Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Maurice Iwu has opened up on the flaws that afflicted the April general elections, insisting that they were systemic.
Iwu, in the official report of the election billed to be release formally to the public tomorrow, grisly recounted how an aircraft chartered by the commission to lift 65 million fresh ballot papers nearby marred the April 21 presidential election.
He said the Supreme Court’s judgment ordering that the name of former vice president and presidential candidate of Action Congress (AC) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should be in the ballot paper for the poll compelled the commission to go for the printing of fresh papers.
Iwu said the nation would have been thrown into massive political impasse, similar to that of June 12, had the April 21 election been truncated.
The official report of the 2007 general elections will be released to the public tomorrow. The report states that the hiccups afflicting elections in the country were systemic in nature.
He said the commission ordered 65 million ballot papers for the presidential elections within three days following the court ruling. According to him the aircraft that was chartered in Nigeria to convey the ballot papers back from the printers in South Africa dutifully landed in that country but "simply parked at the airport and refused to convey back its prized cargo." Iwu said it was suspected that the reason behind the strange conduct might not be unconnected with the all engrossing politics of the 2007 elections.
Iwu declared that but for the heroic role played by the various services of the Nigerian Armed Forces in flying and distributing the ballot papers across the country the night preceding the election and in the early morning of the election day, the election would not have taken place.
The INEC boss also recounted how conducting the 2007 almost approximated to going to the war front. He said that some INEC personnel where shot dead and several others critically injured in the course of conducting the elections.
He said in the report: " Nigeria ’s journey towards a smooth electoral process and stable democratic society of our aspiration may still have some distance to cover, but the 2007 elections constitute a push forward. For one, the jinx of (civilian to civilian) transition has been broken for good in Nigeria ’s political evolution. For another, invaluable lessons and experiences have been garnered from the extra-ordinary circumstances of the 2007 elections and these can only lead to improved conduct of elections in the future, all of which will be to the interest of the nation and the glory of God."
Commenting on the EVS and the AVM which were rejected by the members of the then National Assembly on the premise that their introduction was abrupt and therefore prove counter-productive, INEC said in the report that the hiccups that attended the April elections would have been minimized if the electronic technology had been incorporated.
Stressing the need to eliminate paper-based elections, INEC said the electronic system would eliminate incidences of ballot-box/papers or result sheet snatching.
Proffering Solution on how overcome the problems posed by weak political structure, INEC said it would introduce as a way forward "on-line completion of nomination formalities which would compel responsibility and accountability of political party leadership. This would for instance, reduce the practice of submitting the particulars of non-existent candidates only to seek their substitution soon after. The commission also said in the report that it might be necessary in future to require political parties to return to INEC lists of nominated candidates as well as party agents.
On security at polling centres and for electoral materials, the report said INEC will explore community policing as an option ‘to secure our national elections but with utmost care to ensure that the security of the polls is not unwittingly place in the hands of vested interests."
The report also canvassed independent funding of INEC so as to make it truly independent.
Daily Champion
Thursday, October 18, 2007
