EDITORIAL RE-INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF SUNDAY,FEB 17TH,2019
FRONT PAGE COMMENT: INEC’s Disappointing Postponement Of 2019 Elections
Nigerians are justified to have expressed deep displeasure over the last-minute postponement of the 2019 general elections by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The postponement, by one week, was announced barely hours to the commencement of the Presidential/National Assembly elections scheduled for yesterday, February 16, 2019.
Beyond the disappointment, which some people have described appropriately as a national embarrassment, there is perhaps an urgent need to review the country’s electoral process, with a view to overhauling the factors that encourage such spontaneous cancellation or postponement of elections that have been scheduled over reasonable time. Yesterday’s incident is one postponement too many, and it should not be permitted to repeat itself.
By midnight of Saturday, INEC announced, through its National Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu that having met the previous day and considered the implementation of its operational strategies and logistics for the conduct of the election, INEC decided that if it were to conduct free and fair elections, which it is nevertheless determined to do, it would not be feasible to have the elections as scheduled.
According to Prof. Yakubu, it was a painful decision for the commission. He then announced a deferment of polls by one week, meaning that the presidential election, along with those of the National Assembly, would now come on Saturday, February 23, 2019; while those of governorship and states’ Houses of Assembly, along with the elections in Federal Capital Territory, all originally fixed for March 2, 2019 are moved further to Saturday March 9, 2019.
Expectedly, the announcement triggered expressions of disappointment by the major political parties and many Nigerians including President Muhammadu Buhari who issued a statement through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Shehu Garba.
The postponement is certainly discouraging, given that INEC had, for a week preceding the election day, been declaring its full preparedness for the elections. The commission had through its chairman, promised to conduct a free and fair election come yesterday. The commission was not even deterred by outbreak of fire in its offices in Plateau, Abia and Anambra States, as it emphasised that it had contingencies in men and material to offset the loss thus occasioned.
For an event that had been scheduled four years ago; and with the level of preparation, including huge amount of public funds and public goodwill that it had garnered during that period; and for the fact that the general elections were the sixth to be consecutively conducted by the commission over the past 20 years, the postponement was indeed upsetting.
Its direct effects include the confusion it has occasioned many Nigerians who, as President Buhari noted in his statement, travelled far and wide to places where they registered, in order to exercise their franchise; and groups across the country and abroad who have mobilised time and resources to observe the elections and report on whether or not they conform to international standard and best practice.
It is equally pathetic that thousands of INEC officials, both permanent and ad-hoc, who had sacrificed their comfort and safety to report overnight to their duty posts; and went through sleepless nights and a lot of personal inconvenience, did so in vain. The damage is huge and cannot be satisfied by mere monetary compensation for the sacrifice.
Notably, INEC has not apologised to these individuals and bodies for its failure and the consequent predicament it has forced on them. Nor has the commission fully explained the logistics and other problems it faced that prompted the postponement. Surely Nigerians deserve these explanations for their patience, support and goodwill for the commission over the elections.
The commission no doubt faces serious challenges, some of which are obvious. For instance, Nigerians are not unmindful of the country’s vast, often inaccessible terrain; the fire disasters recorded in INEC offices in three states, just days before the election; the reported killings of 66 innocent citizens in Kajuru Local Government in Kaduna State on election eve; and of course the general insecurity pervading the length and breadth of the land. But these situations are not entirely new, and should not be presented as full excuses to postpone elections more so when the situations would not disappear in a week.
Given also that there were previous postponements of general elections in 2011 (presumably to overcome logistics), 2015 (on account of security) and now 2019 (again over logistics), the unfortunate signal being conveyed is that the world must expect last-minute major adjustments or postponement or even cancellations of elections and processes long scheduled. That will be sad and unacceptable for the country’s global image.
Most Nigerians are committed to the sustenance of the country’s democracy, and for the conduct of free and fair elections, in line with modern international dictates. They are ready to pardon INEC for yesterday’s lapses but they want to be re-assured of INEC’s competence and capacity to successfully and seamlessly oversee elections. The commission has a duty to grow that confidence and nurture the trust of Nigerians.
For a start, the commission must utilise the one-week grace to put its house in order, and ensure that as many eligible voters, including those who have had no access to their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVC) have opportunities to vote next Saturday. Reports in some states indicate that more voters’ cards are lying fallow than the number of registered voters. That is a slight on democracy and should be rectified in the next few days.
In the long term, perhaps after the 2019 elections, INEC should push for drastic reforms of elections and their processes, to make conduct of elections more realistic. There can be no better recipe for disaster than a situation whereby 91 political parties are competing against one another in elections; and 79 candidates are vying for the presidency; and all the parties and candidates expect to be duly acknowledged in a single ballot paper, to be printed for about 50 million eligible voters and distributed across 119,973 polling units in 774 local governments in a country perpetually battling between war and peace. That situation needs to change.
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