If Nigeria were a novel, it would be studded with episodic structure, major characters (with a sprinkle of minor and foil variants) and lengthy chapters.
The story itself cannot be banal for it would ensure a rich suspense tucked in flowery narration. But even as a country, it is deserving of painstaking study with its natural endowment, heterogeneous nature, size, history, persevering bearing and gamut of challenges. These peculiarities are somewhat part of what makes every step it takes a matter of interest to the West.
In 2010, every stakeholder on the nation’s polity had argued that except for a new voter register in 2011, the April general elections would be flawed even before their conduct. Many Nigerians threw their weight behind the submission because the voter register used by the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, to conduct the 2007 general elections was not reliable to say the least.
However, the voter registration started by the electoral body’s new head, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in response to the demand for a credible voter register did not end without a farce. By now, Jega would be sweating profusely even in his air-conditioned office if Nollywood screenwriters had cashed in on the situation to produce farcical movies with titles like The INEC Chairman, My Voter’s card, Just before April, Yet to register, The faulty DDC machines, Registration units, among others.
To start with, the Direct Data Capture machines relied upon for the smooth conduct of the registration were the first to cause an embarrassment to the commission. Some of the firms which won the contract to supply the machines initially delayed, while some of the ones supplied broke down.
At the start of the registration, the fingerprints of many registrants could not be captured. Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo also suffered a similar fate. And when the issue was being solved, some members of the National Youth Service Corps recruited for the exercise did not help matters as they reportedly exhibited incompetence in the handling of the machines.
They, however, buckled down to the operation of the machines in no time. The voter registration scheduled for January 15 to 29 was extended by one week to end February 5. Though Jega said that each eligible voter should be registered within four minutes, it took over 30 minutes in some cases.
In fact, by the expiration of the exercise in the specified two weeks, many people were yet to be registered. One cannot rule out the fact that technical and logistic problems were responsible for the non-registering of many in some units before the extension, but the Nigerian factor sure manifested too.
There is this culture of procrastination till the last minute. The directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria to all banks to update the data and information of all their customers comes handy. Despite the fact that the directive was to end on December 31, last year, and later extended till January 31, 2011, many still decided to delay till the last day.
Even for the one-week extension of the voter registration, the National Assembly had to amend Section 9(1) of the Electoral Act so as to allow the commission to register voters up to 30 days instead of 60 days before the commencement of the April general elections.
Besides, it observed a two-day selective extension from February 6 to 7 in order to mop up registrants in highly populated centres and poling units across the country.
The commission’s Director of Information, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger, reportedly noted that the selective extension took place where the exercise didn’t start on schedule due to ‘‘communal challenges, over-population, technical and logistical challenges.”
Those who are waiting for another extension may have to forget it as the spokesman for the INEC Chairman, Mr.Kayode Idowu had said, ‘‘... another nationwide extension was not feasible considering the huge cost implications and legal as well as time constraints. INEC reassures that beyond April, however, there is opportunity for continuous voter registration on a sustainable basis.’’
If the truth be told, everybody cannot register even if the exercise was extended till eternity. And there is a possibility that it is not everybody who registers that will eventually vote. If the foregoing premise provokes some truths, it is right then to conclude that Nigerians should look beyond the voter registration and the attendant hiccups and plan ahead for the forthcoming elections.
The INEC has not stated that it was able to register everybody. If anything, Jega was humble enough to tell the Senate when he appeared before it at the heat of the voter registration challenges that, ‘‘I am not underestimating the challenges. There are serious challenges and some of them are human. These problems are normal and we are responding to the problems as they come.’’
Much as the spokesman had disclosed that the commission estimated that between 60 and 65 million were registered, the task ahead is to ensure that the votes of those who were registered count in their resolve to elect credible leaders of their choice into political offices in the coming elections.
This is more vital particularly as those who could not register may have something to hold on to if the outcome of the elections does not seem acceptable to many. Like in some states, there are accusations and counter –accusations among individuals, groups and political parties over the exercise. For instance in Akwa Ibom State, a group loyal to the state governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio and some members of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the state accused each other of purchasing voter registration cards from registered voters.
In Niger State, the famous polygamist who reportedly has 86 wives, Alhaji Abubakar Masaba, alleged that thugs prevented about 5,000 members of his family from registering at a unit in Bida Local Government Area of the state. He is said to be on a mission to sue the commission for the development.
It is clear that the commission cannot contain all the excesses of some mischief-makers who are out to ensure that they manipulate the exercise to gain advantage for their sponsors in the April general elections.
The concerted effort of all Nigerians in collaborating with the commission towards achieving credible, free and fair elections will go a long way in stabilising the country and frustrating the machinations of spoilers. We saw an example in our neighbouring country, Ghana. There cannot be any tenable excuse than to get things right this time.
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