By Tonnie Iredia

Timi and I served as technical experts on elections with the Independent Elections Commission of Liberia to organize the first post civil war election in that country in 1997.  Some 5 days ago, he called me to commend last week’s article in this column, titled, “Who should the police tear gas?”  Tim was delighted that i openly commended Mrs. Amina Zakari, the Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for her policy decision not to defend in court an election marred by malpractices done by her officials.

INEC interim boss, Zakari and Buhari: President of Nigeria

He also liked my suggestion that INEC must bend backwards to develop a positive disposition towards candidates who protest any unwholesome electoral conduct. As a veteran election observer who knows the high degree of harassment to which the electoral commission in Nigeria is always subjected, Timi hoped that Nigerian politicians would soon appreciate that the independence of an electoral body includes the reverence with which it is treated by political parties and their candidates.

Nigerian politicians no doubt need to evolve a tradition of some measure of decency in its dealings with INEC instead of the current practice of everyone throwing missiles at the commission over anything they are dissatisfied with which leaves her with a fragile credibility.

In earnest, a cursory look into media reports in Nigeria would easily suggest that INEC is about to fall apart as a result of an “unqualified” acting chairman. Anyone who takes the simplistic view that Amina Zakari is the problem of our political system would be quite far from the truth. The true position is that the average politician considers improper and condemnable anything not immediately to his own benefit.  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wants Amina Zakari removed from office because she is reportedly related to the current President. It is like after a family meeting, Buhari brought into INEC his own sibling.

Yet, the same Zakari was nominated and duly cleared as a fit and proper person to serve in INEC by the previous PDP government of Goodluck Jonathan.  Can the lady’s proven integrity immediately vanish as soon as Buhari became President? If so, I still believe that a better way to question a person’s eligibility is not through press statements or other forms of media hype that would usually heat up the polity, but through the due process of law because we are in a democracy which presupposes the rule of law.

Another point argued against Zakari which is rather laughable is that Jega did not hand over to her. From where, does Jega derive the power to determine his successor? No one becomes chairman of INEC simply because he is nominated by the President. Another arm of government must confirm it. So, anyone opposed to the appointment of Zakari should take 2 simple steps. First, go to court to obtain an order to compel the President to begin the process of appointing a chairman.

If he nominates Zakari, then do everything possible to stop her clearance. Second, if step one fails, then either go on appeal or let the law prevail and allow her to work. To continue to protest the issue without exhausting all the legal opportunities available is illegal. The same is true of a refusal to abide by the determination of the subject in court. Our political class irrespective of party affiliation has unfortunately made no effort to allow some sanity in the nation’s political arena. They shout themselves hoax on any subject and become quiet as soon the issue at stake is resolved only to find cause for alarm soonest.

This played out the week before when aggrieved members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) got many analysts including this writer to condemn the refusal of INEC to allow them inspect documents used for the last governorship election in Rivers State. Unknown to the public INEC had set up a high powered task force made up of its top most technocrats in Bayelsa, Cross River and Ebonyi States who had actually begun work in Port Harcourt and according to an INEC statement, the team is to “ensure that political parties that participated in the last general elections in the state collected the certified true copies of documents used in the elections, to enable them pursue their petitions at the tribunals.” Of course, the cause of the relative peace by the hitherto aggrieved Rivers politicians will not similarly be publicized the way the protest was done.

Accordingly, the public can hardly comprehend elections in Nigeria because rather than play by the rules, politicians in Nigeria play by the noise. That is why we lose considerable sleep in this country about who is INEC chairman without realizing that there is so much that the holder of that office cannot do. Can an INEC chairman really over rule majority opinions in the commission? If he can and as such determine who can win elections, then the contributory negligence of the commissioners should be rightly laid at their door steps. Again, why is it that simple issues like “polling agents” cannot be met by political parties?

As election observers would confirm, many parties have no agents in many booths during elections, making it clear that they have no justification protesting what happens in such booths. Even where there are agents, many of them are unemployed deviants who are ready to sign concocted results that adversely affect their so called principals. So is Amina Zakari the real problem and if so is PDP best positioned to point it out only a few months after having taught everyone how to manipulate the election process?

For instance how can the party argue now that bodies like the Department of State Security (DSS) should not meddle in election matters when they used security operatives while in office to unduly postpone our last set of elections? While accepting that no security agency should interfere in elections we think the DSS should be encouraged to concentrate on providing useful data during political clearance to stop many 419s from getting into politics at all