Professor Humphrey Nwosu, in 1993, conducted what was then regarded as the freest and fairest, albeit aborted, election in the country. However, the Professor Attahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been able to conduct an election applauded, even by the international community, as the most successful in the nations electoral history. Assistant Editor, Dapo Falade, examines the Jega success story, vis-à-vis the activities of past electoral chairmen.The history of election in Nigeria is characterised by negativity. The nations electoral process, right from 1959 up to contemporary times, had always been marred by one form of malpractices or the other. In fact, it can rightly be said that Nigerians and, indeed, the comity of nations, did not appear to have had implicit confidence in the ability of the nations electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to conduct any election that could be seen to credible, free and fair.With this background, President Goodluck Jonathan, when he took over the reins of office following the demise of his boss, Alhaji Musa YarAdua, promised to ensure an electoral reform that would ensure the conduct of a free and fair election that would be acceptable to all Nigerians and devoid of the noticeable pitfalls of the past. However, the people took the promise with a pinch of salt. The pessimism was more importantly hinged on the fact that the man who promised a credible election would be a partaker in the electoral process, having made it known that he would run for the office of president.Unperturbed by the barrage of criticisms and skepticism that trailed his statement, Jonathan, after keeping Nigerians on the tenterhooks about who would replace the sacked former chairman of the INEC, Professor Maurice Iwu, last June announced the name of Professor Attahiru Jega, the immediate past Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, as the new helmsman of the nations electoral umpire. Immediately on assumption of office, Jega, knowing full well the enormity of the burden he was carrying, promised that the 2011 elections would be more credible than the 2007 exercise which was allegedly marked by fraud and intimidation.While Nigerians were not in any doubt about the integrity of the man, given his past accomplishments as an activist and as an astute university administrator, they were still not fully convinced that he would be able to give them what they wanted; an election that would be been seen as free and fair and whose outcome would be acceptable to all. Their pessimism was not unfounded, as the electoral process, from the time of the first Nigerian to head the electoral commission, Mr Eyo Esua, to the era of Professor Iwu, had left the nation disappointed.The origin of the INEC goes back to the period before Independence when the Electoral Commission of Nigeria was established to conduct 1959 elections. The Federal Electoral Commission (FEC), established in 1960, conducted the immediate post-independence federal and regional elections of 1964 and 1965. The electoral body was dissolved after the military coup of 1966.In 1978, the Federal Electoral Commission was constituted by the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, organising the elections of 1979 which ushered in the Nigerian Second Republic under the leadership of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. It also conducted the general election of 1983.In December 1995, the military government of General Sani Abacha established the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) which conducted another set of elections. These elected institutions were not inaugurated before the sudden death of General Abacha on June 1998 aborted the process.In 1998, General Abdulsalam Abubakars administration dissolved NECON and established the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The INEC organised the transitional elections that ushered in the Nigerian Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999.In December 1964, Esua, the first Nigerian chairman of the electoral commission during the First Republic, organised an election which was mired in controversy. Though a teacher and a trade unionist renowned for his dedication and uprightness, two members of the commission disagreed with the chairman and resigned from the commission. Esua also conducted the 1965 Western Region election, which was violent and was disputed by the opposition. A few days before these elections, Esua acknowledged that his commission could not guarantee a free and fair poll. Analysts are still of the view that the widespread electoral abuses largely accounted for the military coup of January 1966 in which Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi came to power.In 1976, the General Olusegun Obasanjo military administration appointed Chief Michael Ani as the chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to conduct the elections which ushered in the Second Republic on October 1, 1979. Between 1976 and 1979, the functions of his 24-man FEDECO included the conduct of elections, delimitation of constituencies and registration of political parties. The August 1979 presidential election was won by Alhaji Shehu Shagari, although his victory was disputed since it was based on Anis interpretation of the ambiguous electoral decree which said a candidate must obtain one quarter of votes cast in at least two-thirds of the states of the federation.Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey became the FEDECO chairman, appointed by President Shehu Shagari and held office from 1980 to 1983. A former Chief Judge of the old Bendel State, he was seen as upright and non-partisan. However, the general election of 1983 were marred by widespread irregularities and the electoral officials were accused of rigging the results in favor of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). While declaring that he was largely satisfied with the 1983 electoral process, he was quoted to have said: We did not expect to be perfect..From 1987 to 1989, Eme Awa, a professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka was the chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida. He conducted the 1987 local government election, which was poorly managed, witnessing irregularities that included a confusion of voter register and overcrowded polling stations. He resigned in 1989, following a disagreement he had with Babangida and was replaced with Professor Humphrey Nwosu, his student.Nwosu, also a professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, held the office from 1989 to 1993 during the Babangida administration. He conducted the June 12, 1993 election, which was seen as the freest and fairest election (until the ongoing exercise by Jega), in which the late Chief Moshood Abiola was presumed to have won. Nwosus NECON introduced the novel Option A4 voting system and the Open Ballot System. He had released many of the election results when he was ordered to stop further announcement by the military regime. The aborted electoral process led to the death of the Third Republic and the infamous political unrest that engulfed the country.Nwosu was thus dismissed and was briefly replaced with Okon Edet Uya, a professor of History at the University of Calabar. He was appointed by Babangida to conduct a new presidential poll after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, with the two political parties, the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), asked to present new candidates. The new elections were expected to take place by March 1994. But in the confusion that followed the annulment crisis, Uya was not able to conduct the election before he was removed, when General Sani Abacha assumed power.Uya, was replaced with Chief Sumner Dagogo-Jack, a member of the Humphrey Nwosu-led NECON between 1989 and 1993. Dagogo-Jack, who was appointed by Sani Abacha, held office from 1994 to 1998 and his commission registered five political associations, including the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), Congress for National Consensus (CNC), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) and Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM). One unique thing about the five parties was that they all endorsed Abacha as the sole presidential candidate in the election. The commission conducted elections for the local government councils and the National Assembly. The elected officers had not been inaugurated when Abacha died suddenly in June 1998, and his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, initiated a fresh electoral process that would lead to the establishment of the Nigerian Fourth Republic in May 1999.General Abubakar renamed the electoral body as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and appointed Justice Ephraim Akpata as the chairman. Akpata was a retired justice of the Supreme Court and he supervised the 1998/1999 transitional elections that re-introduced democracy in May 1999. To avoid splits along ethnic lines, Akpata stipulated that only parties with broad-based national support would be allowed to contest the elections. He ruled that political parties must win local government electoral seats in at least 10 states to qualify for the gubernatorial, state assembly, national assembly and presidential elections. Of 26 political associations, he gave provisional registration as political parties for the 1998/1999 elections to only nine, with only three parties finally qualifying to compete in the state and national elections. This led to the formation of coalitions of smaller associations, such as the G 34 which formed the new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).The INEC, under Akpata, ran a series of elections; local government polls were held in December 1998; governorship election was peaceful and orderly conducted in January 1999, with Akpata saying that the elections were free and fair; elections into the House of Representatives and the Senate were held in February 1999, with some delay, due to security reasons, in Akwa Ibom, Delta, Nasarawa and Rivers states. Akpata, while addressing a news conference, admitted that there were some voting irregularities, although they were generally fair. The 27 February 1999 presidential elections produced General Olusegun Obasanjo as Nigerias second civilian president.Justice Akpata accepted foreign election monitors from the US-based Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute, and supported their request to train thousands of local observers. Reports from these groups on the earlier elections were generally favourable, although they noted low turn-out and some irregularities. Reports on later elections were more critical, describing irregularities, including inflated vote returns, ballot box stuffing, altered results, and disenfranchisement of voters.After the elections, former US President Jimmy Carter sent a letter to Akapata that said there was a wide disparity between the number of voters observed at the polling stations and the final results that have been reported from several states. Regrettably, therefore, it is not possible for us to make an accurate judgment about the outcome of the presidential election.Chief Olu Falae, the presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy/All Peoples Party coalition, later alleged that the election was massively rigged in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In all, Akapata was able to conduct a conclusive election which gave birth to the Fourth Republic, the controversies notwithstanding.In May, 2000, Sir Abel Guobadia, an educator, administrator, diplomat and retired public servant, was appointed by President Obasanjo and confirmed by the Senate as Nigerias Chief Electoral Officer. He retired from this position in May 2005 and thus became the first, and so far, only chairman of the commission since Nigerias independence in 1960, to complete his tenure. He conducted the 2003 general elections which saw the PDP sweeping through the land like a hurricane, capturing virtually all the available political seats across the country.Guobadia, at the expiration of his term, was replaced in June 2005 by Maurice Iwu, a professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Iwu had earlier in August 2003 been appointed by President Obasanjo as the INEC Commissioner for Imo State. Regarded as the most controversial of all the nations electoral