Following the cancellation of the Senate and House of Representatives elections yesterday, Nigerians have been assessing the impact of the cancellation.
One of such is the huge capital losses the postponement will add to the already castigated 94.3 billion naira set out for the 2011 general election. Obviously, the entire 94.3 billion naira allocated for the entire process would not have been lost but it will not be incorrect to assume that a substantial part of the money must have been lost to the cancellation.
Mention must be made that out of the initial 87.7 billion naira allocated for the entire process, 25.8 billion was set aside as recurrent expenditure for INEC staff who consists largely of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member while 61.9 billion naira was separated as capital expenditure from which funds used for the printing of ballot papers used for the botched election were drawn.
At this juncture, some questions beg for answers. Topmost among them is what happens to the entitlements of the ad hoc staff mobilized for the election that was never held? What happens to the logistics that have paid for preparatory to the elections? Will the ad hoc staff used by INEC be paid for a job some of them did not even start? Will the ad hoc staff be demobilized and mobilized in less than 48 hours for the election tomorrow?
But this should be the least of worries if the much desired free and fair election is taken into consideration. Obviously, the biggest loss of the postponed election is that Nigerians, and by extension politicians, know understand the depth of INEC. They now know the strength and weakness of the electoral body and may be waiting in the wings to take advantage of the lapses they saw yesterday.
Despite the assurances given by Professor Attahiru Jega that voting had not started as at 12:30 when he addressed the nation yesterday, voting had actually started in some places.The list of prominent Nigerians who voted is endless--former President Olusegun Obasanjo, presidential candidate of the Congress for Political Change (CPC), Muhammadu Buhari and the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, had all exercised their franchise before the announcement was made. At least pictures do not lie.
Away from the late arrival of voting materials that INEC claimed to have necessitated the cancelation, what happened between the about five hours that some Nigerians thought they were voting calls for serious concerns. Yesterday, Nigerians saw INEC ad hoc staff carrying election materials on their heads without proper arrangement by INEC for their transportation. In many of the polling booths, there were no policemen to provide security during the elections as only a handful of men of the Nigeria Civil Defence were available.
The ugly scenario of the past that Nigerians thought the nation had passed also raised its ugly head once again as many people could not find their names on the voter’s list. In some parts of Jigawa State, the police had difficult time managing the trouble that broke out after it was discovered that the name of the Congress for Political Change (CPC) was omitted on the ballot papers. Then, there was the name of a non-existing party, AC, on the ballot papers and the non appearance of an existing party, the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
These lapses put a question mark on the possibility of having an election that will be devoid of the usual practices of the past. Nigerian politicians are said to be aggressive; they will stop at anything to win an election. Now, they now have an upstart. The biggest being that they now know how the ballot papers look like. Not only that, they now know the colour and the serialization of the ballot papers.
With a paltry 48 hours postponement, how far INEC can go into correcting the advantages it has offered phony Nigerian politicians is still unknown. Just how much loopholes can the electoral body block in less than 48 hours?
Already, two of the leading political parties in the country—ACN and CPC—have have raised concerns over the desirability of the election holding tomorrow. Even the Jonathan Presidential Campaign Committee has expressed its concern.
Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Lai Mohammed, said ‘the new date does not give us enough time to re-mobilize our agents and put in place the necessary logistics. The only day between Saturday and Monday is Sunday when banks do not open. Where does he expect us to get the funds to mobilize our agents for Monday’s election? Only the PDP can quickly mobilize such fund. So, that date cannot stand,” Mohammed said.
The PDP is not celebrating the postponement either. Speaking yesterday, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State said, “from what I have received from my colleagues across the nation, Jega has failed us. We still insist that people should be accredited, vote and go away, if we don’t want violence. I no longer have confidence in Professor Jega.”
Truly, Professor Jega has no reason to fail the nation since he was provided the needed condition to thrive. President Goodluck Jonathan equally did not interfere in the activities of INEC as he promised the nation and it is reasonable to distance him from any tantrum that may be thrown at Jega and his INEC. The Senate, realising the importance of the election, also appropriated the necessary fund for INEC without much questioning every time he asked for it. For these reasons, Professor Jega has no reason to fail and Nigerians are waiting to see on which side he will fall in the chequered history of the nation.
The postponement of Saturday’s parliamentary polls in Nigeria amid widespread organisational problems drew harsh reactions from politicians and rights activists who called it a national disgrace.
Electoral commission chief Attahiru Jega went on live television to announce the postponement at around midday — hours after polls were due to open in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer.
The parliament vote, now to be held on Monday, was to be the first of three landmark polls this month being seen as a critical test of whether Nigeria can organise a credible ballot after a series of flawed and violent elections.
Presidential elections are set for April 9, while governorship and state assembly ballots are due on April 16.
Debo Adeniran, head of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders pressure group, called the postponement “a national shame and a monumental waste of time and resources.”
Jega said election materials had not arrived on time for much of the country, leading to the postponement. Lagos-based human rights lawyer and chairman of the National Conscience Party, Femi Falana, questioned why the announcement could not have been made earlier than around midday on Saturday.
“It is frustrating and disappointing. This is evidence of the collapse of state institutions. This postponement should have been announced since yesterday,” he said. Falana said the postponement by only two days will create logistic problems for political parties and security agencies.
