Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has a very bad reputation in the eyes of Nigerians till the arrival of the current chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega. Nigerians never had problem showing up on election day to vote for candidates of their choice but their votes rarely counts in elections held since Nigeria Independence. Candidates frequently get rigged into office regardless. Over the years, Nigerians gradually lost interest in their electoral umpire and in democracy itself which resulted in several coup d’etat.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was set up in 1998 to oversee elections in Nigeria. Numerous federal electoral bodies had been set up and disbanded since Nigeria independence. This body has encountered several controversies, among them was the disqualification of former Nigerian vice president, Atiku Abubakar candidacy in the run-up to the 2007 general election and other irregularities. The structural deficiency in INEC is that Nigerian president appoints the chairman of the commission with the consent of the senate. This means that if one party controls the executive branch and the senate, they could nominate and confirm a chairman who will do their bidding. This anomaly should have been corrected in one of the constitutional revisions. Independent electoral commission should indeed be independent of the executive branch in order to avoid electoral abuse and impunity.
Things began to change for the better at INEC when Professor Attahiru Jega, a Nigerian academic and Vice Chancellor of Bayero University was nominated by president Goodluck Jonathan on June 8, 2010 as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and subsequent confirmation by the senate. He replaced professor Maurice Iwu who was an unmitigated disaster as head of the electoral umpire. He conducted fraudulent elections through out his term. Professor Jega introduced a system of check and balances to reduce corruption. Staff members found guilty of misconduct were punished. He made sure INEC employees are fairly compensated which raised employee morale. Election in Nigeria under professor Jega so far is relatively free and fair to the point that free and fair election is now the rule rather than the exception.
The question been asked today is whether Professor Jega who has done so much for this body will continue his good work or follow the footstep of his immediate predecessor, professor Iwu. Has he caught Nigeria disease a/k/a corruption. The rumbling coming out of INEC’s office in Abuja is very disturbing. Various Nigeria media are reporting that INEC headed by the chairman have decided not to register the newly formed opposition political party, All Progressive Congress (APC) on the ground that another party which applied and was denied registration by INEC have taken the acronym (APC). APC resulted from the merger of three strong opposition parties namely: Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). This merger is the byproduct of the maturity and evolution of Nigeria democracy that should be applauded and encouraged. The reason being advanced for the rejection does not make sense since no Nigeria court has placed any injunction on INEC with regard to the acronym. Refusal to register APC will be regarded by most Nigerians as INEC doing the bidding of the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who may not want a strong opposition party. It may be unfair to characterize INEC action as such but that is how it will be perceived irrespective of their intention.
It is worth noting that ACN, CPC and CPC initially wanted to do straight registration of the new party, but INEC refused and directed each of the parties to hold convention where they will dissolve their respective parties before applying for registration. The three parties complied and INEC demanded list of of new party’s executive committe. The new party nominated and approved interim executives in order to meet INEC requirement. It must not look like INEC is moving the goal post each time the new party meet each demand. I am an independent observer of Nigeria political scene. I do not belong to any political party, thus do not have a dog in this fight, but I care about the evolution of Nigeria democracy. INEC should register All Progressive Congress (APC) and let the court have a final say on this issue. INEC may never recover its credibility if it fails to register APC. Lack of credibility means that Nigerians will once again be suspicious of future election results conducted by INEC which will diminish or render their prior achievements useless.