Election postponement: Day journalists laid 12- hour siege to INEC

It was evident that people were already fleeing their places of abode  to their home towns.

Major motor parks had become so busy like it used to be during the festive periods when several workers and businessmen hurriedly send their family members home. While some arrived their destinations safely, many unfortunate ones died on their ways.

There was palpable political and psychological tension across the country. Political parties and their loyalists acted as if war  was imminent. Many behaved as if there would be no Nigeria after the election.

Reported cases of politically-motivated killings and attacks especially among loyalists of the political parties in the northern parts of the country continued. Hostility and intolerance to political oppositions increased in momentum with cases of party loyalists pelting their opponents with  stones and or attacking them with weapons of war.

Hate campaigns, mudslinging and extreme bigotry to the opposition by the political gladiators, became the order of the day. It became more and pretty obvious that the ship of the state was headed for bad weather if the general election had gone ahead as planned.

There were growing concerns over the safety of families living outside their states of origin. The security situation deteriorated with obvious signals that the country was sitting on a keg of gunpowder and if nothing was done fast to reduce the tension, the ticking time bomb would explode.

In most parts of northern Nigeria, insurgency and gunmen took their bombings from churches, mosques and markets to the political campaign grounds, killing and scaring many and worsening the already volatile situation in the country.

The heightened security concern in the country, replicated at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja when tension got to a crescendo last Saturday with many stakeholders thronging into the Commission to be part of the decision to shift or continue with the elections.

Siege on INEC

Right from the early hours of the day, the two major entrance to the Commission had become a beehive with protesters, either pressing for the continuation of the election or its postponement, surging forward to gain entrance into the Commission.

Consequently, the roads were barricaded with security patrol vans and several gun-wielding, fierce looking combined forces of various security agencies. Visitors and staff of the Commission were subjected to multiple and rigorous screening to ascertain the genuineness of their mission to the Commission.

However, the members of the media were the worst hit. Many of them that arrived in their cars had a hectic time securing parking spots.  After overcoming the nightmare, they also faced the security check at the entrance of the Commission, with security men asking all manners of questions like ‘which newspaper is The Sun.’

While some of the journalists stormed the Commission as early as 9.00am in order not to miss any aspect of the action, many others had arrived before the 5.00pm, stipulated time for media briefing by the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega. Those that arrived later than 5.00pm were shocked to notice that the media centre, venue of the parley, was already filled to the brim.

Reporters’nightmare

Foreign and local journalists, whites and blacks were crammed into a small hall with malfunctioning air conditioners. Many were forced to squeeze themselves into any available space, others squatted, while many others even sat on bare floor or on the conference tables, contending with the fierce attacks from the cameramen. Many sweated profusely, while others that could not withstand the situation stood outside the hall.

As seconds rolled into minutes and minutes into hours without any sight of the Commission’s boss, anger was written over many, especially those who had stormed the headquarters with the impression that the briefing will not last more than an hour of two at most.

Many of the journalists that left their houses without taking any meal became very thirsty and hungry. Their anger grew worse when they went out in search of food and drinks without getting any since the food vendors don’t come on Saturdays.

With hunger and thirst biting hard, the waiting became more excruciating and agonising as many got tired of either standing outside, sitting on the floor or facing the hostile condition inside the over filled hall.

Rumours, suspense

For hours, no update came from the authorities of the Commission to inform the already hysterical journalists on the real situation of things. Rumour millers went on rampage, coming up with one story after another.

Intermittently, those outside would hurry into the hall in anticipation that the INEC boss would soon stroll in, waited inside the hall for another few minutes and got tired before heading outside especially when information was not forthcoming from anybody.

So frequently, rumours will filter in that Prof Jega would soon be in the hall after meeting with either one critical stakeholders or the other. ‘He has just finished meeting with his Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs)’, ‘they are writing the press statement’, Jega has gone to the Villa to consult with the presidency’, he wants to secure the approval of certain northern power blocks’, and many more.

As hunger bit harder, many of the journalists were under severe pressure from their editors who were already becoming very impatient, requesting update every minute from the correspondents.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Snack break 

After an excruciating four-hour wait, the Commission finally came with insufficient bags of bottled water, leaving many of the thirsty journalists to scramble for them. There were more commotions around few minutes to 10.00pm, as the Commission decided to feed the journalists with yet insufficient small pieces of cakes inside the hall with both Nigerians and foreigners scrambling to pick one.

The jostle for the cake was nothing compared to the commotion the arrival of fried chicken from the Commission caused. The really famished journalists practically fell on each other to benefit from what seemed an ostentatious item and national cake.

Jega, at last

The drama finally came to an end few minutes after 10.00pm, when the Commission’s boss strolled into the hall, looking fatigued but very calm and coordinated. That was expected having held marathon meetings with various stakeholders like the leaders of the political parties, selected civil society organisations, his RECs and many others.

From the intro of his speech, he left no one in doubt that the rumour that has been trending on the online media about the imminent postponement of the general election was the actual situation of things.

“We invited you today to make known the position of the Commission on the timetable for the 2015 general elections. Let me state from the outset that our position was reached after carefully weighing the suggestions from briefings held with different stakeholders in the electoral process,

“The conduct of elections in a country like Nigeria is invariably a collective venture that involves not just the Election Management Body (EMB), but also a diverse range of stakeholders, notably security agencies, political parties and their candidates, voters as well as interest groups, such as the civil society organisations and the media.

“To guarantee successful conduct of elections, there are things that are wholly the responsibility of the EMB. But there are other things critical for the success of elections, which fall outside the control of the EMB,” he quipped, setting tone to announce and defend the decision to shift the general elections to a new date of March 28 and April 11.

In about 20 minutes, Jega was done with his address, dropping the bombshell that expected date of the election this week would no longer be.

The questions and answers session took longer that the reading of the statement, and the professor of Political Science took time to answer them. At last, the siege and suspense were over. The elections had been postponed as envisaged, while Jega laid the blame of a carefully rehearsed and planned action at the doorsteps of the security agencies he said were not ready with their end of the preparations.

But for the journalists that waited for an average of seven hours before the news piece came, it was one of the most agonizing parts of the job. By the time they started heading home after midnight, they had been fatigued enough.

Thank God for the modern electronic gadgets that made it easy for them to file their reports before leaving the INEC office.

Written By ROMANUS UGWU