Oshii Brecth-Frankly a political commentator critics the
resent clamor for election postponement and examines how ready the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is for the February
poll.
From what started like projections based a mental time machine, we have etched gradually close to the dates planned for the elections. And as with many things Nigerian, there is a rising hoopla that accompanying preparations, to a degree that many people are today,
unsure whether the polls will hold or not. Pockets of support groups are popping up to drum for postponement, court litigations are flying round the country seeking to stop the entire election process or at least prevent one candidate or another fro standing for election.
These canvassers and their activities don’t constitute illegalities per se. They could be considered as part of a maturing democratic experience. But not for the dangerous dimension such whimsical pursuits are portending for the body polity, we could have considered them normal. Of course, we recognise, as every Nigerian that the Independent National Electoral l Commission had serious glitches distributing the permanent voter cards to the prospective voters. The electoral umpire attributed this to various factors, including late registration by those who came register during the registration exercise last year.
At this stage, it is no longer palatable to dwell on INEC’s feelings to make the PVCs available to Nigerians hitch-freely. Since election is a cardinal part of a democracy, we have to consider its success rather than the problems that characterised the build up to the process, moreso, that this process hasn’t been tainted with illegalities.
The best way to go then is for everyone Nigerian to support INEC with every material, resource available to enable it conduct a free, fair and credible election. Agreed, INEC fumbled in its preparations. It failed to utilise the four=year space between the last election and this one to prepare itself. But then, this seemingly inadequacy on the part of the commission should not be allowed to truncate election, which is the hallmark of a democracy, such as we are practising today. The dimensions of help to INEC could come in different forms.
Individuals and groups could enhance the process by comporting themselves well while collecting their pvcs. It will be nice to maintain orderliness at collection centres designated by the commission. Nigerian should get behind the Professor Attahiru Jega-led commission and support it to do the needful. It is even heart-warming that the commission says it has taken delivery of all PVCs that were processed abroad and that registered voters can now obtain their cards for free.
Various levels of government can also do much towards not just ensuring that the election holds, but towards making one of the very best in our recent history. The way to go, we believe is for the state governments to declare a two- day public holiday so that people can go and collect their cards. Already, the main opposition party has declared public holidays in states they control to enable residents of those areas go for their pvcs. This is just one step.
Another lies in the deployment of materials. The Federal and state governments should make available logistical support available to INEC. Vehicles, personnel, especially members of the National Youth Service Corps and a rightful proportion of security agencies should be deployed to aid INEC in the distribution exercise and indeed, in the main election. It may be true that the commission had received resources for this purpose but now at a time that the electoral body’s seeming untidiness is all too apparent, we shouldn’t allow it derail this democracy. So, we must assist in the midwiving of this all-important process.
But importantly, Nigerians and the government must do more to draw down the tension currently enveloping the polity. Apart from the very acerbic electoral campaigns by political parties, the electioneering period is being characterised by rancour, hate, misinformation, subterfuge and suspected federal government’s complicity in truncating the election 2015.
Those who point accusing fingers at the government may not have made a serious mistake. It was the Natioanl Security Adviser, retired Colonel Dasuki Sambo who began the shift-the-poll-campaign even when he hadn’t got a clearance from INEC that it wasn’t ready for the polls. Once the NSA began this campaign, it was clear that all sorts of groups wi;ll chug with this slogan. They haven’t disappointed. In fact, few days ago, the opposition party, the APC addressed a press conference in which they alleged plots by the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal government to scuttle the election under a guise of a postponement. This is really sad, given that in 2011, this same INEC officials conduct an election that was devoid of the kind of bickering that currently characterises the system today.
It is unclear who the ultimate beneficiary of the postponement of the election may be. We must however not that the world is watching. More than 50 years after independence, it is time we began to take ourselves serious. This election should mark that time.
The collection of the Permanent Voter Cards in Ondo state has been extended to February 13 by the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The commission announced the cards can be collected at the local government headquarters of the state INEC.