umpires, Iwu, immediately after his appointment, brought out the intricacies in him as he announced that foreign monitors would not be allowed during elections, but only foreign election observers. This decision was condemned by politicians and civil society groups who called for his immediate removal from office.In December 2008, the late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, among several other individuals and groups, called on INEC chairman, to resign from office, citing irregularities in the 2007 elections. In March 2009, Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senator Maina Maaji Lawan, spoke against a motion that questioned the integrity of Iwu.While his tenure was due to expire on 13 June, 2010, the then Acting President Jonathan (who had committed himself to pursuing electoral reform), on April 28, 2010, removed Iwu from office. President Jonathan, therefore, proceeded to appoint the man of the moment, Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, as a replacement for Iwu, but subject to the confirmation of the Senate. Jega is a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and was a thorn in the flesh of the Babangida military government in the early 1990s. Politically leaning towards the left, as ASUU President, he was closely associated with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and continued that connection throughout his career. Jega was appointed a member of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee, which submitted a report on 11 December 2008 with recommendations that included establishing commissions to deal with Electoral Offences, Constituency Delimitation and Political Parties Registration and Regulation. The committee also recommended proportional representation and that the INEC head should be appointed by the judiciary rather than the president. Jegas nomination as the INEC chairman was consequent upon an approval by a meeting of the National Council of State called by President Jonathan and attended by former heads of state Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Ernest Shonekan, Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Shagari. The Senate President David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives Oladimeji Bankole, and most of the state governors also attended the meeting. His appointment was unanimously approved by the council which silent on whether or not the president should appoint the chairman of the INEC.With his appointment finally confirmed, Jega set straight for the task ahead of him by asking for a fresh conduct of a voter registration exercise, claiming that the previous one used by his immediate predecessor, Professor Iwu, was marred with irregularities.Amid mounting tension and trepidation engineered by unfavourable security reports and crisis in some parts of the country, the Jega-led INEC set out for the conduct of the first round of election, namely the National Assembly election. While the accreditation and voting exercise were already on in many parts of the country, a bewildered Nigerian people were told on April 2 that the election had been postponed due to shortage of ballot papers.Convinced that the 2011 elections may eventually go the way of other inconclusive exercises, Nigerians took Jega and his commission to the cleaners, saying that the election was programmed for failure. However, the chief electoral officer was not miffed as he calmly told the nation that the election would be shifted by one week, assuring that its outcome would be free and fair and acceptable to all.The electorate again filed out on April 9 to cast their votes for the candidates of their choice to represent in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Needless to say, with the presence of heavily armed security personnel guarding most of the entrance to the polling stations, the voting exercise, as reported in most of the polling centres, was peaceful and orderly.At the end of the day, the INEC came out with a result that shook the nation to its roots with the ruling party, the PDP, losing many seats to the opposition, particularly the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).Indeed, Nigerians and international observer groups lauded the election as being free and fair. Buoyed by the newly-found trust of the people in the electoral body, Professor Jega once again filed out his men and officers on April 16 to conduct the presidential polls. As it was with the National Assembly polls, the voters came out, but as enthusiastically, to perform their civil responsibility. At the end of the day, the INEC chairman announced that the presidential election was peacefully conducted. This much was attested to by the international community, as well as the head of the AU observer team, former Ghanaian President John Kuffour, who said that Nigeria had taken its pride of place in the growth and development of democracy in Africa.Kuffour was even reported to have said that none of the presidential candidates that lost to President Jonathan would have anything damaging to controvert the outcome of the election.While the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, cried blue murder over the election, his counterpart from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, advised other contestants to accept the outcome of the election and congratulate the eventual winner.Indeed, while the 2011 general election is yet to be concluded, with the outcome of the governorship/state House of Assembly election, which was conducted yesterday, yet to be known, it may not be out of place to say that the Nigeria has come of age in electoral process as a precursor for good and sustainable democratic development, both in the country and on the African continent.While the 2011 elections are not without flaws, it could be said that Professor Attahiru Jega is succeeding in a terrain where most of his predecessors failed, in terms of conducting an election that would generally be accepted as been free and fair, and in consonance with the avowed commitment of President Goodluck Jonathan to an electoral reform that would translate into the socio-economic and infrastructural development of the country and its people.
Click here to read full news..
