The announcement by Nigeria’s electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on 7th February of the shift in the earlier scheduled date for the 2015 general elections from 14th and 28th February to 28th March and 11th April, was received with widespread condemnation from within and outside Nigeria. Many groups, especially the leading opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), perceived it to be a deliberate tactic by the incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan, and his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to buy more time to woo voters in their favour, fearing that if the election was conducted on the earlier scheduled dates, it would have resulted in a massive defeat for them.
Another school posited that the Presidency had a secret plot to unseat the Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, for his alleged alliance with opposition forces and a northern elite group to ensure defeat for the ruling party at the polls. Some had argued in this regard that the Presidency forced INEC to make the decision. These rumours were however dismissed by the President during his recent media chat, describing it as one of those fabricated stories in the media that belong to the garbage world.
While noting that opposition forces may be right with their claims that the decision to postpone the general election by six weeks was politically motivated, the reasons cited for the shift cannot be overlooked. First, considering that the number of Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) yet to be distributed to registered voters as at the day the postponement was announced was in the region of thirty million, one may be tempted to believe the allegations by the PDP that INEC had a secret and well calculated plan to unduly disenfranchise some voters in order to gain numerical advantage for the opposition. The continuous claims by the electoral body prior to the postponement that it was fully prepared to conduct free, fair and credible polls sounds rather ridiculous as an election cannot be said to possess these attributes with such a large number of registered voters unable to cast their votes.
Citizens of a country have a civic right to take active part in the electoral process and cast their votes for their representatives in government. In this regard, I have argued recently that INEC has no right to disenfranchise any voter. If the election had been conducted on the earlier scheduled dates with over 30 million people unable to exercise their franchise, it would have been a huge disgrace to a country in its sixteenth year of uninterrupted democracy.
The security situation in the troubled North East, another reason cited for the postponement of the election, is also justifiable. With some territories under the control of Boko Haram and other parts of the region still vulnerable to attacks by deadly sect, the security and safety of voters would have been jeopardized. Like Professor Jega noted during his speech announcing the shift, even if the commission decided to go ahead with the conduct of the election against the advice from security chiefs, there would have been no assurance that the staff or ad-hoc staff would show up at the polling centres since their safety could not be guaranteed.
Going ahead with the conduct of the elections almost two months to the constitutional deadline with the lives of electoral officers and voters at risk and with millions of Nigerians still struggling to receive their PVCs would have been an unwise and dangerous decision. With the recent achievements recorded by troops in recovering lost territories in the North East previously under the control of Boko Haram insurgents, this government deserves to be given the benefit of doubt. It is commendable that the main opposition party has applauded the military and government for the recent successes achieved in stamping out insurgency from the troubled region.
Like the INEC Chief recently acknowledged during his address to the Senate, the postponement of the general election is indeed a blessing in disguise as it has presented the electoral umpire and other stakeholders in the electoral process with more time to put things right before the election.
The period of extension has offered us an opportunity to further perfect the electoral process for the delivery of free, fair credible and peaceful elections to the satisfaction of the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians. We hope that all stakeholders will continue to join hands with the commission to turn this disappointment into a blessing to our country. We believe that the effective utilization of this period of extension will enable INEC to have a flawless and near perfect conduct of elections
We can only hope that all necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the elections are conducted on the new dates announced by INEC in a transparent and credible manner that will produce visionary leaders capable of addressing the ills of our society and taking this nation to greater heights.
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