Beyond
2015 Polls’ Shift: What Jega’s INEC & Nigerian Electoral Stakeholders Must Do
(Democracy & Civil
Liberties, Onitsha Nigeria, 8th February 2015)-The news of shift in the dates of the Nigeria’s 2015
General Elections announced by the leadership of the Independent National
Electoral Commission led by Prof Attahiru Jega has reached us. In our last
public statement, dated 6th of February 2015 and titled: the
Return of Sectional Human Rights, Media & Political Activism in Nigeria,
we stated clearly that fixing of dates or shifting
of same for general polls, or a part of it in Nigeria, solely resides with INEC
and that if INEC deems it fit to shift or retain same, it is constitutionally
grounded provided it does not exceed thirty (30) days before the next handover
(29th May, 2015).
What
INEC Must Do: Having gone through and
carefully studied the full text of the INEC’s Chairman late night press
conference of yesterday, the Commission must do as follows:
1. Disclose
publicly with the State-by-State breakdown of the new total number of
registered voters in Nigeria, which the Commission says is 68, 833, 476.
2. Disclose
publicly with the State-by-State breakdown of a total of 1, 543, 961 registered
voters, which the Commission labeled “double registrants” and deleted from the
National Register of Voters between November/December 2014 and first week of
January 2015.
3. In
view of the fact that the 2010/ 2011 pre-AFIS figure in the National Register
of Voters was 73, 528, 040 and post AFIS (automated fingerprint identification
system) of 70, 383, 427 registered voters; Nigerians want to be told publicly
by the Commission how it came about the total of 1, 543, 961 registered voters,
which it summarily and magisterially labeled “double registrants” and deleted.
4. The Commission
should tell publicly Nigerians the total number of registered voters captured
or registered since 2012 in its continuous voters’ registration exercises.
5. In view of the
fact those 1, 543, 961 summarily deleted “double registrants” voted in 2011
general elections, the Commission should publicly tell Nigerians how they
suddenly became “double registrants” in late
2014 and first week of 2015.
6. Nigerians want
to know whether those 1, 543, 961 deleted registered voters are “double
registrants” for real or victims of “INEC data loss” or ethno-religious
demographic data manipulation perceived to have been designed for a particular
zone against the other.
7. In view of the
security challenges in the Northeast, acknowledged by the Commission leading
substantially to the present polls’ shift, the Commission should publicly disclose
to Nigerians how it came about distribution of whopping 6, 678, 148 PVCs in the
entire six States of the zone as at 27th January, 2015, which are: (a) Bauchi State: 1, 745, 441, (b)
Gombe State: 873, 698, (c) Yobe State: 740, 336, (d) Adamawa
State: 1, 239, 820, (e)
Taraba State: 1,079, 338 and (f) Borno State: 999, 470. This
figure has as at 5th February
hit over seven million PVCs with Borno State, which still has twenty out of its
27 LGAs in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents; hitting over one million PVCs.
8. INEC must dutifully, speedily and aggressively distribute
the remaining 23,003, 668 PVCs particularly in the South and take delivery of
the remaining un-produced PVCs numbering about 2.8m.
9. INEC must ensure that as many as 95% Nigeria’s registered
voters receive their PVCs before the adjusted polls’ dates even if it means
taking them to their homes or polling units and subjecting same to delivery
on identification.
10. INEC must publicly and transparently disclose to Nigerians
how it came about the so called “special polling booths” for red spots in
the Northeast zone as well as legal basis upon which it did it.
11. INEC must explain to Nigerians the reasons as well as legal
basis behind its decision not to transfer the voters’ cards of those registered
voters mostly non indigenes of the Northeast and the Northwest who fled or
relocated to the South and other safer areas of the country following
insurgency threats and other politically oiled unsafe conditions.
12. Upon the above basis, INEC owes Nigerians expeditious
explanation as in whether its decision runs or does not run contrary to Section
13 (1-4) of the Electoral Act of 2010.
13. That out of 5,905, 852 registered voters in Lagos State,
only 2, 267, 039 have received their PVCs as of date leaving 3,638, 813 in the State without PVCs; is very shocking
and alarming, especially when compared with Kaduna State’s 2, 976, 628 PVCs out
of 3,407, 222 registered voters; Kano State’s 3, 190, 417 PVCs out of 4, 975,
701 registered voters; and Katsina State’s 2, 245, 039 PVCs out of 2, 827, 943
registered voters. To this effect, the ugly trend under reference must be
reversed by the Commission.
14. Henceforth, Nigerians must no longer accept any PVCs
distribution public update by INEC unless it is accompanied with State-by-State
breakdown. In other words, INEC must always attach State-by-State breakdown of
its PVCs distribution update across the country.
15. INEC must adopt across board procedures all over the
country in PVCs distribution and conduct of the polls proper and ensure that
all its ad-hoc and substantive staff adhere strictly to them.
16. INEC must enforce to the letter strict adherence to voting accreditation
particularly in the Northeast and the Northwest.