From what started like projections based a mental time machine, we have etched gradually close to the dates planned for the elections. And as with many things Nigerian, there is a rising hoopla that accompanying preparations, to a degree that many people are today,
unsure whether the polls will hold or not. Pockets of support groups are popping up to drum for postponement, court litigations are flying round the country seeking to stop the entire election process or at least prevent one candidate or another fro standing for election.
These canvassers and their activities don’t constitute illegalities per se. They could be considered as part of a maturing democratic experience. But not for the dangerous dimension such whimsical pursuits are portending for the body polity, we could have considered them normal. Of course, we recognise, as every Nigerian that the Independent National Electoral l Commission had serious glitches distributing the permanent voter cards to the prospective voters. The electoral umpire attributed this to various factors, including late registration by those who came register during the registration exercise last year.
At this stage, it is no longer palatable to dwell on INEC’s feelings to make the PVCs available to Nigerians hitch-freely. Since election is a cardinal part of a democracy, we have to consider its success rather than the problems that characterised the build up to the process, moreso, that this process hasn’t been tainted with illegalities.
The best way to go then is for everyone Nigerian to support INEC with every material, resource available to enable it conduct a free, fair and credible election. Agreed, INEC fumbled in its preparations. It failed to utilise the four=year space between the last election and this one to prepare itself. But then, this seemingly inadequacy on the part of the commission should not be allowed to truncate election, which is the hallmark of a democracy, such as we are practising today. The dimensions of help to INEC could come in different forms.
Individuals and groups could enhance the process by comporting themselves well while collecting their pvcs. It will be nice to maintain orderliness at collection centres designated by the commission. Nigerian should get behind the Professor Attahiru Jega-led commission and support it to do the needful. It is even heart-warming that the commission says it has taken delivery of all PVCs that were processed abroad and that registered voters can now obtain their cards for free.
Various levels of government can also do much towards not just ensuring that the election holds, but towards making one of the very best in our recent history. The way to go, we believe is for the state governments to declare a two- day public holiday so that people can go and collect their cards. Already, the main opposition party has declared public holidays in states they control to enable residents of those areas go for their pvcs. This is just one step.
Another lies in the deployment of materials. The Federal and state governments should make available logistical support available to INEC. Vehicles, personnel, especially members of the National Youth Service Corps and a rightful proportion of security agencies should be deployed to aid INEC in the distribution exercise and indeed, in the main election. It may be true that the commission had received resources for this purpose but now at a time that the electoral body’s seeming untidiness is all too apparent, we shouldn’t allow it derail this democracy. So, we must assist in the midwiving of this all-important process.
But importantly, Nigerians and the government must do more to draw down the tension currently enveloping the polity. Apart from the very acerbic electoral campaigns by political parties, the electioneering period is being characterised by rancour, hate, misinformation, subterfuge and suspected federal government’s complicity in truncating the election 2015.
Those who point accusing fingers at the government may not have made a serious mistake. It was the Natioanl Security Adviser, retired Colonel Dasuki Sambo who began the shift-the-poll-campaign even when he hadn’t got a clearance from INEC that it wasn’t ready for the polls. Once the NSA began this campaign, it was clear that all sorts of groups wi;ll chug with this slogan. They haven’t disappointed. In fact, few days ago, the opposition party, the APC addressed a press conference in which they alleged plots by the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal government to scuttle the election under a guise of a postponement. This is really sad, given that in 2011, this same INEC officials conduct an election that was devoid of the kind of bickering that currently characterises the system today.
It is unclear who the ultimate beneficiary of the postponement of the election may be. We must however not that the world is watching. More than 50 years after independence, it is time we began to take ourselves serious. This election should mark that time.
The collection of the Permanent Voter Cards in Ondo state has been extended to February 13 by the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The commission announced the cards can be collected at the local government headquarters of the state INEC.
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