Hottestgistnaija.com
Whatever you must have heard or read about the postponement of last Saturday’s generation election, the truth is that you have not heard the true story of what actually went wrong and guess what? You may never get to know.
It is therefore okay to run with the official explanation just to keep your sanity intact, while at the same time trusting God to intervene in the Nigerian matter.
Since Saturday, different accounts of what might have actually happened have been flying around. There was one which suggested the seeming failure of the commission to live up to billings in some aspects of logistics management. Another had alleged sabotage from high places.
There was the story of how some of the sensitive materials were muddled up from source, where they were initially kept unknown to the INEC leadership, which forced them to pause midway into distribution.
Another account gave a disturbing narration of how an ‘official agency’ that was meant to help airlift the materials to their assigned destinations messed up the distribution by taking, for instance, those of Enugu to Sokoto and vice versa.
These developments pointed in one direction and that was sabotage, at least, to those from the inside. Thus, impeccable sources hinted that the INEC leadership had made up its mind to suspend the election as early as 9pm Friday night but could not secure the go ahead from the top and had to wait till that late.
Besides, arriving at that decision was equally not an easy run for INEC, sources said. Their emergency meeting was said to have been so heated that senior members of the commission, including the chairman, Mahmood Yakubu had to resort to ‘voting’ on whether or not to go ahead with the election.
But whilst the side in support of the election won, Yakubu allegedly pulled his weight and overruled them.
He was said to have alluded to the credibility of the poll, insisting that should he go ahead, it would be difficult to defend that choice especially, that it might result in conducting elections in other places at a later date, a situation that could force some of the other political parties to allege connivance, because the element of which party’s stronghold was being considered first would become inevitable.
This development allegedly left the chairman in such a difficult situation and so, pushing the election forward became inevitable even though he was not oblivious of the backlash.
In fact, it was the reason some were of the view that he should have been commended and not reprimanded for the decision. That is not totally correct, however, he deserves some spanking too, regardless.
That addressed, the alleged planned removal of Yakubu is not an option at this time. In fact, left to me, it is counterproductive. I would think Nigeria’s worst experience was in 2011, when elections were postponed on the day of the election and after voting had actually begun in some places.
I recall I was on the field monitoring the process on that fateful day, where I had watched Senator Ganiyu Solomon vote. He refused to believe the news of the postponement, realising all that might have gone down the drain as a result.
Removing Yakubu would rather authenticate some of the insinuations surrounding the postponement and how he had been allegedly pressured to play balls from high places but declined. It is not an option.
Nigeria’s only opportunity to strengthen and develop the INEC was missed in 2015.
It would have been to appeal to INEC’s former chair, Attahiru Jega to stay back. Having perfected many things on the conduct of elections, having him as an institution, his imperfections nonetheless, would have paid off by now.
Former chairman of Ghana’s electoral commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, spent almost two decades in office before retiring in 2015. His successor, Charlotte Osei, was only removed last year, after being found guilty of financial misconduct, thus paving the way for Jean Mensa, who currently holds sway.
The electoral commission is a serious and sensitive commission that cannot be seen to be at the whims of the government in power. Whilst their independence is not negotiable, their removal must never be on the basis of sentiment or because they refused to tag along with some inordinate plans.
Suffice it so say that whilst it is arguable that Yakubu’s start as INEC’s chair was not quite impressive given the many inconclusive elections that littered the whole place, yanking him off at this time would have been deemed poorly conceived and politically instigated. No excuses would suffice. It will be counterproductive, ill-timed and clearly not the solution to the challenge at hand.
Let Yakubu be, please. This election is his to conduct. Anything outside of this could boomerang and the backlash could consume the current government in terms of perception.
I understand different meetings are currently ongoing to that effect and a decision is expected to be taken between now and Tuesday, which would in turn compel further postponement of the elections. That is not smart and no more than a loser’s choice.
