Postponement of election : It is necessary say Tofa, Nnaji, Chekwas
By Chioma Gabriel, Deputy Editor
Mixed reactions have continued to trail INEC’s proposal to shift the January dateline of next year’s elections to April to enable the commission do a ‘grade A job’. 63 political parties were in a meeting with INEC and 57 out of the 63 including the ruling PDP agreed that more time is required to have credible elections in 2011.
In the opinions of Mallam Adamu Ciroma, Olu Falae, Senator Ayo Arise and Lawal Kaita, the postponement of elections from January could lead to the postponement of the handover date from May 29 to October 1 and that will not be acceptable.
They argued that several litigations could follow the conduct of elections and these litigations are meant to be concluded before the swearing-in of the President and governors and shifting the conduct of elections could affect the handover date and so, may require constitutional amendment which could cost more time. But Chekwas Okorie, Godswill Nnaji and Bashir Tofa think otherwise.
Postponement is necessary – Chekwas
Chief Chekwas Okorie, factional national chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA says in this encounter that he supports the shift. “The time-table for the elections is too tight and one will agree that shifting the date is necessary if we want credible elections.INEC has promised the shift would not affect the handover date, so, let’s give them the time.
What it entails however is that the National Assembly must introduce a clause which would permit that whatever time lost in litigation period should be extended so that those clamouring for justice would get justice in the courts and the tribunals and all these must be reflected in the amended electoral act and the constitution. We should give it all it takes to have a credible election.
Shift is okay — Tofa
Bashir Tofa contested Presidential election on the platform of National Republican Convention NRC against Moshood Abiola of Social Democratic Party, SDP, in 1993 but the results were annulled. Tofa in his comment accepts that the postponement of elections is a necessity if we truly desire free and fair elections.
“I agree with the extension of the dateline. It is necessary because Nigerians have been calling for free and fair elections and we cannot have that if elections commence in January. If INEC says it requires more time, that should be given to them.
If you look at the time-table, you will notice it is too tight. Political parties cannot even conduct their primaries within the time frame alloted to them. So, postponing the elections to March/April is okay. If we insist on the January dateline, there would be lapses and we may not have it free and fair.
That could equally give room to rigging. So, let us wait and have credible election. Besides, the President cannot be elected in January and then, wait for five months before being sworn-in. There is nothing wrong with having elections in April and then swearing in will take place on May 29.
I don’t believe the argument that the handover date could shifted if we shift the date of elections. INEC has promised on that and that date must be sacrosanct.
Lets give INEC enough time- Prof Nnaji
Prof. Godswill Iheanyichukwu Nnaji is Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and National Chairman, Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP). He was the presidential flagbearer of BNPP in 2007 and alongside others, lost to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. In this encounter, he says yes to shifting the date of elections. Excerpts:
What’s your take on the call to shift the January date for the elections?
Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of INEC, has realistically, repeatedly and consistently complained that time schedule is the greatest challenge facing the Commission in its task of Compiling a Voters Register and Conducting a free, fair and Credible Elections in 2011.
Patriotic Nigerians, political parties and civil society groups should unite their efforts and call on the National Assembly and the President to shift the elections to April 2011 in order to address the challenge which INEC has rigorously identified.
During a consultative meeting with political parties in August 2010, the INEC boss bluntly said that more time would be needed to do a better job of compiling a 70 million voters’ register and conducting credible 2011 elections.
He told the elite members of the prestigious Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) that if the Commission had more time at its disposal, it would do a marvelous job in the conduct of the 2011 elections.
It is noteworthy that by completing the Constitutional Amendment and the Electoral Act so late to the election period, the National Assembly actually created the problem of impossible time lines which the elections currently face.
It is therefore important for the National Assembly and the President to suspend the operation of the Amended Constitution (on which the 2010 Electoral Act was derived) until after the 2011 general elections, so that INEC could conduct credible elections in April. Nigeria cannot entertain another version of kangaroo elections riddled with all vestiges of electoral malfeasance.
By INEC’s released timetable, we note the following: The Voters Registration will run from November 1, 2010 to November 14; The Voters’ Register will be verified, certified and published by December 16, 2010; Last day for submission of nomination forms by political parties: December 4 -11;The Elections will begin by January 15, 2011.
