ByRotimi Fasan
BY the time you’re reading this, it would have been three days since the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, formally announced names of Nigerians cleared to partake in the April polls.

The electoral body had chosen Sunday, February 6, as the day for this important task. The additional one week added for potential voters in the election to register ended last Saturday even as many Nigerians, despite sundry inducement to register, still couldn’t perform this simplest of civic responsibilities due to no fault of theirs. A day to the expiry of the additional week, many could still be seen on queues, waiting to be registered.

For many of those who succeeded in registering, it was a herculean task as they virtually had to find one trick or another, including bribing those employed to register them with food and free transport, to ensure they were registered. Others were more or less suborned by politicians who employed both subtle and not-so-subtle tricks and/or threats to ensure compliance.

These are the kinds of tales on the lips of Nigerians, all of which go to show that in very large measure, the integrity of the April polls are already compromised. Politicians who gave free transport to people to go register to vote didn’t do that out of charity. And those so induced to register are not expected to vote for opposing parties. Nor were over-stretched electoral officers provided free meals to ‘encourage’ them expected to ensure full compliance with the conditions for registration.

Whatever the case might be, the voters’ registration exercise has come and gone even as the stage seem set for another round of controversies as to the authenticity of INEC list of candidates cleared for the elections.

The chickens of the parallel primaries that took place across parties, especially in the Peoples Democratic Party, are coming home to roost as argument persists as to which of the different primaries conducted would or should be recognised by INEC. In Ogun State, for example, the picture remained cloudy as at last week when it was reported that a group of politicians allied with the State governor, Gbenga Daniel, had their certificates withdrawn and transferred to politicians in the camp of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Both camps had held separate primaries and, until last week when the tables got overturned, those in the Daniel camp thought they had won.

The question now remains how justice can be ensured in the matter, how one side wouldn’t think it has been short-changed by the other or even by INEC. Of course, the primaries were party matters not INEC’s, yet the position of INEC will go a long way in determining not just the successful side but also how the body would be perceived by Nigerians. Beyond the matter of party primaries, INEC doesn’t appear to have a firm handle on the conduct of the elections.

And this may not be entirely due to its faults. But it, nevertheless, puts under question the supposed magic that Attahiru Jega is expected to perform in the face of the inadequate preparations for the April polls- inadequacies now brought into sharp relief by the below-average conduct of the voters’ registration business.

What is clear now is that INEC has to go back to the drawing board to ensure that the kind of shortcomings observed during the registration exercise don’t manifest during the elections. That would surely be disastrous as tempers are bound to flare then and the subtle contests for voters’ allegiance among the political parties would become very crude indeed. Nobody can guarantee what the outcome might be.

Even before the commencement of the elections the polity has been subjected to the trauma of violence, including assassinations that point in the direction of politics or politicians. It may appear these are purely security matters beyond INEC but the body can help minimise the violence by getting its own acts together.

The matter of the Direct Data Capture machines is one that continues to mar INEC’s effort. Aside the fact that many of these machines are believed to have fallen into the hands of politicians despite the contrary impression being created by both the police and INEC, the poor and laborious performance of the machines is no credit to INEC. They make nonsense of INEC’s effort and task the patience of both their operators and potential voters. Elections are not obstacle races and there is no reason why people should have to suffer in the manner they are being made to suffer because they have to vote.

INEC also has to have its personnel properly trained to handle both the machines and ensure the integrity of the elections is maintained. This would be a difficult task where the welfare of INEC personnel is not taken into consideration. There were reports of many INEC personnel, especially members of the National Youth Service Corps, who complained of poor condition of service. Many claimed they were owed allowances.

True, INEC officials denied these claims but the point remains the claims couldn’t all have been false. Failure to address these kinds of complaints will only open up the personnel working for the Commission to inducement from electoral frauds. What this goes to underline is the oft-made observation here that the success of INEC is not just about Jega’s integrity. It goes beyond Jega and whatever expectations people have from him. Jega needs to be assisted to function optimally for INEC to go beyond the middling effort of the last registration exercise.