy and loss borne by the country.
Adeola Elliot, analyst says it was rather unfortunate that we are faced with such contradictions. “The truth is that, there is more to the issue of election postponement. We are sure more facts will be unearthed very soon,” he said.
Femi Aborishade, legal practitioner, says the development portrays “INEC as unreliable, incompetent and incapable to conduct a credible election,”.
GoddyUwazurike, a lawyer, said, “I suspect that this postponement is a carefully choreographed event. For some time, postponement and interim government have been cropping up in discussions. Recently, the Attorney General wrote a letter suggesting a postponement of the Zamfara state election. The reaction of people made him say he was not directing. My worry is that Prof Mahmood Yakubu may end up as the sacrificial lamb. The stakes are very high. the Prof may end up being removed using the same nebulous formula that has nearly destroyed the judiciary,”.
Ebun Adegboruwa, a constitutional and human right lawyer, asked that the National Assembly audit and probe INEC through a Commission of Inquiry over the botched elections last week. According to the lawyer, INEC should not have waited till the dying minutes before announcing the postponement, since it was well aware of all its handicaps long before now.
“Second, the cost of this postponement is too humongous for the nation. All schools have been shut and pupils and students sent home compulsorily, with the attendant cost to the parents in traveling expenses. All the nation’s borders had been closed, resulting in huge economic losses. Movement of persons and vehicles had been restricted such that even after the postponement, most people still remained indoors. It became a forced holiday.
“Third, election observers had arrived from their various countries and destinations and so many ad hoc personnel of INEC, especially the hapless youth Corps members, had been deployed to various locations. Many of them slept in the open, without any arrangement for their comfort and welfare.
“Fourth, many Nigerians took the pains to travel to their various places of domicile, where they registered, in order to be able to exercise their civic rights, to participate in the elections, spending money and time for this purpose.
Fifth, the National Calendar had been adjusted to fit into this day, on account of several assurances from INEC, even few hours to the elections, that the elections will hold as scheduled. It has imposed a National frustration, upon the citizens.
“The responsibility for the postponement of this election goes to the government and INEC, for this global embarrassment to our nation. It has portrayed us in the eyes of the international community as unserious. That is why the National Assembly must step in to demand a comprehensive audit of INEC, and inaugurate a commission of inquiry to probe the real causes of the postponement,” he said. https://www.independent.ng/inecs-logistic-nightmares-why-governorship-state-assembly-polls-may-face-more-hitches/amp/Lalasticlala |