By the above time line, it is important to note that the main objective of holding the elections in January 2011 is primarily to allow ample time for the election tribunals to dispose of a deluge of election petitions which characterize elections in Nigeria, before the Swearing-in-Date of May 29, 2011 mandated by the Constitution.
However, if our elections are free, fair and credible, should we anticipate large numbers of election petitions to drive the election process and trigger unwarranted political crises? Those petitions will drastically drop to minimal levels as experienced in other democracies around the world.
The 14 days slated for voter registration is realistic and achievable, given that 120,000 DDC machines will be procured, thus every polling centre will be a voters’ registration post. However, the commencement date for voters registration is seriously in doubt, given that the Purchase Order for the 120,000 Direct Data Capture Machines is just being issued, and INEC has no control over the process until the customized machines are delivered to the Commission by the foreign manufacturers/vendors.
There is concern if the machines could be delivered in 6 weeks given that none of the companies considered for the procurement of the machines have biometric identification and data capture as their core business. This casts doubt as to the capacity of the firms to manufacture the fast hybrid minutiae and pattern algorithm, the main ingredient of speed search of fingerprint data base at over 1.5 million fingerprints per second on a standard Quad Core, within the rushed time frame.
Given the importance attached to this 2011 elections and the fact that only registered voters nominate candidates for elections (attaching copies of voters cards to the nomination forms) should we nominate candidates (December 4 – 11) before the official publishing of the voters register (December 16)? Political parties need the certified new voters’ register to elicit the vital information needed to authenticate the party delegates and members/aspirants standing for elections, to complete their nomination process. On a serious note, most political parties need the Voter’s Cards to register members into their parties, as party members without voters’ cards do not have much electoral value.
In reality, it is only after the publication of the voters register that any meaningful election activity or preparations could begin, including the nomination of candidates.
On INEC’s part, we see a near-impossible task of accomplishing all that are slated for the 2011 elections within the next 3 months (October to January). Besides completing a huge budget 70 million Voters Register in some very difficult geographic terrain, INEC is expected to Restore Voters’ Confidence in the electoral process; conduct proper voter education and erase deep-seated voter apathy, and influence positive attitudinal changes/transformation to minimize election fraud, and conduct of credible and transparent elections.
In addition, the 2010 Electoral Act requires the Commission to observe and monitor “special conventions” in each of the 36 States and FCT for each of the 62 political parties that nominate candidates by indirect primaries for presidential and other elections, respectively! Given that most political parties adopt the indirect primaries/conventions, the requirements of Section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010, obviously patterned after the United States primaries that usually span over 6 months, cannot be compressed or squeezed into 7 weeks period, when voters cards are not even available.
For political parties that require the voters’ cards to register party members, one wonders how this could be accomplished. Given that the National Identity Cards and Nigerian Passports are not commonly available, and every foreigner can obtain Drivers License, it is only the voters’ card that truly establishes and identifies a Nigerian.
Is it not obvious that only truly identified Nigerians should vote in the 2011 elections? Political parties can not and should not do much until after the publication of the voters register by December 16.
Did you consider the constitutional implications of all these?
This call for shifting of the Election Dates to April 2011 (rather than January 2011) does not violate or breach the constitutionally mandated May 29, 2011 Hand-Over Date and therefore should be heeded for national peace and political stability.
We expect that by shifting the elections to April 2011, INEC and the political parties would utilize the additional time to address the various issues raised above; strengthen the internal democracy of political parties, and curb the electoral malfeasance that characterized past elections.
The resultant credible elections will attract minimal election petitions that will not significantly hamper governance and electoral equity. That will obviously be loudly acclaimed by all Nigerians and the international community.
We should, therefore, not hesitate to grant INEC and the political parties more time to deliver on the 2011 elections, without excuses whatsoever, and make Nigeria proud. Our economic development, Vision 20/2020, and the nation’s status in the comity of nations all rest on credible 2011 elections.
The National Assembly and the President should act now to shift the elections to April 2011 for better electoral performance. We suspect that rushing the elections in January, will produce results that will sorely test our democracy, with looming open invitation to political crises of all sorts and severe consequences to the nation.