“How do you replace all the materials given out between now and Monday? How do you pay agents their remunerations if banks do not open on Monday? How do you mobilise again security agents,” he said.
The partial voting which took place in Lagos Saturday has led to uncertainty among the authorities and the Independent National Electoral Commission, leading to doubts that the National Assembly poll will take place in the state Monday.
The reason the election to the federal legislature may not take place in Lagos Monday, stems from the fact that where voting took place in the state, the electorate had used up their ballot papers.
As such, for another poll to take place, a fresh batch of ballot papers will have to be reprinted or reissued with new serial numbers.
Unaware of the commission’s directive that voting be suspended, Lagos State Governor, Mr. BabatundeFashola and his wife, Abimbola, were among thousands of Lagosians who exercised their voting rights Saturday.
Also in Kano and Kaduna States, where voter accreditation went on in some polling stations, some voters had cast their votes before the postponement was announced.
But it is Lagos where the most confusion has arisen as thousands of accredited voters were able to vote before realising the election had been postponed.
The thinking is that there might be no public holiday in Lagos if the poll is not held.
Moreover, a directive is still being awaited from the federal government declaring a public holiday in the rest of the country where the election is certain to take place Monday.
The partial voting exercise, has caused consternation in INEC and among political parties that the sensitive materials in the possession of electoral officials could make their way into the wrong hands and undermine all effort to have a free and fair poll.
Another concern is what would become of the votes already cast, as INEC’s chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, who was obviously unaware before he briefed the press yesterday that voting had taken place in some places in Lagos, Kano and Kaduna, was silent on what would become of the ballots.
Former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bolaji Tinubu, was about to cast his vote in Alausa Unit 003 when he received a call, telling him that the electoral commission had directed immediate suspension of the process.
By this development, Lagos State and Kano are perhaps the only states in the country where voting apparently took place Saturday.
THISDAY witnessed the process in some polling units in Alausa, Iponri, Surulere, Oregun, Oshodi, Apapa, Ikeja and Fadeyi areas of Lagos State, where a number of voters in the state were seen on the queue dropping ballot papers into boxes more than one hour after the suspension was announced.
At Alausa Unit 008, P.M. News Senior Correspondent, Mr. Kazeem Ugbodaga was about to cast his vote when he was informed about the postponement.
Ugbodaga immediately left the queue to the chagrin of polling officers and civil defence corps, but his departure did not put an end to the process.
Forty-five minutes after, THISDAY monitored voting in other areas such as Iponri, Surulere, Ojuelegba, Jibowu, Fadeyi and some polling units along Ikorodu Road and Funso Williams Avenue, where voting was going on at about 1.15 pm
When confronted with the INEC directive, one polling officer, who did not want to be named, said she had not received any information or directive from Lagos INEC that the process had been cancelled or postponed.
At a news conference in his Surulere home, Governor Fashola, who voted at exactly 12.20 pm, described the decision to hold the poll on Monday as “rather hasty. I listened to Professor Jega saying people have not voted. I have voted. Therefore, ballot papers are out. I voted at about 12.20 pm at my polling unit.
“So, I think it is also important for INEC to remain calm and focused and get the fullest information about what caused this failure. But I want to also advise Lagos residents that the reason INEC gave is that they do not have the result sheets.
“This means all the places where we have voted, they could not have written the final result.
“But be calm because I know a lot of effort and patience and resources have been committed to it. But we would get it right. We must get it right. So, it is important that we must remain calm. We would be addressing you again.”
Fashola said it would be best if INEC meets with the parties promptly, cautioning that on Monday, students will be writing their WAEC exams.
“We do not want to disrupt their exams again because of the clear failures that have been exhibited here. There are so many possibilities. We must restrain ourselves and remain law-abiding and all the security agencies are implored to continue to remain vigilant and at full alert I think we want to also examine in more detail the root causes of this.
“Clearly, there is a system failure here. The level of preparedness of this election has been called into question now. One wants to also say it is too hasty for INEC to suggest that the elections would hold on Monday. If they could not get it right for this long, why would they be rushing into Monday?” Fashola asked.
Disturbed by the directive, Tinubu could not contain his anger and disappointment in the leadership of the electoral commission for the postponement of the election.
The former governor asked President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Prof. Attahiru Jega to resign their respective positions for failing to make good their promises to conduct peaceful and credible elections.
Tinubu said the federal government “has failed. The cancellation is a deliberate attempt to truncate the Action Congress of Nigeria in Lagos. See what Jega and his cohorts have done again.
In Kano, the All Nigerian Peoples Party presidential candidate and governor Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau faulted the postponement of the National Assembly poll, saying “it’s a great shock.”
Shekarau explained that almost 80 percent of the local government areas of the state received the elections material, and expressed worry over the safety of the ballots papers which are now available with INEC staff.
Governor Shekarau told reporters at Government House that even before the postponement of the election, he had been monitoring the situation in the estate, and “I was reliably told that there were no problems with distribution and accreditation of eligible voters.”
Shekarau expressed concern over the safety of the ballots boxes and other sensitive material which are in the possession of polling clerks, and appealed to the INEC chairman to ensure safety of all the ballot boxes and sensitive material for the polls.
“Here in Kano at some polling units, people had cast their votes, and now the cast votes are with polling clerks. My worry is over what the position of the votes cast is,” he said.
So will there be another public holiday and transport ban on Monday or not?
