SEVERAL indicators had foretold the inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to compile a fresh voters’register of about 70 million people in two weeks, but the Commission had insisted that it was equal to the task.

It told Nigerians all it needed was the money to get the job done. Time is one of the few resources that sometimes money fails to serve as a good substitute. INEC did not seem to realise this in its haste to release the time table for the elections.

It wanted to be seen as doing something. INEC has been criticised for anchoring the elections on the amended Constitution, a document that is contentious since there are still disputes over if it would be law without the President signing it.

The INEC announcement that it would require more time to complete the compilation of the voters’ register is the first signal that the elections could be bugged by more complaints and disputes than the usual ones.

What was the hurry in releasing the election time table? At what point did INEC know that the registration was not feasible? What then is INEC proposing beyond the empty assurances that the handover date of May 29 was sacrosanct?

INEC claims that the elections would be held with the amended Constitution and Electoral Act 2010. Both documents would remain disputed. The earlier calendar that is set for adjustment was based on the 2010 Electoral Act. What else would INEC need to adjust?

Between the National Assembly and the Executive, there are key issues around the elections all resting on the validity of the Electoral Act and the Constitution. Ignoring these issues until after the elections could  send the country into a constitutional crisis.

Suppose a candidate sues over the disputes on the Constitution and the Electoral Act? What if the courts suspend the elections until the disputes are resolved? What type of government would Nigeria have on May 29, the terminal date of the present administration at the national level and in many States?

INEC cannot ask for a particular date because it does not know when it would be ready for the elections since the equipment for the registration is not ready. In changing the dates for the elections – and the activities leading to them – INEC would also have to seek an amendment of the Electoral Act, so that it would have the legally prescribed number of days for electoral activities that have such legal requirements.

For this to be done, the amended Constitution would have to take another amendment.

The key issues around the elections are INEC not being ready and the absence of a legal document to match the speed (or lack of it) that the unavailability of equipment would impose on INEC.

From its retreat in Calabar, INEC is sounding defeated. It tells Nigerians that its offices are dilapidated, there is general infrastructural decay, limited resources and time was ticking away. After listing these challenges INEC still pledged to deliver elections that Nigerians would praise even in future.

We understand this type of preposition: if INEC fails woefully, it would point to those challenges and remind us that it mentioned them as hindrances to the type of election it wanted to organise.

INEC probably does not know the impact of this announcement on Nigerians. It hits harder because it was made without proposing concrete alternatives. How does it intend to find the time for consultations that would result in a new time table?

Would the congresses and primaries political parties are planning be in line with an electoral document that nobody knows for certain what it would finally propose?

It is crucial that politicians put their diverse interests aside to examine the paths INEC has discovered. Any changes that result in uncertainties around the elections could only heighten the tensions around expectations of new governments in many points of Nigeria by May 29.

We hope INEC realises the importance of these elections and ensures that they are held on time for the May 29 handover. In addition, Nigerians are at a point that they want free and fair elections – not just elections.