Contrary to accusations and insinuations by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, shifted the dates of the 2015 general elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 to April 11, on the prompting of the military, due to intense pressure from President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who were not ready for the polls and had premonition of defeat, facts have emerged that Jega shifted the polls as a result of his own lack of satisfaction with his commission’s preparedness and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki’s inability to guarantee safety and security of INEC personnel and voters in Boko Haram-held areas of the North East.

Two days before the shift, it was clear a postponement was in the offing when Jega told the National Council of States, in a speech titled ‘Preparations for the 2015 General Elections: Progress Report,’ that a bit more time of additional preparation would enable the commission improve and perfect the current level of preparedness.

His exact words: “In determining whether or not INEC is adequately prepared to conduct the February 2015 elections as scheduled, we should separate what is under the control of the Commission and what is outside its control; our accomplishments are to such a degree that we can conduct the election, in spite of the identifiable challenges. Compared with the 2011 general elections, for instance, our systems are definitely more robust now.

Among others, we have a greatly improved register of voters, having removed over 4 million registrants; voters will use PVCs; and accreditation using Card Readers will reduce the likelihood of fraud. Consequently, although our state of preparedness may not be 100% or perfect, and although a bit of more time of additional preparation would enable us to improve and perfect the current level of preparedness, we believed that we’re ready for the elections as planned.”

After Jega has said “a bit of more time of additional preparation would enable us to improve and perfect the current level of preparedness,” to then add “we believed that we’re ready for the elections as planned” is an anti-climax and a slide into illogical progression of argument. The INEC cannot be saying in one breathe that it requires more time of additional time and it is ready for the elections as planned.

Jega seemed to want to please all the listening ears at once. No wonder the Council of States urged him to do wide consultations on whether to postpone the elections or not. No wonder, the APC driven by a desire to see elections hold as scheduled in spite of encumbrances, and is more inclined to hear just what it wishes to come to pass, came out to say that both Jega and the Council of State okayed elections as scheduled.

The aftermath of the shift of polls not only drew the ire of the APC, with the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun describing it as both provocative and a trap, it was harbinger of serious criticism for the Federal Government by a section of the press.

The party’s presidential candidate who had attended the February 5 National Council of State meeting as a former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, warned that his party would not accept any further polls shift, describing such eventuality as a civilian and military coup.

Even former President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed fear that the shift might lead to a coup, also accusing President Jonathan of impressing it on the service chiefs to impress on Jega to postpone the elections.

Why does it appear as though Professor Jega, who had built a strong reputation as a seasoned unionist and administrators in his days as President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and later Vice Chancellor of Bayero University in Kano, is double-talking? As he himself explained in the same speech delivered at the Council of State meeting, the INEC has carried out most of the preparations necessary for the conduct of elections.

The first of such condition precedent for election is preparation and publishing of a register of voters as required by Section 20 of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended).

Jega says the certified and published register has 68, 833, 476registered voters. Another achievement of Jega’s INEC which, albeit, presents the first area of challenge for the electoral umpire, is the transition from the use of Temporary Voters Cards (TVCs) to Permanent Voters Card (PVCs).

Again, Jega would speak for himself: “As of Monday February 2, 2015, the total number of PVCs for the 36 states and FCT, which have been produced, delivered and taken to them for distribution to voters, is 66, 323, 850 or 96% of the total…. As at February 3, 2015, out of the 66, 323, 850 PVCs already taken to the states for distribution, a total of 45, 098, 876 or 61.81% of the total; have been collected by voters. Thus about 34% of the PVCs are yet to be collected by voters.”

To Jega, 34 percent of registered voters disenfranchised in not having their PVCs distributed to them a week to the election as previously scheduled was healthy for the country’s democracy, after all there was never a time the country recorded up to 60 per cent of participation in voting by registered voters. It mattered little to him that those who were yet to receive their PVCs might have been persons who participated consistently in the 2011 general elections.

If the result between the two recurring presidential contenders, Jonathan and Buhari, comes out differently this time, such disenfranchised voters would view the outcome as contrived.

Another lacuna in INEC’s preparation was the Card Readers. Of the card readers, Jega has this to say: “For the 2015 general elections, the Commission has decided to introduce the use of Card Readers (CR), which will be used on the day of election in every polling unit and voting point, to verify and authentic the PVC presented by a voter.

This is so as to eliminate, or at least drastically minimise, multiple voting and confer additional credibility to the electoral process.” The Commission ordered for the production and delivery of 182, 000 customised CRs, sufficient for the 150, 829 voting points (VPs), plus redundancies.

Out of this number, according to Jega, 154, 500 have since been delivered and distributed to the states and FCT. So much for the use and distribution of CRs, what happens when the CRs fails? For one, the use of the CRs is still being mastered. Besides, Jega says they could fail. The failure of a CR envisions yet another kind of postponement, he added.

“What if a Card Reader fails? What if a person is verified but his fingerprint cannot be authenticated? We have worked with political parties and agreed on what to do if any of these arises. In the highly unlikely event that a CR fails, we have enough spares to deploy before the end of accreditation at 1pm and adjust the time to gain lost time.

If we cannot replace before end of accreditation, then election in that voting point would be postponed to the following day when a new CR would be provided,” says Jega. What of the engagement and training of ad hoc staff of INEC, mainly youth corps members and students of tertiary institutions?

Again Jega: “INEC has planned to use 4 Ad hoc (Presiding Officer and Assistant Presiding Officer) per unit and voting points, to be recruited primarily from the NYSC scheme and our tertiary education sector. Together with Returning Officers, Collation Officers and Supervisory Returning Officers, INEC requires a total of approximately 700, 000 temporary election duty personnel.

“We have been able to gather information and establish a database of over 867, 210 who have indicated interest to do the job.The state offices have screened these, in close collaboration with the authorities of the NYSC and the tertiary institutions and are now finalising the recruitment.” With just a week to the scheduled poll, how much of the training of ad hoc staff can INEC carry out when recruitment itself was just being finalised?

To the other reason for the shifting of the poll, the reason the opposition has been much interested in because they could see the hands of the President in it – security.

More so, it is the only reason given by a devious Jega for the shift. “I am sure that this august body will also be apprised of the security situation for the elections by the responsible authorities.

Yesterday (February 4), for example, we received a letter from the office of the NSA, informing us of recent developments in four of the North East States, stating that safety and security cannot be guaranteed during the proposed election period, adducing reasons why this is so, and strongly advising that INEC considers rescheduling the elections by at least 6 weeks, within the provisions of the electoral legal frameworks, and within which time spam it is hoped to restore sufficient normalcy for elections to hold.

This is a new development that INEC cannot certainly ignore or take lightly.” From the foregoing, drawn from Jega’s own speech before the postponement, it is clear the INEC was not prepared for the polls. —Newswatch Times