The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Tuesday called for the postponement of the 2011 general elections from January to April to enable it to “do a grade A job.”
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, made the request while fielding questions from the 63 political party leaders in Abuja.
He said that the reality on the ground was that the commission had missed several of its timelines that were crucial to the registration of voters as well as the recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff for the elections.
The commission is also yet to award contracts for the purchase of Direct Data Capture Machines to be used in the registration of voters.
Jega added that from his interaction with the party leaders, it was evident that the consensus was that time was a major constraint.
The commission’s desire for an extension of time first came to the fore after its retreat in Calabar, Cross River State, on Sunday. It had in a statement after the retreat, called for an extension of time.
Jega said, “If you take into consideration the timelines that we have missed, we will not require less than at least an additional two months which will take us to March but we will prefer an extension up to April.
“This will give us enough time to do an excellent job. If you want us to do a grade A job, give us up till April.”
Earlier in his welcome address, Jega said that INEC was in a dilemma over the timelines for the voter registration and the 2011 general elections.
The INEC chairman said, “We fully understand the position within the relevant arms of government that INEC is in the best position to indicate if it needs more time to carry out its constitutional roles effectively.
“Certainly, he who wears the shoe should know exactly where it pinches and what is worth doing is, indeed, worth doing well.
“The foregoing aptly captures the dilemma that the commission has been grappling with in the past few weeks namely, that while it is true that we require more time, we must consistently act within the law and also insulate the commission from the partisan politics that is bound to trail any demand for time extension.”
He assured Nigerians that the postponement of the voter registration and the general elections, would not affect the May 29, 2011 inauguration of a new President.
Based on the timetable released by INEC, political parties are to conduct their primaries from September 11 to October 30, 2010.
The registration of voters will take place between November 1 and 14 while the first set of elections will take place on January 14, 2011.
Jega said that INEC was on the verge of signing contracts for the procurement of the DDC machines for the registration exercise.
He said, “The fact that we have time constraints does not mean that the tasks at hand are impossible to accomplish within the existing timeframe. Instead, what it means is that there is a very limited margin to make modifications to the timelines, particularly for critical deliverable.
“For instance, if for any reason it would take five weeks instead of the estimated four to deliver all the DDC machines needed, that would totally put the registration exercise in jeopardy. And the more we miss the timelines, the more difficult it becomes to adjust.
“Still, as a commission, we have repeatedly insisted that we shall work within the existing legal framework as contained in the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and the Electoral Act 2010. We have also consistently said that the more time we have, the better the outcome of both the registration of voters and the 2011 elections.
“It is not the constitutional responsibility of INEC to establish or change the legal framework, including timelines, for electoral activities.
“Consequently, to canvass the change in the legal framework or Constitutional provisions on election dates would not only be inappropriate, but could open the commission to public suspicion, given the well known recent electoral history of Nigeria.
“The question of fixing and changing election dates has been one of the major sore points of our electoral experience in Nigeria. The degree of partisanship that usually informs discussions of these issues is legendary.
“Consequently, we decided as a commission that direct involvement in such debates could undermine the independence of INEC in the public eyes, and we deliberately chose to keep away from it.”
Jega recalled that at the just concluded retreat of INEC national commissioners and resident electoral commissioners in Calabar, Cross River State, the commission had noted that while “the constitution and electoral Act must remain sacrosanct, there is no point in delivering an electoral process the outcome of which will again be controversial and incredible.”
He said, “I alerted Nigerians that our ability to deliver a new voter register, which is the bedrock of free, fair and credible elections, depended largely on meeting certain timelines. Among these were award of contract for the acquisition of the Direct Data Capture machines early in August, delivery of the first 15,000 units of the machines early in September and training of registration officers by early to middle of September.”
According to him, INEC has decided to “explain the Herculean it challenges confronting to ensure transparency and Nigerians’ ownership of “whatever the commission is doing.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Okwesilise Nwodo, said the party had difficulty complying with the tight schedule imposed on it by the INEC timetable.
His counterpart in the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, said the party was more concerned about credible elections because it had been at the receiving end of most of Nigeria’s flawed elections.
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomole, described the request by INEC as a part of PDP’s plan to rig the poll.
“That INEC is calling for postponement now is an attempt by the PDP to rig the election but we are all vigilant,” he said in Abuja.
Source: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201009225121675
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