My strategy teacher taught me not to believe the man who stoops every time just to please the crowd. He called such people ‘gallery men’.

He taught me that men who play to the gallery don’t usually make good managers. A good manager is not one who jumps to please the crowd but one who takes action no matter how painful but end up adding value to the organisation or enterprise.

He described a good strategist as one who envisions a good end for a project before setting out. This is the product of careful planning. It does not come by permutation or guess work.

Of late, I am beginning to get worried that INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, is not exactly the good strategist I took him to be. I was one of those who jumped to high heavens when he was appointed the new INEC boss.

In my office and at pubs where we used to hang out, I had vigorously argued to douse the pessimism expressed by my soul-mate and technology ally, Mahmud, that Jega was the right man for the job. My argument was hinged on the principles and values evinced by the former vice chancellor right from his ASUU days.

But it was also on that ground of principle that Mahmud nailed my argument. He insisted that Jega is not a man of principle. If he were a man of principle, he said, Jega would not have accepted the INEC job since he was not appointed by the National Judicial Commission, NJC, as recommended by the Uwais committee which Jega was a member.

The Uwais committee had recommended that for purposes of credibility and impartiality, INEC chairman should be appointed by the NJC. This point was strongly canvassed by the committee which insisted that any appointment not done by the NJC was doomed to fail in the test of conducting free and fair election. Members of the civil society groups and some latter day defenders of democracy even staged rallies to protest the non_implementation of the Uwais report.

Now, Jega, one of the strong voices pushing for the appointment of INEC chairman by the NJC, not by the president, was appointed by the same president and he shamelessly grabbed it with both hands. Is this a mark of principle?, Mahmud had asked.

This was a matter I never gave a thought. There is something wrong with the principle of a man who would go against the recommendation of a committee he was a strong member of simply because the decision is now in his favour. Jega ought not to have accepted the INEC job if he were a man of principle since he was not appointed by the NJC, my friend insisted.

Much as I conceded to him the right to hold his opinion, I defended the professor based on his history as a defender of the rights of university teachers. But I am getting worried at the turn of events these past weeks. First, we do not need over N87 billion to generate voter register when all we needed to do was clean up the existing register and adopt Option A4.

Does it really add up morally that Nigeria would in 2010 spend such staggering amount just to get a so_called credible voter register? This is a heavy moral burden on Jega. He cannot convince Nigerians that a good part of this money would not pass from INEC account into the treasury of politicians in the Presidency. It is obvious that Jega is working in concert with civil society groups to manipulate public opinion.

I wonder why the media has gone to sleep on the following issues: why was there no due process in the award of contracts for the Direct Data Capture machines? Why were Nigerian companies subjected to security checks but foreign companies were not?

Why did INEC rent expensive mansions (an issue that divided the House of Representatives) for its staff in Abuja against the grain of the government policy on monetisation and contrary to the life style of fiscal frugality being promoted by the Nigerian government? Why is the media silent on the adoption of Linux operating system by INEC and open source software, prone to manipulation, to drive the DDC machines?

And why have hitherto anti_INEC politicians like Tinubu, Buhari and others suddenly lost their voices in spite of the obvious aberrations being foisted on Nigerians by Jega? Is it that they do not notice the hand of the Presidency in all that is going on electorally? Are they concurring that Nigeria should be spending over N87 billion just to prepare voter register at a time electricity supply has ebbed to an embarrassing nadir and roads have become impassable?

Recently, there were media speculations that INEC was under pressure from the Presidency to postpone the 2011 elections. A few weeks later, INEC asked for extension of time. Could this be some coincidence? Or is there an unholy chemistry between the Presidency and Jega?

After reading the warning of a former United States ambassador to Nigeria , John Campbell, that the 2011 elections pose a threat to the stability of Nigeria , I came to the conclusion that the elite are just toying with the rest of us.

Campbell warned that President Goodluck Jonathan’s participation in the polls will distort the north-south power sharing arrangement, adding that “the end of a power-_sharing arrangement between the Muslim north and the Christian south, as now seems likely, could lead to post_election sectarian violence, paralysis of the executive branch and even a coup.”

Campbell, who was ambassador to Nigeria between 2004 and 2007, in his book titled: Nigeria : Dancing on the Brink (it is expected to be published by Rowman & Littlefield in November), argued that unlike in every previous election since 1999, “no elite consensus exists for the 2011 polls, nor is there an Obasanjo_like figure strong enough to impose one.”

Without directly saying it, what Campbell was inferring was that Jonathan was being opportunistic in much the same way Jega has cashed in on his appointment as INEC chair to jettison the recommendation of the Uwais committee he was a part of. I am disappointed that Jega is acting this way and even more worried that both the media and civil society groups are applauding him in the face of obvious aberrations.
*Ademola Adeleye is resident in Lagos