By Ochereomen Nnanna
WHEN on June 8, 2010 President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Professor Attahiru Jega as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) there was a near universal acclamation of the pick.

After the Maurice Iwu years on the seat, most Nigerians were confident that the nation’s hunger for free, fair and credible general elections come 2011 was off to a good start. Everybody who knew him (including those who simply joined the chorus) said he was non-partisan and had integrity, the necessary germs for the achievement of the national goal.

The only voice heard condemning the appointment was that of Chief Ayo Opadokun, who was promoting a non-governmental group called the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER). Opadokun did not complain about any character flaws of the new appointee. Rather, he quarrelled with the fact that the appointment did not follow the recommendations of the Justice Uwais Panel on Electoral Reform. The panel advised that the president, being an interested party in the elections that the INEC Chairman would superintend, should not be the appointing authority.

In fact, Jega’s perceived integrity was often portrayed as the cure-all for our electoral woes, as if he was the only figure in an INEC which has 12 Commissioners, 36 Resident Electoral Commissioners, 774 electoral officers and various categories of ad hoc staff; all of whom have crucial roles to ensure free polls. We were so carried away that we forgot that politicians, political parties, security agencies, the media, the electorate and others had roles central to the success of elections.

After the great national fiascos of last week when the National Assembly elections were suddenly cancelled and rescheduled twice in as many days, many Nigerians who shouted Hosanna last year are now calling for Jega’s crucifixion. We have suddenly found this man to be a problem to us just as his predecessor, Iwu, was.

The Iwu type of problem was that he was perceived as a man on a partisan mission with a single-minded determination to conduct elections, no matter how badly done. While people described the 2007 general elections as the “worst” in our history Iwu scored himself 80 per cent pass mark! The Jega kind of problem is basic and illogical incompetence.

There is hardly any section of the INEC agenda for the 2011 general elections that have passed smoothly.
As soon as he was installed in office, many Nigerians suggested to him that he did not have enough time to compile a new voters register and conduct a credible election before April 2011.

Some even advised him to approach the National Assembly and other stakeholders to enable the transition programme to terminate October 1, 2011 to give him and his team more time to prepare adequately. Jega brushed aside these pieces of advice and told the National Assembly that he could hold the election by January 2011! The National Assembly busily applied itself to amend the Electoral Act 2010 to fit into INEC’s timelines.

Weeks later, Jega realised how wrong he was. January was simply no longer feasible. He approached the embattled National Assembly to give him till April 2011 and more money for the job.

Jega is chiefly responsible for the existence of many versions of the Electoral Act 2010 which, the Chairman of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (IEMC), Festus Okoye, says will lead to great confusion unless the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication identifies and massively prints the gazetted copy for circulation.

The events of last weekend left many people wondering if Jega was all right at all. How would you describe a situation where the nation’s chief electoral umpire knew very well that some important logistics needed for the conduct of the botched April 2 parliamentary polls were not yet in the country and still went on national radio and television telling Nigerians – and the world at large : “We have prepared adequately in terms of logistics…as the primary polling personnel, their service will ensure that we hold true to the promise of democracy during elections”.

Barely 12 hours later when Nigerians were already at the polls, he came back to call off the exercise, alleging “serious logistics problems”.

The result sheets, he disclosed, were not yet in the country until early Saturday morning. He blamed some unnamed vendors for failing to deliver as promised. So, why did Jega boast that he and his staff were ready the day before? Why did he not seize the Saturday broadcast to call off the exercise?

Another fumbling by Jega had to do with fixing the rescheduled poll to Monday April 4. It required external stakeholders whom he met with last Sunday to tell him that Monday would witness another disaster if he went ahead with his new date. There were so many distortions on the balloting materials nationwide that it would take nothing less than another week to rectify them.

This leads us to the question: What should we do with Jega at this critical juncture? Should we ask him to go or do we carry him as a burden? I think the latter is the only way forward. Apart from the cumbersome process that removing him involves, which we cannot afford, Jega has managed to retain the goodwill of many Nigerians because he has not been seen to be in the pocket of any political interest group.

That aura of non-partisanship is still intact. Many Nigerians are ready to help micro-manage him to the end of the general elections before we talk about what next to do with him. The problem he poses is akin to having a child who is dull in his schoolwork. You cannot very well withdraw him from school. You only help him with extra-mural studies. You spend more time and effort hoping he would pick up.

We are stuck with Jega. He is now like the elbow. It is ugly but we cannot cut it off!