We are playing with fire

The long drama of 2015 elections provided another twist with the postponement announced by INEC chairman, Professor Mahmud Jega, last Saturday. No playwright could have scripted a better play full of subplots than what is playing out currently. Painfully, the denouement seems to be far away. I will return to that shortly.

Watching Channels Television news 10pm that day and seeing colleagues waiting for a press briefing repeatedly shifted because of endless meetings, one could just not shake off that feeling of ‘here we go again’. Foreign news organisations like AP, AFP, and Reuters later afternoon reported the postponement yet the folks at INEC kept Nigerian journalists waiting putting up a show of consultations.

The main reason Jega adduced was the consensus of security chiefs that they could not provide security for the February 14 elections because they would commence an offensive action against Boko Haram this week. For sure, the proper meaning of such action is what Jordan is doing with 56 air strikes in three days on Islamic State logistics sites and hideouts. The country intensified its strikes after IS burned alive captured pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh.

Someone who was privy to the discussions preceding INEC’s announcement claimed that it was Jega’s refusal to cite distribution of permanent voter cards as reason for the shift after consulting with the national and resident electoral commissioners who re-affirmed that they were ready. As at Friday, INEC said it has distributed 45, 098, 876 PVCs representing 65.81 per cent of the 68, 833, 476 registered voters. My take is that those who have collected their cards are those who really wanted to vote and this is not a vote of confidence on INEC.

Last Thursday, at a polling unit near my office, I saw a youth corp member with a plethora of cards waiting for citizens. She told me nobody has come for his card since the morning when she got there. Our voting record has not been impressive since 1999 and nothing suggests that this would change soon. By the way, unless a party can prove that those who have not collected the cards are its supporters, all parties would be equally affected if no progress were recorded on cards’ distribution.

I reckon that there is no big deal with the postponement if it was done for altruistic reasons but with the toxic political atmosphere like ours, we ought to be on our toes. True, a spanner has been thrown into the works for some people who have had to adjust their plans with elections fixed for February 14 and 28, but the inconvenience associated with this can still be managed. Fine, political parties would spend more than what they budgeted as campaigns must be intensified but only the party with a better strategy will gain an advantage with the postponement. It is an opportunity for political parties to think critically on wooing undecided voters, as this shift will not make supporters ditch their candidates.

But we should be more worried of the alleged sub-plots in this intriguing drama. One is that Jega would be asked to resign while a professor from the southwest is already waiting in the wings to replace him. For President Jonathan who actually said that he never met the professor of political science and former Bayero University vice chancellor before presenting him to the Senate, it would be most unfortunate if this was true. The National Council of State unanimously supported the nomination and the Senate further confirmed it then. What has changed between 2010 and now that Jega can no longer be trusted to midwife successful elections?

President Jonathan has thankfully declared that the May 29 handover date is sacrosanct and I hope it stays that way. He should not allow himself to be pushed by those who do not mean well for our country by reneging on this promise. Nigeria is bigger than any of us and we cannot afford to truncate this democratic journey as imperfect as it might be. I refuse to believe the constant torrent of innuendo that the date might be shifted again because Jonathan will not step down if he lost the election.

We have been through a lot as a country and we cannot risk another June 12 experience. But I think Jonathan is a more sincere person than we are willing to admit and give him credit. I strongly feel that the country’s interest will prevail and not personal sentiment. All political parties should use the extension they got sensibly and continue their campaigns.

We should, however, stop playing with fire and let the process play out without interference.