Emeka Ibemere
Less than 23 days to the general election in February 14,
2014, uncertainty has pervaded the much expected election with waves of doubts
as to whether the election would hold or not continue to hover around it.
The uncertainty is followed by the shoddy preparation of the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the distribution of the
Permanent Voters’ Card, popularly known as PVC.
INEC has been accused by Nigerians for poor conduct of the
re-verification of voters’ card which has created tension as regards the
incoming election. Based on uncertainty of the election, a political cum social
and cultural organization based in Abuja, Eastern Union has vehemently called
for the postponement of the scheduled election until when INEC, was ready for
the election. The Group also warned to take the umpire to court if they failed
to address the situation concerning the PVC.
The national President of the Union, Charles Anike fumed on
the incident and stated that INEC lacked credibility to conduct the election
having failed to make the PVC, available to all eligible voters before the
d-Day. According to the EU President, INEC has already disenfranchised millions
of voters with their re-verification exercise and wondered why the electoral
body was hoarding the PVC.
“Eastern Union wants
to call for the postponement of the elections. This is due to INEC, trying to
disenfranchise many Nigerians whose PVC, are yet to be released. And many
eligible voters were not registered”, he stated.
“Since after 2011 elections the electorate body have not
lived up to their expectations. No proper re-registration exercise has been
carried out”.
The Group President told Newswatch Times, that the survey
conducted by the Union, showed that more than half of the registered voters
were yet to collect their voters’ card.
“And all the millions of youths who were not of voting age
during 2011 are until now not considered. The election must be postponed so
that nobody will be disenfranchised. If not, we will take INEC to court”.
Eastern Union President, vowed.
Meanwhile, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Imo
State Chapter, has also threatened to take the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to court if it fails to provide Permanent Voter Cards (PVC)
for its supporters by January 31, this year.
According to the party, the non-availability of the PVC,
particularly in areas considered to be pro-APGA.
The state Chairman of
the party, Mr. Peter Ezeobi, disclosed that its governorship candidate, Capt.
Emmanuel Iheanacho and other party loyalists have not received their PVC.
He said: “Besides, the fact that our governorship candidate,
Capt. Emmanuel Ihea
nacho, myself and a lot of other APGA loyalists have not
gotten our PVCs, the non-availability of PVCs in areas like Owerri Municipal
and Owerri North, areas known to have been voting for APGA since 1999, makes
the issue worrisome.”
In another development, the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) Vice-Presidential candidate in the 2011 presidential election and pastor
of the Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, has also called on Nigerians,
especially those in the position of authority, to suspend the 2015 general
elections as a way to avoiding the imminent crisis that might trail the polls.
According to Bakare, a two-year transitional government
should be put in place to adopt the report of the just-concluded National
Conference as a way to avoiding the crisis that might follow the polls.
The cleric who contested as the vice-presidential candidate
to former military Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, made the call
in his church in Lagos during a thanksgiving service marking the end of the
week-long ceremony to mark his 60th anniversary.
He said in the face of the security challenges facing
Nigeria; it would be in the best interest of the country to hold the elections
at a future date. While emphasising that the current situation in the
North-east would not allow proper election in areas affected by the activities
Boko Haram terrorists, Bakare noted that Nigeria needs the two years extension
of the election “like yesterday,” or that the political class should state how
the election would hold without rancour.
“In my capacity as a servant of God and a watchman mandated
to warn the nation ahead of impending danger, I have already made it clear to
the nation that we need a transitional arrangement to pilot our nation out of
this chaos before we can talk about elections. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear because at this sensitive period in our polity when the nation seems to be
tottering on the edge of a precipice, is a general election the solution to our
crises or will elections aggravate the problem?,” he queried.
Bakare, reading from Habakkuk 2:1-4 and Ezekiel 12:26-28 to
buttress his position based his argument on the dire security situation in the
country and the political hostility between the northern and southern parts of
the country ahead of the election which many Nigerians and international
community consider a make or mar poll in the political history of Nigeria.
“With parts of the North under the siege of Boko Haram
insurgents in the form of outright territorial control in some cases and guerrilla
styled terror attacks in others and with the government failing to bring the
situation under control, what is the guarantee that there will indeed be
general elections in 2015?
