Several weeks ago, I wrote an article in which I offered two seemingly minor suggestions to Professor Jega on what to do to clean up the Nigerian electoral process -- make security a priority and install cameras in polling stations. A couple of folks accused me of not understanding Jega's approach when he began scaling down expectations of a free and fair election in Nigeria, notwithstanding that I was one of those people cheering him on to succeed.
At the time, the high court had just nullified the 2007 gubernatorial election in Delta State and ordered a re-run within 90 days of the court's ruling, primarily between PDP's Emmanuel Uduaghan and DPP's Great Ogboru. So I waited to see what would happen in Delta State. Maybe Jega's approach there would prove me wrong -- that he did not, after all, scale down our expectations. Maybe Jega would use Delta to signal a free and fair general election in 2011. So we all waited.
The wait is now over. The signs are already coming out. About a week or so ago, Jega's INEC decreed that the Delta State re-run would hold on January 6, 2011. So far so good. Although several folks in Delta State cried foul, January 6 was actually within the 90-day deadline of the court, and INEC had every authority to set that date. Meanwhile, some people thought that INEC's sudden announcement of January 6 barely two weeks before that date was some kind of a sinister move by Uduaghan's PDP to rig the election. I was not one of those people. I saw the wisdom in getting on with the re-run to allow INEC to concentrate on the upcoming general elections. So I reserved my judgment -- in fact, I actually judged INEC's scheduling as a sign of good things to come. But then things got weird. The true signs began to develop and/or acquire real meanings.
Sign No. 1: Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege entered the election. Before now and in 2007, when the elections were held, Omo-Agege was a staunch PDP member -- he was actually in Ibori's government -- and had challenged Uduaghan in the PDP primaries that produced Uduaghan as the PDP candidate in the general election. This is important because by the court's ordering of a re-run the expectation of legal minds was that only those who ran in the general, not party primary, elections could participate in a "re-run." In fact, Godsday Orubebe could not run because Uduaghan was the PDP flag-bearer in 2007, but Omo-Agege, who hitherto was actually Uduaghan's Secretary of State, entered the race.
The maneuver ultimately was for Agege to join the Republican Party of Nigeria and replace the 2007 candidate, who had since passed. INEC even saw to that replacement. Some accused INEC of poke-nosing in internal party politics, while others laid more egregious charges of nepotism against INEC, as Agege's sister was one of INEC's top officials. Indeed, the deputy to the late gubernatorial candidate in 2007 has since gone for redress in court, as she argues that she should have replaced the late candidate. Although I do not personally blame Agege for entering the race if the RPN and INEC allowed him -- this write-up is not about Agege (indeed, I believe Agege means well, but, of course, I may be biased because Agege was my classmate in secondary school) -- but INEC failed to handle the controversy in a professional manner. Jega did nothing, as Iwu would have done nothing, to satisfactorily correct the situation and/or abide by the court's order.
Sign No. 2: Absolutely worse than Sign No. 1, barely two weeks before the re-run on January 6, INEC has no voter registers in at least 11 of the 25 local government areas of the state. INEC now claims that they cannot "find" the voter registers in those 11 local government areas, most of which are areas that observers have concluded would go for Great Ogboru, the DPP candidate challenging the PDP candidate, Emmanuel Uduaghan. For example, INEC does not have voter registers for Aniocha South, Bomadi, Burutu, Ika North East, Ika South, Isoko North, Isoko South, Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West, Oshimili South and Patani Local Government Areas.
Professor Jega's INEC On Delta State Re-Run: You Can Put A Lipstick On A Pig But It Is Still A Pig (http://www.saharareporters.com/article/professor-jegas-inec-delta-state-re-run-you-can-put-lipstick-pig-it-still-pig)