17. INEC must practically eliminate all forms of under-age
accreditation and voting, which is very rampant in the Northeast and the
Northwest.
18. INEC must publicly tell Nigerians the academic status of
Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives
Congress particularly whether he has provided the Commission with any
constitutionally required post primary school certificate. Though a number of
civil suits have been filed to that effect but the
applicants may most likely lose the case on the fundamental grounds of “locus
standi”; thereby leaving Nigerians in further dark without knowing whether
their potential president & commander-in-chief will govern them, if
elected, with “ a Daura Nomadic certificate” or “ a school term exams result
sheet”.
What
Security Agencies & The Service Chiefs Must Do:
19. They must ensure that the new polls’ dates are not tempered
with on security grounds again because they will be in grave dispute with the
Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended in 2011.
20. They must carry out their duties in consonance with the
Constitution, public interest and safety and disallow all forms of
primordialist and clannish distractions from alarmist political parties,
politicians, groups and media.
21. Reports on security concerns emanating from the media, CSOs
or political circles must be further subjected to forensic securitization
investigation or verification before
being acted upon. This is because there is a virus in circulation emanating
from psychology of politics, which can cause security blunders
and breaches.
22. The Northeast and the Northwest zones must be designated as
security and poll nipping points or red spots during and after the polls.
23. All the palaces of Emirs and District Heads as well as
Mosques and Houses of leading politicians in the areas must be placed on tight
and close watch during and after the polls.
24. Thumb-printed ballot papers and boxes emanating from areas
or palaces, mosques or houses other than polling units or booths clearly known
to INEC and the Federal Government, must be impounded, confiscated and
destroyed.
25. All under-age voters and people holding PVCs with different
photographs particularly in the Northwest and the Northeast must be identified
and arrested.
26. All registered voters with correct PVCs particularly in the
Northeast and the Northwest must be forced to go through voting accreditation
processes before they are allowed to vote.
27. Street urchins, who are notorious in triggering off group
violence or threat of same particularly in the Northwest and the Northeast, for
the purpose of evading voting accreditation, must be cocooned and warded off.
What
APC & Its Supporters Must Do:
28. Avoid raising false alarms, blackmails and leveling
unsubstantiated allegations against its opponents. For instance, alleging that
its opponent bribed some Christian leaders to the tune of N6B to support its
opponent’s presidential candidate, which is yet
to be incontrovertibly proved; portrays the party in a bad light and may amount
to touching God’s anointed apostles. Similar allegation was visited against
the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; saying they were bribed with N5B. Let it be
clearly stated that it is a political
right entrenched in the Constitution and made justiciable by Section 46 as well
as in the African Charter on Human &
Peoples’ Rights of any citizen or group to support and associate with any
lawful political divide of his or her choice.
What
PDP & Its Supporters Must Do:
29. Refrain at all times from deploring State coercive
institutions against any dissenting voice no matter the amount of provocation
or threats.
What
PDP & APC & Their Presidential Candidates Must Do:
30. Enough of campaigns of nothingness, primordialism and eat
and defecate! The collective yearning of Nigerians, which the two parties’
presidential candidates have woefully failed to address in their campaigns; is
captured in the confines of animal riding; to wit: horse riding,
camel riding and goat riding. Out of these, Nigerians desire desperately
for horse riding. Nigerians want to see real or perceived
competence and capability of either of the two leading presidential contestants
to take them to horse riding heaven or return them to camel riding; or worse
still, goat riding.
Finally,
we thank all Nigerians particularly the online and social media as well as the
Vanguard, the Guardian and the Hallmark Newspapers for their massive support to
the leadership of Intersociety, which has been in the forefront and warfront
over struggle for timely, all-inclusive and geopolitically balanced
distribution of PVCs for every registered Nigerian voter.
We,
again, reject in totality the Jega’s INEC attempts to exonerate its Commission
from the PVCs distribution
controversies. INEC, till tomorrow, is solely responsible for all the pitfalls
associated with same. The Commission’s inexcusable excuse to the effect that PVCs status could not have substantially
affected the preparations of the 2015 polls, but for security issues leading to
their shift; is thunderously laughable.
It is
very important to state here that the two major challenges that can mar any
poll preparation are disenfranchisement and insecurity. In view of this, it is our strong
recommendation that the Federal Government of Nigeria should consider sending
the headship of INEC under Prof Attahiru Jega, after the 2015 polls to
Afghanistan and the United States so as to learn and be trained on how to
organize polls under insurgency (Afghanistan) and pre election enfranchisement
of eligible and potential voters (United States).
Signed:
Emeka
Umeagbalasi, B.Sc. (Hons.) Criminology & Security Studies
Board
Chairman, International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law
+2348174090052
Obianuju
Igboeli, Esq., (LLB, BL), Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
What Prof Jega and INEC Stakeholders must do by Intersociety
Reviewed by Unknown
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Sunday, February 08, 2015
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Sunday, February 08, 2015
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