AMIDST the cacophony of voices, claims and counter claims by various shades of politicians, have we really paused to consider the type of elections we like to take place on the March 28th and April 11th respectively? Do we desire a truly free and fair election? Do we desire that every eligible voter must be allowed to cast his/her vote? Do we desire that no one, no matter his standing, be disenfranchised? Do we desire that the elections should have a truly even and national spread? If the answer to these questions is yes, then it is time to take a realistic view of the whole situation. Beyond all the excitement, is the need to tell ourselves the truth.

Is INEC really ready? What kind of election do they want to conduct? Apart from the efforts of the political parties, I have not seen real attempts by INEC to enlighten the citizenry.Thus, there is so much ignorance on the part of the electorate. What happens to those candidates who have changed residence during the period between registration and the election dates? Will they be allowed to vote in their new places of abode? What are the conditions for ensuring this?

Because the politicians are busy fighting themselves, iinsinuating various motives for certain INEC decisions, the obvious lapses and shortcomings of INEC has taken back stage. For example, but for the postponement, I wouldn’t have succeeded in collecting my PVC. The first time it came out, I was told that my name was not in the list where I registered. I finally got my PVC a week after the February 14th date, the PVC was there lying fallow all the while, it did not take them three minutes to fish it out. If this happened to me, I wonder what the millions who have not been privileged to access these information face.

The quality and quantity of personnel engaged by INEC to conduct the elections will also determine whether the outcome will be credible or not. What type of personnel have they decided to engage for this exercise – both adhoc and permanent staff? What trainings have they been subjected to? Is there enough to go round all the 774 local government areas of the country? Or, are we going to decide some areas by sampling techniques? What security or self defence training have been given to these staff? Do they have special numbers to contact when they are in danger or they will have their own guards and personal weaponry?

Some are canvassing that we exclude the military from the election security process. If the military are excluded, will it be possible for the Police Force to see the process through, given our present circumstances? Can they give adequate security cover to both the INEC staff and to those who decided to conduct themselves peacefully during the exercise? These questions are very necessary given the ease with which police security were disarmed in recent political campaign activities.

Talking about security, it is one area that must not be taken for granted by anybody. Remove the military from the streets, then we have anarchy in our hands and we must forget that Boko Haram is only a distance away. I do not see how a truly credible election can take place in the North eastern part, in deed many areas in the country, without the military’s presence.

INEC says that it is ready because it conducted the last presidential election with only 55% registered voters. The question is: Is this the ideal standard? What was the spread of the voters across the length and breadth of Nigeria in 2011? Was it then, as it is now, with the north recording almost double the PVC collection rate of voters in the south? If people did not complain about it then, maybe they have reasons to do so now as the stakes are higher. That is why issues of certificate, religious fundamentalism and democratic credentials have come to the fore. INEC must therefore be very clear and transparent in all ramifications as it releases information.

Again, we must ask the question, have all PVC cards been adequately and fairly distributed? It is rumoured that in the north, the PVCs are given to the traditional rulers on behalf of their subjects. Is this the ideal? How do we fish out ghost PVCs in this instance? To collect your PVC, there is a section to be personally thumb printed by the recipient, how does INEC account for this, amongst the ones handled by traditional rulers?

Given the challenges the electorate face, why can’t people be allowed to vote with their national ID card, driver’s licenses as long as there are proofs of their legal Nigerian status?

Again, there is the debate on the use of card readers. What happens if the card reader develops fails, which is a common occurence once a little pin out of position; the reader becomes ineffective. Are we really technologically advanced enough and ready to use card readers in this election? We must not play to the gallery, it is really verifiable. For the approximately 60-70million voters, I doubt if it will be error free.

The interesting thing about this election is the high level of awareness and competitiveness amongst the participants. It is said that, those who seek equity must come with clean hands, it is therefore expedient for us, to encourage INEC to carry out a very transparent election. I have also noticed that despite our chanting from both sides of the divide, most of us have not received and don’ t have PVCs. This group of individuals make the most noise. We are encouraged therefore to correct this shortcoming before the March 28 date.

If INEC conducts a free, fair and credible election, Nigeria’s democracy will be very well enriched. We must therefore encourage INEC to do the right thing and not hide under any cloak.

They must carry everyone along, through proper enlightenment campaigns, transparency and effective collaboration with our security apparatus to see out a credible election that the whole world can acclaim as free, fair and credible. This is to the pride of every Nigerian.

This is the task for Professor Attahiru Jega and his team.

By Sunny Ikhioya