“Even if elections are held successfully in some parts of
the country, would results be conclusive without elections in the troubled
parts? How would displace cast their votes or are they automatically
disenfranchised? How safe would massive campaign rallies be? With politicians
and their militant cronies on both sides facing up to one another ahead of the
elections and sounding the drumbeats of war should the elections not go in
their respective interests, what would be the aftermath of a general
election”,? Bakare asked.
“We may argue that elections have been successfully held in
some states under heavy military presence but let us not forget that we do not
hold staggered elections in Nigeria. We are talking about general elections. If
one were to ignore the atmosphere of intimidation and the warlike environment
that such massive military deployment across the nation at the same time would
create, do we even have sufficient security/military personnel for such a
mission? What would be the impact of such a thin spread of our military on the
safety of terror-stricken areas? In whatever way the results of the general
election go – North or South – are we prepared for the reactions that could
ensue?”
He said against the structural and systemic backdrop of the
chaotic state of the nation, what was the wisdom in holding elections without
dealing with these foundational problems adding that if the politicians ignore
the salient questions and go ahead to juggle for power in the midst of chaos,
that that would seem to lend credence to the allegation that the politicians do
know what the Nigerian people do not know and are behind the crises in the
nation,. He averred that competing among themselves to see who can best
manipulate the situation for political gains, instead of caring how many lives
are lost in the process as long as personal ambition is achieved should be
their concern.
The activist cum Clergy said for the country to have a
hitch-free election, certain actions must be taken to ensure peace and
understanding among Nigerians
“We need to address firstly the underlying problems by
joining forces to deal with insurgency, seeking national reconciliation and
integration, forging a new people’s constitution, developing a blueprint for
development along zonal lines, organising an accurate census and establishing a
truly independent electoral commission whose head is not appointed by the
president and whose financial allocation will be obtained from the first line
charge of the federation account”, he added.
“We must understand at this crucial stage in the history of
our nation that this is no time to engage in the blame game that has torn us
apart these past 100 years: the blame game between the North and the South, the
blame game between the Christians and the Muslims, the blame game among
political parties and the blame game between the leadership and the people,” he
advised.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), in a statement said there was no plan by the commission to postpone the
upcoming general elections which preparations had commenced in earnest.
INEC's National Commissioner, Ishmael Igbani made the
clearance during the opening of a three-day training workshop for security
personnel ahead of the 2015, general elections, organised by the Electoral
Institute (TEI).
He said INEC had no intention or plan to postpone the
elections, urging the Nigerian security operatives to internalise the
modalities, procedure and rules of engagement in electoral process.
Igbani, who represented the INEC's chairman Professor
Attahiru Jega, said many reforms and innovations in the electoral process of
the commission had been made.
"It is important that all stakeholders, particularly
the security personnel that will protect the process, get to know these
measures and be aware of the developments. The security question in the country
has widened the scope of electoral security with its attendant challenges”, he
stated.
“In some countries of the world, security personnel are not
deployed in the conduct of elections”.
According to him, security personnel should focus on three
key areas during elections, namely, the security of personnel, election
materials and voting environment.
Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, represented by
police commissioner in charge of election planning and monitoring, Ghazzali
Mohammed stressed the need for politicians to abide by the rules of the game.
Simeon Ndu lambasted those calling for the postponement of
the election as an enemy of democracy and said they are the people fanning the
embers of violence, disintegration of the country and confused people.
“Why are they calling for the postponement of the election
at the odd hour? Why is it now that they want the election to be postponed and
for what? They have come again and when it happened now they will be the first
people to regret it”, Ndu quipped.
“INEC should not listen to anybody; they should go ahead and
conduct the election. They want to create confusion and arrange an interim
government and before you know it another person will go to court against the
interim government and the confusion will continue. Who are going to form the
interim government? The incumbent executives or the military. People calling
for the postponement are confusionists.”
Abudullahi Musa, bureau de Change operator refused to call
for the postponement of the election saying it’s like time bomb and warned
against it. He said it’s postponing an evil day and that its better is done now
that the tension is on than when there would be apathy.
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